The Chinese Boxer (1970)
Hugely entertaining and significant film in the evolution of Hong Kong action cinema; the first Shaw Brothers hit to focus entirely on empty-handed kung fu fighting, in stark contrast to the...
View ArticleProfile: Jonathan Eusebio
Date of birth: 15 September, 1973 Full name: Jonathan Raymond Eusebio Nickname: Jojo Alternate names: Jonathan Eusabia, Johnathan Eusabio, Jonathan Eusabio, Johnny Eusebio, Jonathan Jojo Eusebio,...
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KFMG Podcast S07 Episode 80: Jonathan Eusebio
“I try to mix it up… To keep me creative, I do as much as I can that’s different.” There aren’t many stunt coordinators and fight choreographers who can say they have helped to change the course of...
View ArticleIn the Line of Duty 3 (1988)
Debut starring-role vehicle for young Taiwanese dancer, Yang Li-tsing, renamed “Cynthia Khan” by her new employers, D&B Films, based on a combination of the stars of the studio’s first smash-hit...
View ArticlePrincess Madam (1989)
This has all the hallmarks of a Godfrey Ho potboiler: pacing issues, histrionics, goofy comedy and acts of extreme violence. First, the good stuff: it’s a buddy cop action comedy with excellent fight...
View ArticleThe Avenging Quartet (1993)
Four years before the Chinese handover, this Hong Kong action film is an exercise in reconciliation in which a spunky HK girl (Moon Lee) helps and summarily becomes roomies with a PLA soldier (Cynthia...
View ArticlePassionate Killing in the Dream (1992)
A loose Hong Kong remake of Irvin Kershner’s 1978 thriller, Eyes of Laura Mars, featuring a strong central performance from Michiko Nishiwaki, promoted from her usual high-kicking supporting badass...
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KFMG Podcast S07 Episode 81: Michiko Nishiwaki
“I look really good for my age… If I were to compete, I would be a winner.” As a powerlifting champion, three-time ‘Miss Fitness’ winner in Japan and an action film star, Michiko Nishiwaki has been on...
View ArticleProfile: Michiko Nishiwaki
Date of birth: 21 November, 1957 (Funabashi, Chiba, Japan) Other names: Nishiwaki Michiko; Michiko Nishikawa Occupation: Actor, stunt performer, bodybuilder. Style: Gōjū-ryū karate, Shotokan karate,...
View ArticleOne-Armed Boxer (1971)
Jimmy Wang Yu throws everything at his first directorial effort after his controversial exit from Shaw Brothers, remixing his two most successful films during his tenure at his former studio, One-Armed...
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KFMG Podcast S07 Episode 82: Tribute to Jimmy Wang Yu
“He was the first martial arts star – before Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan… and he was the first to combine different martial arts styles in his films.” Frank Djeng When Jimmy Wang Yu died on 5 April 2022...
View ArticleSection 8 (2022)
True Blood actor Ryan Kwanten turns action hero for this mind-numbing exercise in B-movie box-ticking – a rough attempt at Bourne-meets-Expendables but on a small DTV budget. Kwanten plays an ex-Marine...
View ArticleDay Shift (2022)
Hollywood stunt coordinator, J.J. Perry, makes his directorial debut with a Netflix action horror – the sort of popcorn movie that used to be shown in cinemas. The always-affable Jamie Foxx plays a...
View ArticleAccident Man: Hitman’s Holiday (2022)
The somewhat inevitable return of beer-swilling, punch-throwing, bike-riding alpha-idiot Mike Fallon (Scott Adkins), an assassin who makes his kills look like accidents. Following his self-destructive...
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KFMG Podcast S07 Episode 83: Scott Adkins
“It’s not easy to make something so British, and yet so Hong Kong.” Scott Adkins is in a good mood. The response to his latest martial arts movie, Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday – the sequel to his...
View ArticleThe Red Wolf (1995)
Yuen Woo-ping‘s take on Under Siege (itself a riff on Die Hard). What this lacks in Seagal’s ponytail and culinary skills it more than makes up for in typically crazy Hong Kong action. There’s some...
View ArticleThe Gambling Ghost (1991)
Sammo Hung‘s early 90s output is a patchy collection of unbridled barnstormers (Pedicab Driver; Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon) and absolute howlers (Pantyhose Hero; Don’t Give a Damn), and his lack of...
View ArticleThe Princess (2022)
This stretches a thin premise – The Raid meets Rapunzel – almost to the point of tedium, saved only by the skills of its principle cast and abundance of fight action. Teen star Joey King matures into a...
View ArticleCarter (2022)
Director Jung Byung-gil takes the frenetic ‘one shot’ approach he developed for the action sequences in 2017’s The Villainess and expands the concept into a full movie. As you can imagine, at over two...
View ArticleAlienoid (2022)
The first part of a time-hopping South Korean sci-fi opus which draws on many familiar elements but is more than equal to the sum of its parts. There are extended CGI-driven alien battles involving...
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