Dave from Ottawa Producer-director Wong Jing is notorious for throwing together disparate narrative elements, gratuitous action and silly sight gags without bothering to blend them into a homogeneous whole, and the result is usually an infuriating headache trying to pass as cinema. But here the throw-it-all-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach actually works. The result is so wildly contrived that it wanders into the territory of self-parody, but the wild energy of the movie keeps things entertaining if you don't think too much, the production design gives everything a surprisingly posh look for an HK actioner and strong central performances hold the affair together between punch-ups. Carrie Ng, normally cast in sympathetic roles, plays Hong Kong's most virulent man- hater, Princess, a hard core lesbian and stone cold killer, who hires out as an assassin, but you get the feeling she would off guys for grins. And the creatively nasty ways in which she carries out her assignments represent one of the film's biggest attractions. I won't spoil the fun, but OUCH!! Simon Yam takes a break from his usual rolling-eyed psycho types to play a straight-forward cop on the trail of Princess, and producer Wong Jing cast his then-mistress Chimgmy Yau as a rookie assassin who becomes an object of fascination for Princess, but who then spurns the killer's offer of girl-girl love. Bad move. The second half of the the movie involves Princess stalking her intended and their former mentor, Sister Cindy, eventually getting into a brutal throwdown with Yau that may be nastiest girl-fight in the history of Hong Kong cinema, and this is saying something. Not for anyone looking for a gay-friendly, subtle or even fully coherent cinema experience. For the rest, enjoy.

supercute This one is a delight, although not always deep, it has a great cast of characters played very well by veterans of the Hong Kong film industry. "Kitty" for example is a former Miss Hong Kong, a fact that in the US means little but in Hong Kong means a ton, because to earn that coveted title the young woman must be much, much more than attractive, she must be versatile, smart and snappy. This film is an excellent example of the finest in second generation HONG KONG action. It has comedy, erotic tension, martial arts combat, dazzling gun play, and loads of lethal ladies. More importantly, the story is simple but captivating, with characters you can love or hate respectively, and the cinematography is razor sharp, using strong hues to paint each scene in mood and mystery when needed, or flooding scenes with light in time to punctuate the occasional comic relief. In short, a fun romp with lots of killer scenes. Enjoy!

Eviljomr Not as good as John Woo's or Ringo Lam's films, but still a nice change of pace, a lot campier than Woo or Lam. Good cinematography by William Yim and stylish direction by Clarence Fok Yiu-Leung, a couple of very impressive action sequences. Possibly the Citizen Kane of lesbian hitwoman films, I think this is the only one I've seen though. As usual with Hong Kong movies, the wonky subtitles provide a bit of unintentional entertainment.

Thanatos-14 If you're into so called 'chinatown' action movies then this is one to watch. I was fortunate to see the director's cut of this and it was great. There is a romance side to this but it's the guns and guts that is the main feature. Interestingly, and I what thought was good was the choice of the 'baddies'. When you see this you will find some cliches in it between some of the characters, following a well worn path, but the story and action more than make up for it. I gave it an 8 but then generally I prefer Hong Kong and Japanese action movies to American ones.