Would be better if it were longer

After the rather heated production woes of the previous film, John Woo split from Tsui Hark and went off to self-finance his original draft for A Better Tomorrow III and in the process create his masterpiece, Bullet in the Head. With Woo and Hark's working relationship having deteriorated, Hark decided to helm his vision of a prequel himself. Unfortunately what we get ultimately feels like Hark being lazy, cashing in on the name with Hark's take on the heroic bloodshed genre, one of which he grounds into a harsh reality. The biggest problem with this film for me is its writing, it doesn't really feel like a prequel to A Better Tomorrow because the character depth and dynamics we loved so much about the previous two just aren't here.

However, there's still some good stuff to be found in A Better Tomorrow III, Hark's direction is fabulous with so many of his trademark imaginative camera shots and the action is brilliant, especially the finale involving machine guns, a tank and a motorbike; the music by Lowell Lo is lovely and makes good use of Joseph Koo's cues and, despite him really not giving a shit about this film or how his character was written, Chow Yun-fat turns in a marvellous performance as Mark once again. All in all, if you go in with much lower expectations, A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon will deliver an enjoyable if immensely flawed ride.

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An enjoyable mess

The fact that A Better Tomorrow II somehow manages to form a somewhat cohesive narrative and deliver some more uproarious Woo action is nothing short of a miracle. While the moment-to-moment editing is extremely questionable, seriously, the number of hard cuts in this movie that feel like we're jumping over some very necessary details; all get thrown out the door for an absolutely brilliant finale that is more than a highlight in Woo's already-stacked repertoire.

The absolute mess of its production is infamous, with John Woo and Tsui Hark constantly disagreeing with each other over how the film should go eventually resulting in two different versions of the film being shot, separately edited and then edited together again by another team. Honestly, if someone were to find the original film elements of this movie, you could most likely cobble together, at minimum, 5 different cuts putting Blade Runner to shame.

Chow Yun-fat is completely unhinged in this one, be it crying over some rice or nearly being blown up due to an explosion gone wrong, I love it. Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung retain their great performances of certified bromance which made the original so endearing. Joseph Koo's soundtrack is great, at least when he isn't egregiously overusing the main theme at every possible moment. For what it's worth, however, while this film may be an unfocused mess, it's still ridiculously entertaining with all of Woo's loveable trademarks still very much in place.

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Simply Marvellous

Considering A Better Tomorrow was produced on a relatively small budget and sent into cinemas with virtually no advertising, it's simply incredible to witness what is the birth of Hong Kong gangster cinema as we know it today. Pretty much any of the film's wonkier moments are bolstered by its captivating musical score by Joseph Koo, the gripping story, epic shootouts and incredible leading performances of Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung and, the epitome of coolness himself, Chow Yun-fat. In 95 minutes, John Woo redefines his entire filmmaking career into one that is very often imitated but never matched, his ballads of heroic bloodshed and emotional male leads leave me enchanted every time. A Better Tomorrow is simply marvellous.

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Ultraman Dyna and the cameoing Tiga

Greatly benefitting from a larger budget and its theatrical status, Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light ultimately plays like two TV series episodes cut together as a movie and less like the team-up promised by its title. Sluggishly paced but exceptionally well-directed the film does at least look pretty fabulous, Kazuya Konaka did a great job here while Tatsumi Yano's music is as great as it has always been. The model and practical effects work is marvellous and looks tremendous in the widescreen format, although the CG character work is abundant and extremely rough. The acting from its cast is solid, but like the show, I still haven't gelled with Asuka's character as a protagonist, even if this film largely focuses on his inner turmoil and occasional suicidal thoughts. The Tiga aspect of this film is more set dressing than anything else, with the titular Ultra only showing up during the climax but conspicuously missing his host, Daigo. While it is lovely to see most of the cast of the GUTS squad again, the conspicuous absence of Hiroshi Nagano doesn't make the reunion feel authentic. Ultimately, I wish the story for this one was better, there's a lot of good stuff in here but it just fails to stick the landing.

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a master stealing home between two out-of-the-park home runs.

What Boiling Point may lack in contemplativeness, playing the material not for action or thrills but with comedy so dark and deadpan that its intent can be easily lost on many. Tranquillity explodes into violence, which recedes to its original serenity. A tale unfolding sedately against a backdrop of calm sunny stillness punctuated by shocking moments of unpalatable violence that points to the behind-the-scenes mundanity of the perceived glamour of organised crime in Japan as presented in yakuza films. As his first scripted effort, that narrative almost dissolves into abstractions and digressions, but Kitano largely stays the course with a compellingly warped look at the uniquely Japanese culture of violence. Kitano himself turns up very late in the film's runtime, his presence as welcomed as ever, leading both protagonists and viewers alike on a guided tour of the bleaker recesses of the human psyche with the lack of a musical score heightening the tone and storytelling power behind his magnificent direction. Boiling Point may not be as refined as Kitano's later works, but it more than establishes Kitano as an artist with a clear vision and distinctive style.

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Doesn't hold a candle to the first two

Jackie's belated third entry into his Armour of God series, Chinese Zodiac unfortunately lumbers like a cheap DVD knock-off of one of his old classics. It's decent if unsophisticated family entertainment that demonstrates that Jackie can still put together creative and unique action set pieces. The problem stems from the fact that it lacks so many of Jackie's creative staples and goes way overboard in terms of preaching to the choir with characters practically stopping dead in their tracks to put on their moralising hat and deliver some earnest statement about national pride; there is certainly a feeling of toeing the party line found here that won't be found in his earlier films. Dealing with the film is like dealing with Jackie himself: you have to tune out the crappy stuff to appreciate the unique entertainer that lies within. That being said, Jackie doesn't phone it in as would be so easy with a legacy sequel like this, he still has some charisma to burn and despite the ugly and glossy digital sheen that coats the movie, it's very well shot and directed. Outside of Jackie the only other member of the cast I enjoyed was Kwon Sang-woo, he certainly made a good impression here and I hope I get to see more of him in future. Lacklustre, slow and overly long, Chinese Zodiac only hints at Jackie's winning combo of kineticism, martial arts and comedy despite being occasionally strikingly shot and having its share of populist fun, it just really doesn't do justice to Jackie's film heritage.

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A self-assured exercise in style.

I wanted to start August off right and I knew August in the Water just had to be watched after my experiences with Gakuryū Ishii back in January. Mixing New Age spirituality, animism, astrophysics and advancement in technology, August in the Water can easily be described as the quintessential vaporware film, often feeling like several overlapping films that somehow complement and deepen each other's various mysteries. Ishii crafts a film that largely unfolds as a succession of mood pieces, remaining optimistic as it deconstructs the meaninglessness of our existence while simultaneously offering a hallucinatory analysis of coming-of-age malaise. The direction and framing are just sumptuous, it's all handled in a familiar and comforting style not too far removed from other Japanese filmmakers of the '90s. Part of that comfort comes from the film's incredible sound design and gorgeous musical score by Hiroyuki Onogawa, new age sound blending with classical synthesisers. Exceptionally intriguing and self-assured exercise in style with wry observations about modern Japanese life, August in the Water is simply beautiful in its deliverance, one that I can't recommend enough.

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Bitterly average HK gangster flick

Born out of director Chang Cheh's desire to make anything other than another period martial arts piece, Chinatown Kid doesn't quite live up to its status as a classic in the Shaw Brothers' library of works. Utilising the standard martial arts framework as a backdrop to an entertaining, though exceptionally lightweight, examination of the pitfalls often experienced by Chinese citizens abroad and the circumstances which can divide even the staunchest heart. Chang's direction is decent, Alexander Fu Sheng's performance is fabulous and the music gets the job done but the whole film doesn't quite come together as neatly as I'd like thanks to its barebones script and long-winded runtime, it doesn't exactly tread over new ground either. While Chinatown Kid includes a little bit of everything and then some; from comedy to gangsterism and kung fu to big shoot-outs, it ultimately fails to connect the dots and ends up as a relatively average affair with occasional strong points of contention.

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Peak indie toku

A genuinely staggering piece of independent tokusatsu filmmaking, Ork is a truly touching look into loss and self-destruction combining the aesthetics of Kamen Rider and the stylings of Shinji Higuchi. If I hadn't known that this was shot entirely on an iPhone I would have genuinely mistaken it for something we often see produced by professionals. It's absolutely beautiful in its imagery, gorgeously crafted, deeply emotional, evocative stunningly choreographed and elaborately staged, not letting any of its limitations hold it back. Wonderfully acted and backed by an incredible score, Ork really has opened my eyes to the wider scope of indie tokusatsu filmmaking. I can see these guys going far, I hope they make another one.

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No, not that one

77 minutes of wildly outrageous spaghetti western excellence, The Fugitive mixes fantastic gun-fu style action with the standardised Shaw Brothers martial arts formula, all scored by some of Ennio Morricone's finest music, it's almost as if someone was peaking at my Christmas list. Featuring a plethora of badass moments, the majority coming from leading man Lo Lieh, amidst the flurry of wonderfully gratuitous blood sprays, there's no denying the unique approach to this hybridisation of crowd-pleasing genres, often so over-the-top that you could never take it seriously. But that's where its charm lies and I couldn't ask it to do more. The threadbare story is perhaps its weakest element, but anyone who loves a good revenge tale can easily overlook this, besides, who needs a great story when you score your revenge with Morricone?

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The other Hammer / Shaw Bros Collab

The other Hammer / Shaw Brothers collaboration, Shatter’s conception predates The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, as it was originally pitched as a Canadian co-production before being confined to a shelf for a few years and then resurrected as part of the collaboration deal. Rather than a period drama as both companies were used to producing, Shatter sees the action transported to contemporary Hong Kong and it's used to great effect, even if it amounts to nothing more than a lot of glorious eye candy. The film ran into many problems during production and this is evident in the finished product, the editing is off by a beat, it doesn't go anywhere very fast and isn't helped by a mediocre script. Stuart Whitman doesn't care about his role, an entirely one-note performance, but he's carried by the indomitable Peter Cushing who always gives 100%, remaining a joyous presence in this otherwise substandard kung fu exploitation. Ti Lung is the actual star here even if he struggles with his English dialogue, the same problem befalls Lily Li. In the end, the novelty value of Shatter probably makes this more of interest to Shaw fans than Hammer fans; although I enjoyed the film, like Golden Vampires, it just left me wanting more from its initial promise, ultimately coming across as incredibly sloppy and rather underwhelming.

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I expected way better

The directorial debut of Shinji Higuchi, Lorelei very quickly sinks into ridiculous territory despite the promising initial set-up. Sadly, for all the inspiration it can take from Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot, the humanisation and exploration into the psyche of the submarine crew was not one of them; so much of the film flounders around with nonsensical political undertones that I've seen people criticise Takashi Yamazaki for, yet it's one full display here. Glorifying suicidal charges and glossing over human experimentation as if it were a trivial matter. So much of Higuchi's talent and style isn't here, often coating everything in a horrendous digital sheen; the direction is okay at best but honestly, it could have been anyone else behind the camera, let alone Higuchi. The acting is easily one of the better aspects with everyone turning in solid performances, however, the cast is given so little to work with that all their characters end up as one-dimensional cutouts. The music by Naoki Satō is passable but far from his best work and the less said about the incredibly rough CG effects, the better. I really wanted to like Lorelei going in, but the dubious political alignments and underwhelming filmmaking stamped out any form of entertainment I could have gotten from this, I expected far better.

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The Shaw Brothers are dead, long may they live

A faithful, if a somewhat unusual tribute to the Shaw Brothers' golden age, The Bare-Footed Kid offers up a simple yet bittersweet narrative of redemption, a coming-of-age drama through a world of capitalism's corrupting influence, injected with a mixture of fresh faces and veteran Hong Kong performers. Johnnie To mixes in his patterned use of energetic camera movement and skilful with a slice of the 90s new-wave kung fu movement. There's a beautiful chemistry between Ti Lung and Maggie Cheung which adds an extra amount of sentimentality and depth to the film and a gorgeous use of colour sprinkled throughout. The action set pieces choreographed by the legendary Lau Kar-Leung more than deliver, it's ultimately the weak script and miscast lead where the film fails to connect with its punches, yet The Bare-Footed Kid sits within the realm of superb entertainment keeping the door open for more innovative Hong Kong action cinema and Johnnie To's eventual move to what he knows best...

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Revolution in the field of space archaeology!

Sayonara Jupiter has been my white whale for so long but finally, after so long, today is the day I have finally managed to sit down and watch it and boy is it so much better than its reputation suggests. I'll admit it's no masterpiece with a fair amount that doesn't quite work and is almost comparable to being a retread of Gorath but on a solar level. I will say that Bye-Bye Jupiter as it's also known, as a whole, it's greater than the sum of its parts.

In the 22nd century, scientists from an energy-depleted Earth research new fuel sources in the far corners of the solar system, where they discover an ancient alien race from Jupiter as well as the emergence of an apocalyptically dangerous black hole.

When Star Wars was released in Japan in 1978, the science fiction boom of Japan well and truly kicked into overdrive. Both Toho and Toei tried to capitalise on the success of this reignited love of science fiction with both producing their own takes on Star Wars, The War in Space and Message from Space respectively. Prior to the production of The War in Space, Toho offered a contract to author Sakyo Komatsu to write a science fiction film. Komatsu had long desired to make a film comparable to 2001: A Space Odyssey, taking further inspiration from NASA's Voyager mission to Jupiter and the outer planets. As such this is the only work of Komatsu that had been designed and destined to be a film from the very beginning.

One could argue that Toho didn't know when to tell Komatsu to stop because the film is brimming with so many ideas that it would be enough for a whole trilogy centred around the concepts presented. Just to rattle off the basic bits you have the solarization project, Jupiter Church unrest, an alien race on Jupiter, a black hole approaching, a dolphin named Jupiter and a battle with a shark. It can sometimes feel overwhelming with the amount of stuff you're expected to follow but while the film may lack a distinct focus to it, Komatsu populates the film with his typical philosophical dialogue and discussion. Being over 2-hours long, it lends the film a sense of epic scale to its storytelling but could have used a lot more focus on one distinct idea to truly rise above what it encapsulates.

The film had originally supposed to have been helmed by Submersion of Japan's director, Shirō Moritani but he tragically died the same year due to stomach cancer. Final directorial duties on the film are divided, with Komatsu being credited as the main director but is more often than not thought to have only been the major creative influence on the project and main duties fell to The Return of Godzilla director Koji Hashimoto in the only other director's credit of his career. While ultimately I feel The Return of Godzilla is the more well-rounded film, Hashimoto doesn't half deliver a visual tour-da-force and possibly one of the best-looking films in Toho's tokusatsu library with Bye-Bye Jupiter.

It manifestly demonstrates the same subtle and unpretentious filmmaking style that was also present in The Return of Godzilla. His beautifully coordinated images, combined with some excellent sound engineering and special effects, turn a third-act shootout into one of the film's most immersive sequences. Better still, we have a thematic element that he would later use brilliantly in The Return of Godzilla: a sense of unity. Even at a basic level, Hashimoto remained a humanist to the end.

Major major kudos need to be thrown towards the goat that is Koichi Kawakita in his first major special effects director credit. The film already benefitted from the work of Koji Hashimoto but add in Kawakita's special effects and the film becomes a whole other breed. It's, for a lack of a better word, simply stunning. They are jaw-dropping even by today's standards of miniature effects, the spaceships are rich with detail and, filmed at the proper camera speed, effectively convey a sense of mass and scale as they drift through the universe. Background mattes and optical effects for the stars and planets similarly look wonderful; so good, in fact, that in the few odd moments where the film decides to use a stock image of the real outer space, Kawakita's manufactured effects, oddly enough, stick out as more dynamic. Let's also not forget about the viscous, unrelenting gusts of different-coloured smoke utilized for a scene where a small ship pilots through the storm clouds of Jupiter.

My other major gripe with the film is the characters who are very thin ranging from robotic to mediocre. There are a few performances in there that try and sell the material but being this is a film predominantly shot by a Japanese crew and nearly half the film is also in English it makes some of the already poor actings in some scenes all the worse. It's a crying shame given this was also Akihiko Hirata's final film before his untimely death, Hirata is definitely one of the better players in the film but is given barely anything to do. Tomokazu Miura as Eiji Honda and Miyuki Ono as Anita give okay performances, they are both clearly trying but there seems to be a lack of understanding with some of the material present.

The other element of the film I quickly want to address is the musical score by Kentaro Haneda, who also composed the utterly divine music to one of Komatsu's other film adaptations, Virus. It's a marvellous creation, alternating between softness and sweeping awe in the background. The songs are just as beautiful but are probably more well-known nowadays for being shamelessly stolen by Hideaki Anno for use in Eva 3.0+1.0.

Overall, Bye-Bye Jupiter while being a relative mess is a thoroughly engaging, visual extravagance with one too many things going on and overly long in places. One or two revisions and this could have been a bonified Toho classic.

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