Wild and frenetic are traits of Tony Leung Siu-Hung's debut movie at Shaw Brothers. It's your regular sect war with two of the common men (Robert Mak and Max Mok) caught in the middle but mixing dizzying events, animated effects and an almost full on 100 miles per hour pace, Tony makes us watch even if we don't understand any intricacies there might be. Mak and Mok's double act (launched since Mak catches and eats a bird containing the Fire Elixir Lord Tianmo played by Chen Kuan-Tai need to restore his Yin-Yang balance in order to go out and rule again) works neatly as contrast to the mostly stoic power struggles elsewhere. Add the fact that Mok's Siu Chun is an inventor having an hot air balloon, a telescope and essentially a shotgun at his disposal, Thunderclap makes a lot of bearable noise throughout its short running time. Tony Leung himself appear as our divine narrator that is questioned by the main characters at the end of the film, further showing no one was really being very stoic about what was going on here.

This one gets complicated already at the title stage. A sequel in name only to Jeff Lau's horror-comedy Thunder Cops (an effort that in itself was a sequel to Lau's Operation Pink Squad), supposedly it was made to cash in on title and its lead Sandra Ng. Throwing out almost all comedy and horror to instead bring us a downbeat vigilante actioner, Lau's handling is rough and routinely plotted in several ways. However, despite being more or less the queen of comedy at this time, Sandra Ng goes down admirable dramatic roads as an actress for this one, something that would develop into something greater during the latter half of the 90s. Yuen Chueng Yan's action directing is also gritty and brutal (the stair shoot-out is a stylish piece of work in the 80s Hong Kong cinema tradition) and possibly employed due to the impact Tiger Cage made. Finally, the movie features a slight comedic supporting turn by Stephen Chow, before his stardom, as Ng's informant. Also with Shing Fui-On. Sunny Fang, Ann Bridgewater, Woo Fung, Eddy Ko and Jeff Lau.

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TROY'S REVIEW: Fans of bad acting gather around, for here is one of legendary overacting God Stuart Smith's finest ever performances! Our man stars as Sydney, CIA agent and ninja on the side, who is entrusted to prevent a group of evil ninjas getting their grubby mitts on the blue prints to a nuclear missile. Throw into the mix the story of crime lord, Buck and his latest henchman, David (Jimmy Wang Yu, in footage reportedly lifted from The Criminal) who faces a moral dilemma as to that which is expected of him by his employer and you have a solidly entertaining ninety or so minutes of daft fun. The real star of the show here is undoubtedly Smith himself however. How the Oscar community overlooked Mr. Smith's performance in this film is quite frankly beyond me, for our man really puts his all into this, even doing his own stunts and martial arts!

TROY'S REVIEW: Well, this is pretty insane stuff even by IFD standards! The plot concerns the Thunder project which has produced a formula that can increase the physical proportions of both plant life and animals to between 300 and 1000 times their original size! Of course, such a scientific breakthrough inevitably attracts the nefarious attentions of a terrorist group led by a chap named Solomon who needless to say promptly orders his cronies to procure the formula by any means necessary. As it happens, the attempted seizure of the breakthrough is a failure and the formula ends up in the hands of a little girl... and her intelligent pet snake! Well, you can probably guess what happens next. Yep, said snake grows... and grows... and GROWS! By the end of the film the bloody thing is as big as a skyscraper and has caused untold damage to everything around it. In between all these giant snake shenanigans we find another sub plot, i.e. newly edited in footage involving Pierre Kirby of Full Metal Ninja and Zombie Vs Ninja fame trying to track down Solomon. Cue a few fun to watch shoot outs and martial arts scenes as our man takes out Solomon's lackeys first. If it sounds strange on paper then it's nothing compared to how it transpires on screen! Whilst this is far from the most enjoyable output to spring forth from the IFD stables, it certainly figures as one of the most absurd (which is saying a lot!). This re-edit used the Taiwan monster movie King Of Snake as its source. Also known as Terror Serpent.

Hong Kong cops Ju (Ray Lui) and Leong (Alex Fong) succeed but break protocol during a mission at home (being part of the Flying Tiger Team) so they're sent on leave. Vietnam is the choice but soon thereafter Leong is caught on a false drug smuggling charge and sent to a brutal prison camp out in the forests. The lawlessness of the land means authorities won't be able to help out so Ju consciously goes in after Leong as a prisoner himself. Seeing his friend break down psychologically through torture and gangsters bullying him, their friendship makes them both focus on an escape plan, together with an even more bullied dwarf in the prison camp...

Hsu Hsia probably rips off half a dozen flicks (and scores) for his prison actioner but being less of a seasoned viewer myself (and even if not), Thunder Run is a fun exercise in concrete, unpretentious intentions. Director Hsu knows to push buttons, meaning first of all a larger than life cinematic tapestry where nothing really feels like a life circumstance snapshot. It's all an excuse to go excessive on us. Prison warden played gleefully over the top by William Ho makes sure for instance troublesome inmates will get a bath together with hungry rats. Other sights include Alex Fong experiencing a cavity search, Ray Lui biting the head of a snake in defiance and the actor actually comes off quite well as a tough, action hero throughout the film. Add a seemingly worthless but in the end sympathetic part for the actor playing the dwarf and good enough doses of pretty general gunplay/fisticuffs mayhem and Thunder Run will mean easily digested, genre stuff to you. And that's fun when done even somewhat right. Ha Chi-Jan, Jason Pai and Fung Hak-On also appear.

When in doubt, just "borrow" the template from something else. The result, Tian Di aka Chinese Untouchables (its UK video title which should give you an idea of what movie is being referenced here). Andy Lau stars as Cheung Ye-Pang, the newly appointed Anti-Drugs officer in Shanghai. A city filled to the brink with drugs and corruption. Nice gig.

What could've been somewhat interesting and dark examination of corruption at its most severe quickly crumbles. David Lai instead opts for massive doses of cartoonish and overblown character behaviour which turns Tian Di into something Hong Kong cinema does well at the best of times; not holding back. Sadly, it's all for the worse as no drama, characters or action takes on any meaning. However the movie boasts fine cinematography and production design which suggests that all reasonable effort was instead spent on the visual presentation. The dark atmosphere also gives way for some effective detours into brutal violence and Yuen Tak's action directing registers favorably at times. It comes with the price of being almost totally detached from any reality Tian Di tries to represent but at least it entertains as a separate element while it lasts.

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HK Flix.com

When action cinema's schizophrenia is clueless and frustrating, Tiger Angels seemingly gives us some slight ninja action, inserts Cynthia Khan and Yukari Oshima randomly but mainly concerns itself with a relationship comedy that sees the creation of a doppelganger so an unstable relationship could be mended again. Then Cynthia, Yukari and Billy Chow fight again. Very oddly constructed and made as a comedy primarily and action movie well after original conception clearly, the end fight does occasionally feature some stunning exchanges.

KENNETH'S REVIEW: Also known as Savage Killers, the film suffered the unfortunate fate of Steve Oedekerk literally inserting himself into it for his turkey Kung Pow: Enter The Fist in 2002. The original is in many ways typical but since it has Jimmy Wang Yu, a certain automatic cool-factor manages to creep in. The standard story of two fighting styles and two schools in need to unify gives way to Wang Yu collaborating with action director (and co-star) Lau Kar-Wing to give us fairly gritty takes on kung fu-action. Lung Fei as our villain armed with a chain and so confident he advertises where his weak spots are, becomes a memorable force despite having the Master Betty aura around him thanks to aforementioned kung-fu parody. Wang Yu also feels very at home creating the training sequences and caps the finale in a cool way.

With Yuen Woo-Ping's name attached to this star filled 80s actioner, you know you're not going to get great Hong Kong cinema. Plot is secondary here to one very other dear and import aspect, namely Hong Kong action cinema!. For a while, the choreography seems fairly sparse but the action directing Yuen's (Yuen Woo-Ping, Yuen Cheung-Yan, Yuen Shuen-Yee, Yuen Yat-Chor in addition to Paul Wong and Donnie Yen) increases the gory brutality as we go along, resulting in a splendid, hard hitting genre effort and a genuine fan favourite. The action is also designed so that performers Jacky Cheung, Simon Yam and Carol Cheng can participate to a substantial degree without overdone doubling. Also with Ng Man Tat (clearly dubbed by someone else), Johnny Wang, Donnie Yen, Irene Wan, Michael Woods and Leung Kar Yan.

This unrelated sequel to Tiger Cage doesn't come with as much star power but brings back Donnie Yen which is more than enough. Tone is a few tads lighter and comedic and Yuen Woo-Ping doesn't exactly further himself as director here. But then again no one should expect that and while Tiger Cage scored more points in my book for its brutality, the action directing team of Yuen Woo-Ping, brothers Yuen Cheung-Yan and Sunny Yuen in addition to Phillip Kwok and Donnie Yen does splendid work for the sequel. Donnie especially gets ample time to showcase his marvelous kicking skills, best featured within the sword fight with John Salvitti. Robin Shou (Mortal Kombat) also is an effective villain while Rosamund Kwan, David Wu, Michael Woods, Carol Cheng, Cynthia Khan and Lo Lieh also appear.

An alternative ending, featuring footage with Cynthia Khan as replacement for another characters actions plus an ending coda was included on the export prints but the now out of print WA dvd features the Hong Kong edit on this sequence.