"Actor: Terence Yin"

• Lara Croft - Tomb Raider / Tomb Raider 2: The Cradle Of Life | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £26.99

  Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life may be an improvement on its 2001 predecessor, but its appeal is mostly aimed at fans of the video games that inspired both movies. That pretty much leaves you with some fun but familiar action sequences, and the ever-alluring sight of Angelina Jolie (reprising her title role) as she swims, swings, kicks, shoots, flies, jet-skis, motorcycles, and free-falls her way toward saving the world, this time by making sure that a grimacing villain (Ciaran Hinds) doesn't open Pandora's Box (yes, the actual mythological object) and unleash a deadly plague that will "weed out" the global population. Exotic locations add to Jolie's own coolly erotic appeal, but we're left wondering if this franchise has anywhere else to go. --Jeff Shannon

• Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £2.99   |  Saving you £17.00 (568.56%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Angelina Jolie returns as archaeologist and explorer extraordinaire Lara Croft who has to journey to a sunken underwater temple that leads to a sphere containing the mythical Pandora's Box.

• Gen X Cops | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Produced by Jackie Chan (who also makes an uncredited cameo), Gen-X Cops is an attempt to kick-start a franchise that will play well in the international market--hence the odd mix of Cantonese and English dialogue throughout. Match, Alien and Jack are three unruly students kicked out of cadet college and adopted as a crack undercover unit of delinquent Gen-X Cops by a put-upon police inspector given to epileptic fits in times of stress. Augmented by token hacker chick Y2K, they are assigned to a case involving a shadowy, arms-dealing Yakuza and double-crossing Triad warlords. The principal cast, mainly made up of unknowns, models and Cantonese pop stars, inject their roles with an infectious charm and enthusiasm while Benny Chan (Code of Honour) admirably keeps a handle on the non-stop plot twists. The action relies more on gunplay and pyrotechnics than martial arts. The three leads dodge bullets and bomb blasts without the aid of stuntmen. Among several stunning set pieces are a gun battle in a labyrinthine boat warehouse, skydiving from skyscrapers and an explosive finale in Hong Kong's famed conference centre. On the DVD: Fully-animated menus and 30-chapter scene selection are just the tip of the iceberg with this feature-packed DVD. Extras include "No Pain No Gain", a 30-minute "making of" documentary, a music video for the Gen-X theme tune "You Can't Stop Me", in which the actors make like the Shanghai Sex Pistols but come off like Boyzone gone bad. There are also extensive cast and crew features and production notes. The transfer of the main feature is sharp and clear, presented in letterboxed widescreen with Dolby sound. An impressive selection of viewing options includes Cantonese dialogue with removable English sub-titles or an alternative English-dubbed audio track. --Chris Campion

• City Of Lost Souls | DVD | (18/11/2002) from £12.67   |  Saving you £5.31 (54.86%)   |  RRP £14.99

  A stylised and violent thriller, prolific director Miike Takashi's The City Of Lost Souls (2000) is set in the ganglands of Tokyo and pays homage to Sergio Leone, Quentin Tarantino and, in a daft, animated cockfighting sequence, The Matrix. Mario (Teah) is the Japanese-Brazilian gunslinger fresh out jail who, in a hilariously audacious action sequence, hijacks a helicopter to save his Chinese girlfriend Kei (Michelle Reis) from deportation. He must then secure 18 million yen to secure fake passports for both of them to make a new life for themselves in Australia. In a misconceived operation, Mario arrives at the lair of the intriguing Ko, Kei's ex-boyfriend--a self-assured, effeminate young exchange student--who is somehow head of a vicious gang of Triads. He is on the point of buying a consignment of cocaine from decadent, cold-blooded Yakuza gangster Fushimi when Mario's arrival triggers a shootout, with Mario escaping with the wrong suitcase. Now, in time-honoured True Romancefashion, Mario and Kei are on the run from the mob. Although visually tricksy with some strong set-pieces, The City of Lost Souls is rather hazy when it comes to story and characterisation. We get little sense of the runaway couple as people. A young blind girl is introduced into the tale and there are romantic moments between Mario and Kei but these feel like sugary palliatives to the bloodshed rather than touching moments. Better perhaps to check out Takashi's Audition, a brilliantly gruesome satire on male Japanese attitudes towards womanhood. This is a flashier, faster but less artistically satisfying affair. On the DVD: The City of Lost Souls is presented in video aspect ratio 1.85:1, with reasonable clarity and sharpness. However, the English subtitles are a little pidgin and slapdash in places, none of which improves the main special feature, a rather dull and vague interview with director Takashi. --David Stubbs