"Actor: Wenzhuo Zhao"

• The Blade | DVD | (17/04/2000) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-10.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Legendary Hong Kong Director Tsui Hark blends violent action and stunning swordplay in his remake of the Shaw Brothers classic One-Armed Swordsman. The Blade is a sweeping epic which highlights the incredible fighting talent of Chiu Cheuk Hong Kong's latest action start. When a master sword-maker adopts the son of a murdered friend (Chiu Cheuk) the boy learns the master's craft well. As a young man he learns about his fathers death at the hand of a mysterious tattooed killer (Xiong-Xin-Xin). He takes fathers broken blade and sets out to seek vengeance. The daughter Ling follows but is caught in a bloody ambush. When he tries to rescue her his arm is hacked off in the battle and he is believed dead by all except Ling and his friend who set out in search of him. But he is saved by a hermit girl who nurses him back to health where he finds an old kung fu manual and practices with the broken blade to perfect the art of one armed swordfighting. In a breathtaking finale unlike anything you have seen before our hero sets off once again to find the tattooed assassin a quest that leads to an explosive and spectacular showdown.

• The Black Sheep Affair (1998) | DVD | (03/07/2000) from £9.94   |  Saving you £13.04 (187.63%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In The Black Sheep Affair special forces agent Yim Dong (Chiu Man Chuk--the brilliant wu shu marital artist star of 1995's The Blade) is transferred to the fictional ex-Soviet Republic of Lavernia, actually Hungary, where the explosive Now You're Dead (1998) was filmed. Soon he has arrested Mishima, played by Hoi Lin who delivers a chilling performance as a ruthless Japanese terrorist who believes he is Christ returned to bring bloody redemption. Before long Mishima's fanatical followers are causing mayhem, while in a bittersweet sub-plot Yim revives his relationship with the girl he loved in Beijing before the 1989 uprising. The comparatively low budget shows occasionally, and even in the Cantonese version all the Lavernians are dreadfully dubbed with American voices, one duplicitous official coming across like a camp Oliver Reed. Against that there is an attempt to offer some political substance, and the action--a mixture of martial arts and gunplay--is fast, furious and stunningly staged, so that even as it goes ludicrously OTT it remains exhilarating. The "shoot-the-hostages" finale reaches an emotional intensity and breaks rules no Hollywood action flick would dare, turning into a John Woo-like slaughterhouse which makes the likes of Die Hard (1988) look tame. On the DVD: The end titles carry the Dolby Digital logo, so why both the Cantonese subtitled and English dubbed versions of a 1998 film are presented in two-channel mono is a mystery. The anamorphically enhanced 1.77:1 image is good but not exceptional, and exhibits some clear compression artefacts. The "music promo" is essentially one of Hong Kong Legends' own specially-made trailers, and is accompanied by more trailers for a further five films. The photo gallery is pointless but the text biographies of the two main stars are detailed enough to be interesting. Two minutes of poor quality video show Chiu Man Chuk demonstrating some wu shu moves, while a four-minute interview conducted at the same time via a translator for French television does little more than reveal the star as an amiable chap. Several of the features are also present on the DVD of Chiu Man Chuk's Body Weapon (1999). --Gary S Dalkin

• Body Weapon | DVD | (23/10/2000) from £12.73   |  Saving you £7.26 (57.03%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Beginning with a savage murder and gang rape, Body Weapon (1999) seeks to combine psycho-thriller, romantic drama and martial arts action into a provocative 90 minutes. Chiu Man Chuk follows up The Black Sheep Affair (1998) as one of two Hong Kong detectives in love with the same woman, Ling (Angie Cheung). The urgent need to solve the introductory crime is soon forgotten while the romance is settled and Ling marries the lead's best friend. That said friend predictably ends up dead; less obviously the "heroine" deals with being raped by taking some very strange lessons in revenge from an unhinged transvestite. Both the psychology and plot mechanics of what follows are unbelievable at any level, the outrageous finale even translating Ripley's disrobing at the end of Alien in the most misogynistic of situations. The identity and motivation of the chief rapist/killer make no sense in relation to what has gone before and for a Hong Kong crime film there is very little action. The best that can be said is the stars give as good a performance as they can from very poorly conceived and exploitative material. The following year Chiu Man Chuk reunited with director Aman Chang for the action comedy Fist Power which was much better received. On the DVD: The anamorphically enhanced 1.77:1 image is good, coping with the many night and low-light scenes very well. Disappointingly, the sound is functional two-channel mono for both the Cantonese English subtitled soundtrack and the laughably clumsy English dubbed alternative. The "music promo" is one of Hong Kong Legends' own specially-made trailers, and is accompanied by more trailers for a further seven films. Also included are the original theatrical trailer and a photo gallery. Two minutes of poor-quality video show Chiu Man Chuk demonstrating some wu shu moves, while a four-minute interview conducted at the same time via a translator for French television does little more than reveal the star to be a pleasant chap. The text biographies of the two stars are good, though all the features relating to Chiu Man Chuck are also available on the DVD of the far superior The Black Sheep Affair(1998). --Gary S Dalkin