A scene from the Chinese action movie HUNT THE WICKED. Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment
HUNT THE WICKED is a Chinese action flick in a contemporary crime setting that packs considerable punch in its considerable amount of punches, knifings, shootings and ‘splosions. The premise is rather standard, with more complications and twists than usual in the plot.
Miao Xie stars as Huang, a super-tough supercop pitted against huge drug manufacturing and importing ring that has long defied the efforts of the authorities. That’s partly due to the corruption among certain cops and politicians obscuring their activities and derailing most of the legit efforts. The film opens with Huang making the biggest bust to date of the meth-like pills the gang is making called Spider. It can be fatal for those who use it, and even more so for those who get hooked. In the course of Huang’s pursuit of the syndicate’s upper echelons, he must fend off major efforts by the cartel to recover their confiscated product from the secret place Huang stored it. Those efforts are either helped or hindered by a rogue ex-cop (Andy On), creating quite a bit of suspense about who should trust whom, since the latter had become known to the authorities as a major criminal.
The big draw here lies in the fight sequences, ranging from gritty one-on-ones, to heavily-populated clashes yielding high body counts. Their intensity is partly due to the fact that Miao Xie has won a number of Wushu tournaments, and On studied multiple disciplines, ranging from time at a Shaolin temple to working with Jackie Chan’s crew of trainers. The real starring credit arguably is to be shared between director Suiqiang Huo and stunt coordinator Long Zhao, with a high-five to Jun Li’s cinematography. I’d also give a nod to the location scout(s) for finding several excellent settings for the proceedings to unfold.
Despite what may strike one as protracted story arcs – including our knowing who the main villains are too long before our hero gets there – the lead performances and scale of action make this one worth watching.
HUNT THE WICKED, in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, debuts on digital platforms from WellGoUSA on Tuesday, May 20, 2025.
Well, here comes another film to reflect the season of love, Spring. We’re in a short “window” in which romance rules the multiplex just as the big noisy Summer blockbusters start to trickle in (hopefully the MINECRAFT chaos and calamity don’t spill into the other screens). Now last week we saw a “first date movie that was also a “thriller-diller” (DROP). And what follows the initial meeting, perhaps much later? The big nuptuals, natch’. As with the former flick, this one is a mix as it can be considered a comedy-drama, or “dramedy’, while also tossing in another element: it’s a remake. And you’re beginning to feel your age when you can recall going to that original film almost 32 years ago. Oh, and some more plot twists are tossed in to add more flavor and a bit of spice to THE WEDDING BANQUET.
Now, the story actually focuses on two couples involved in the title event. We first meet millennial Lesbian couple Lee (Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) at an awards function honoring PFLAG mother-of-the-year, the latter’s mum, May Chen (Joan Chen). But the evening’s not over after she receives her plaque. The duo hastily retreats to an art show for textile creator Min (Han Gi-Chan), who is the domestic partner of Angela’s old college pal, stockbroker-in-training Chris (Bowen Yang). At the end of the night, the quartet heads back to the home they share, actually, the ladies live in the main house (which Lee inherited) while the men have made the garage their “space”. Things start to change for all of them in the coming days. Min is called into the Seattle branch of his family’s international company for an online chat with his Korean grandmother Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung), who, along with her hubby, raised him after the death of his parents. She belives that it’s time for him to return to his homeland to run the family business since his schooling is finished and he has no wife (Min hasn’t “come out’ to his conservative family). Meanwhile the IVF process for Lee and Angela to start a family has suffered another setback. The latest treatment didn’t “take” so Lee has only a couple more chances for motherhood.. Meanwhile Chris rejects Min’s proposal for marriage as he doesn’t want a “green card” wedding and cause Min’s family to disown him. Later, back at the house, Lee and Chris are stunned when Angela and Min hatch a plan. They will get married so that Min can stay in the country while helping to fund Lee’s next IVF try. Min sends word of his engagement to Korea and all seems well…until Ja-Young tells him that she’s boarding the family jet and will be there to meet his fiancée in just a few hours. Can the quartet pull off this ruse in mere hours? And what happens when Grandma insists on staying to attend and plan the big ceremony and celebration?
The many dramatic and comedic moments somehow work seamlessly thanks to the talented quartet at the story’s center. After several heavy tragic roles, Gladstone flexes her humor “chops” as the partner who is set on enduring any medical procedure in order to bring a child into her and her partner’s life. Her Lee is warm and caring, even as she must deceive a few folks in order to see her dream through…up to a point. Sparks fly when she must make a stand and attempt to get Angela to “open up”. In that role, Tran often “shuts down” rather than deal with her disappointments and frustrations, particularly with her flighty mother. Tran is also very funny as she awkwardly dons the disguise of subservient “wifey”, until she gets a chance to cut loose with her ole’ college pal. As Chris, the comic gifts of Yang, so good on SNL, is tempered with the character’s longing to be with his love, while knowing that his passion could cost Min everything, and forcing Chris to push him aside to avoid being a “family crusher”. Yang continues to be the master of reaction shots, from disgust to complete panic, especially when he must hide all the “gay decor, running about as if he were in a zany 1950s sitcom. He’s a terrific counterpoint to Chan as the sweet, somewhat naive artist Min, who doesn’t understand why Chris doesn’t believe that he’ll give up everything for him. There’s also wonderful supporting work from two veteran screen actresses. Welcome back, Ms. Chen (can THE LAST EMPORER really be 37 years ago) as Angela’s brassy, often clueless martiarch who now relishes and exploits her role as the proud “media mom”. And Yuh-jung proves her MINARI Oscar was no fluke as the stern but sweet grandmother who can’t be easily conned. Also of note is the raunchy, funny work of Bobo Lee as Chris’ wild, free-spirited cousin.
Director/screen-adaptor Andrew Ahn takes many of the basic plot points of Ang Lee’s 1993 classic and puts a fresh modern spin on the family dynamics and the alternative lifestyles, though these characters today are much closer to the urban “mainstream”. Ahn makes excellent use of the Vancouver locales that stand in for Seattle, and gives us a superb inside “peek” into the tradition of Asian unions, melding the cultures of Korea and China (those post-event feasts will have you drooling). Most importantly, Ahn’s riff on Ang hits all the right romantic notes as lovers squabble and reunite, while trying to navigate around those still rigid in the “old ways”. The pace is fluid, buoyed by a vibrant soundtrack. And, as mentioned, this exceptional cast never hits a flat or false”note”. Much like the meal itself, THE WEDDING BANQUET is warm, tasty, and very satisfying.
3 out of 4
THE WEDDING BANQUET is now playing in select theatres
A scene from STRIKING RESCUE. Courtesy of WellGo USA
Tony Jaa is essentially the Bruce Lee of Thailand. He’s a gifted martial artist with black belts in multiple disciplines. He does his own stunts without CGI or wires. His films have reliably delivered plenty of high-octane action with varying degrees of story significance. Jaa’s resting face seems to be one of anger, which serves him well in this hard-hitting revenge story, STRIKING RESCUE.
We see Jaa’s wife and daughter being murdered during the opening credits. The whole film consists of working his way up the criminal echelons to kill whoever did them in. It’s a classic formula that never gets old in the right hands, whether being executed by Jason Statham, Scott Adkins, Jet Li or any other martial artist with a SAG card (or its equivalent in the dozens of other countries pumping these flicks out). Along the way, he winds up protecting the daughter of a rich guy who just might be one of those responsible for his tragic loss.
Some of Jaa’s vehicles require little or no emotional range beyond justified anger about the form of evil du jour. Offhand, I can’t recall any romances, though his love for domesticated elephants is quite profound in the pair of PROTECTOR movies which, along with three ONG BAK films, propelled him to international acclaim. A long sequence in THE PROTECTOR, in which Jaa fights his way up a wide circular, multi-story stairway ranks among the most stunning in the genre. The skill required to choreograph and execute that sequence that took several months to film made me a fan. STRIKING RESCUE features more plot complexity and character delineation than usual without shorting us on his unique style of ass-kicking. Jaa’s Muay Thai uses more knee and elbow strikes than other disciplines. It ain’t pretty but it works real good.
All the types needed for one of these offerings are well-represented, including the relatively recent trend of having a hot, skilled psycho-bitch among the male-dominated enemy ranks. This one wields two hatchets, providing another bit of novelty. Jaa’s fans will be pleased, and newbies are likely to join them. That’s about all you need to know, folks.
STRIKING RESCUE, in Mandarin Chinese, Thai and some English, with English subtitles, is available for digital streaming from WellGo USA starting Tuesday, Apr. 15 and on Blu-ray on May, 13, 2025.
Jackie Chan (right) and co-stars in PANDA PLAN. Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment
Ever since 1995’s RUMBLE IN THE BRONX lit up our screens, I’ve been a huge fan of Jackie Chan. Not only for his subsequent work on this side of the Pacific but scrounging through every available resource to watch his previous Hong Kong action flicks. To date, I’ve seen over 80 of his 146 credited roles. Nobody has ever combined physical and character comedy as delightfully as he has. His work is even more remarkable considering that he’s choreographed and performed most of his own stunts for about 45 years!
Jackie turned 70 this past April, so his level of physical artistry is obviously starting to decline. But his new kid-friendly comedy, PANDA PLAN, delivers all the slapstick energy of his usual productions. Perhaps even too much for grownups. But kids should be delighted.
Jackie plays a version of himself, thrilled by the offer to “adopt” a baby panda at a huge island theme park (mercifully, not Jurassic). But simultaneously, a wealthy sheikh hired a big gang of heavily-armed mercenaries to kidnap the furry little celebrity (the bear cub, not Jackie) for his own unexplained reasons. When they crash the ceremony for what should be an easy heist that wouldn’t require using the weapons they brandished, Jackie and a few others make it far more difficult than expected. The panda-grab is further compromised by how star-struck many of the baddies are to find Jackie there. His adoring fan base seemingly spans the spectrum from wide-eyed kiddies to hardened mercs.
Typically, Jackie frenetically copes with being forced to do in real life the fighting he’s only done on movie sets. His early training was in the gymnastics of Chinese Opera, not the realm of competitive martial arts. So, the bad guys chase the defenders and cub all over the massive place with plenty of fights and flights. It’s mostly played for laughs, with little blood and a low casualty rate.
My tepid rating is a compromise between the high degree of enjoyment it will bestow upon the little ones – especially considering the adorable CGI critter of the title that gets plenty of screen time. Panda merch should start flying off the shelves much faster than any actual panda has ever moved. For adult fans, the silliness level may seem excessive; less in balance with the story being told than has generally been the case. Also, those of us who’ve always savored the outtakes of stunts gone awry that became a Jackie trademark need not wait for them. They just roll credits alongside an up-tempo music video featuring the costars. Keep that in mind for deciding whether to send the kids to the multiplex, or adjust expectations for sitting there with them.
PANDA PLAN, in English and Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, opens Friday, Oct. 18, in select theaters.
A scene from Hong Kong action crime film CUSTOMS FRONTLINE. Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment
In CUSTOMS FRONTLINE, Hong Kong delivers plenty of high-octane, large-scale action in this subtitled contemporary cop adventure. The protagonists are the city’s harbor patrol, charged with stopping maritime smuggling. They learn a major international arms dealer that no one in law enforcement has ever seen may be routing heavy-duty weaponry through their waters. The case begins with their boarding an inbound ship with all its crew having been murdered. The retirement benefits for employees in that “industry” seem severely lacking. No union? No perks.
The harbor police teams with reps from Interpol in the pursuit. Our heroes are two guys leading the way. Cheung (Jacky Cheung) is the grizzled veteran. Lai (Nicholas Tse) is his adoring disciple. The story is complex, with scenes occurring in multiple countries, on land and sea, keeping lots of balls in the air, including who is trustworthy among the authorities. We know who the big bad boss is long before the cops do and witness the level of cold cruelty on that side of the crime coin. Many times.
Although Erica Li’s script is above average for the genre with a few surprises along the way, the real stars are director Herman Yau and the horde of stunt and F/X specialists who crafted the sets and choreographed the mayhem. Several sequences are epic in proportion, with a stunning array of shootouts, explosions and crashes while running up an impressive body count. Hong Kong’s sleek, modern architecture and picturesque harbor contrast nicely with the sordid events occurring therein.
Character development is better than most but the action provides more than sufficient reason to watch, and preferably on the largest available screen.
CUSTOMS FRONTLINE, in Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese with English subtitles, opens in theaters on Friday, July 19.
Cecilia Han stars as the worried mother in the Donnie Yen rescue thriller POLAR RESCUE. Courtesy of Well Go USA
I’ve been a big Donnie Yen fan for years. This martial artist/actor has been a mainstay of Chinese action movies – comedic and dramatic – for decades. For Western audiences, he may be best known for his appearances in several films about China’s legendary real-life hero Ip Man. Besides Yen’s fighting skills, he invariably projects the calm integrity of a Gary Cooper. His latest high-profile role on our screens was the blind, yet super-lethal, and highly-principled assassin co-star in JOHN WICK 4.
Donnie is now over 60. So, like Jackie Chan, his time as a credible action hero may be waning. Preparing for the next phase of his career is the only reason I can imagine for his producing and starring in this rather uninspired family drama, POLAR RESCUE (a/k/a COME BACK HOME).
In POLAR RESCUE, Donnie Yen plays a dad on vacation with his wife and two young kids in the snow-covered mountains. Their bratty son petulantly insists they go to a lake with a “monster” he wants to see. Despite the weather being so bad that the main road to it is closed, dad dutifully tries another route. At a rest stop, the boy wanders off and winds up lost in the sparsely populated region during this harsh winter. Most of the running time covers the search.
Every trope is pulled out of the proverbial hat, from remorse to panic to anger to suspicions, plus media frenzy and various clashes among the principals to prolong the suspense of whether, and in what condition, they’ll find the little jerk… uh, I mean, the missing lad. Yen is sufficiently convincing as a father who variably feels guilty, frustrated and zealously determined to find the boy. Cecilia Han, who has won a handful of awards, is limited to typically marginal poses for a worried mother, alternating between hand-wringing and anger, apart from a few flashbacks to happier times.
The cinematography is excellent, with particularly fine set designs and enhancements of the exterior locations. The problem is the script. Characters and story arcs are too familiar for anyone who’s seen even a few such adventures to feel the desired level of tension. In the brief time before he disappears, the kid was so annoying that I found myself thinking the family might be much happier without him – almost a non-comic RANSOM OF RED CHIEF analog. In that classic tale, the kidnapped boy was such a pain in the ass that the guys who snatched him wound up paying the parents to take him back! That was certainly not the writers’ intent here but they still elicited that reaction in this viewer’s emotional mix.
Yen’s career will surely resume its accustomed quality, regardless of genre. This one unfortunately won’t make his highlight reel.
POLAR RESCUE, in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, debuts on Blu-ray and on digital from Well Go USA on Tuesday, Mar. 26.
A scene from the Chinese action flick WOLF PACK. Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment
WOLF PACK is a fast-paced, subtitled action flick from China that’s well worth having to read the dialog – partly because there isn’t too much of it in proportion to the shooting and fighting time. An elite mercenary unit of ex-soldiers (hence, the title) opens with rescuing a young humanitarian doctor (Aarif Rahman) kidnapped by terrorists. The main plot involves the bad guys’ effort to destroy an oil pipeline that’s vital to China’s needs, both foreign and domestic.
The leader (Jin Zhang) is a hard-nosed veteran of many battles. Luxia Jiang co-stars as the attractive female member of the team that’s become almost mandatory in recent action flicks from all countries who crank them out. Diego Dati plays the typically brilliant, ruthless head honcho of the terrorists. All three mentioned in this paragraph fill their roles in excellent style.
Writer/director Michael Chiang delivers a taut package of action and suspense that seems shorter than its 105 minutes. That’s always a plus in my book. The last act includes a literal and figurative ticking bomb scenario with time running short for our heroes to save the day. Action sequences are mostly gun battles, except for a few well-staged hand-to-hand fights. No expense was spared on special effects and sets, adding a layer of complexity to the crisis. No romantic subplots or nudity. The violence is large-scale and frequent but not particularly graphic.
If there’s a nit to pick, it’s the humanitarian doctor’s character arc. He’s a scrawny pacifist who initially hates the mercs that saved him and all they represent – rentable soldiers for any price, regardless of principle. But finding himself enmeshed with them in extreme peril rapidly turns him into a super trooper, joining their ranks and somehow possessing weaponry and fighting skills, with absolutely no explanation of how he could have gone full Rambo so quickly. Fortunately, the plot moves quickly enough to keep you from dwelling on that question. It also includes a couple of surprising elements that help separate it from others in the genre. Not special, but certainly worth a look to fill your adrenaline needs without overtaxing the cerebral.
WOLF PACK, in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, is available on Blu-Ray DVD starting Tuesday, Jan. 23.
Miao Xie as Cheng in EYE FOR AN EYE: BLIND SWORDSMAN (MU ZHONG WU REN). Courtesy of WellGoUSA
Chinese martial arts films have a long tradition of including quite an array of masterful fighters with significant disabilities. Many of them feature a hero who is blind, deaf, missing an arm, etc. yet still able to defeat whatever evil being or force must be eliminated for the common good. That usually yields a bunch of intricately choreographed battles – one-on-ones with the worst, often preceded by dispatching hordes of underlings and anonymous minions.
EYE FOR AN EYE: BLIND SWORDSMAN (MU ZHONG WU REN) follows the pattern in a relatively low-key production set in the distant (pre-firearms) past. Cheng (Miao Xie) has the unlikely job of itinerant bounty hunter for the government. He’s very good at it, of course, despite his lack of sight. The film opens in a gambling den. We soon learn he’s been hunting the region’s bad guys down for a decade. Remaining skills are evident when he doesn’t need vision to tell that they’re cheating, leading to action that establishes his credentials for both integrity and mad skills. Cheng is quiet, humble and all business.
Unfortunately, he stops for a drink at what will become the sight of a massacre by an evil warlord, including the rape of a lovely woman (Wieman Gao) who was about to be married. When the local authorities, obviously feeling the perps are too powerful for them to handle, decline, Cheng takes up her cause of seeking justice. That comprises the rest of the running time which includes a couple of important non-combat roles for women in the plot. As the genre goes, this one plays out more sedately than many, even venturing into the CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON realm of lyricism in a few picturesque scenes. The final battle will remind fans of the sequence in KILL BILL: VOL. 1 between The Bride (Uma Thurman) and O Ren Rishii (Lucy Liu).
Those seeking a sword-fest of splatter will find this to be on the tame side. Writer/director Bingjia Yang pulls a lot of punches, cutting away early in scenes of mass sword fights, returning only to show the number of prone henchmen killed or wounded while our eyes were diverted to something else. The fights he displays are diverse and well-choreographed, relatively free of wire work and other special effects that turn fiction into fantasy. One exception is a cloaked baddie with almost supernatural agility and speed. Cool scenes with him in motion.
There’s nothing particularly memorable about the production for those who devour Asian action fare from the 1970s to the present. But it’s non-gory enough to embrace those preferring character and story arcs to blood lust, while having a fair amount of mayhem for the adrenaline junkies.
EYE FOR AN EYE: BLIND SWORDSMAN (MU ZHONG WU REN), in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles, debuts Friday, Nov. 28, streaming on demand and on DVD and Blu-Ray.
A scene from YOUNG IP MAN: CRISIS TIME. Courtesy of WellGoUSA
I’ve enjoyed many of the films based on Ip Man, the eponymous actual Chinese martial arts hero of the last century – especially the batch starring Donnie Yen. YOUNG IP MAN: CRISIS TIME is set in 1917, when Ip Man came to Hong Kong as a teenager to further his education. Unfortunately, his upper-crust school is targeted by a big time criminal who’d just escaped from prison to occupy the whole place, holding the entire student body for ransom, aided by a small army of hench-persons.
Ip Man, of course, is compelled to rise to the occasion despite overwhelming odds, diminutive stature and a couple of other personal complications. In structure, this one more closely resembles a Bruce Willis DIE HARD ordeal than most traditional martial movies. I wanted to like this film more than I could. The production is lavish enough, and there are some satisfying action sequences but two factors blocked the path to a higher rating.
First, although claiming to be set in 1917, they seemingly borrowed sets, costumes and props from a recently-wrapped period piece occurring in the 1930s to ‘40s. I’m all for recycling, but this bit of economizing created a huge distraction from the story for any of the diminishing audience base that can still distinguish between eras. At least no one used a cell phone.
Second, Pantheras Freedman may not have been the best choice for the lead here. Though 26 at the time of filming, he did look like a fresh-faced teenager. But after so many other heroic productions – some of which had included Ip Man’s early years – Freedman lacked the gravitas associated with that legendary figure. The dialog was fine. He said all the principled words meant to establish the requisite integrity and courage for honoring the man, but they sounded more like rote than conviction.
In 1992, after the Indiana Jones films had been such a phenomenal success, George Lucas whipped up a TV prequel series, THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES, with Sean Patrick Flanery as the youth that would become the Harrison Ford character. Although it only lasted 28 episodes, production values were quite exceptional for the medium, and Flanery captured just enough of Indy’s panache to make the show worthy of 10 Emmys, and a slew of other nominations. Pretty much what one would expect from Lucas, irrespective of screen size. This one falls well short of that mark.
Had this been the same movie, except with Freedman playing a fictional kid forced to rise to an occasion, they could have matched the dates with the accoutrements, and not been pressed to live up to all that rich historic and cinematic past. If you’re unfamiliar with the Ip Man background (which includes the fact that his most famous student was Bruce Lee), your chances of enjoying the excitement this does contain should be significantly greater.
YOUNG IP MA: CRISIS TIME, mostly in Mandarin with English subtitles, streams on Hi-YAH! starting Apr. 28, and will be available on Blu-Ray and DVD as of May 16.
Du Yuhang in THE GRANDMASTER OF KUNG FU. Courtesy of WellGo USA
For fans of Chinese martial arts movies, THE GRANDMASTER OF KUNG FU offers a variation on a very familiar theme. Set in the early 20th century while Japan is occupying much of China, national pride for both seems to hinge on whether kung fu is superior to karate, and the question will be determined in a winner-take-all match.
The invaders strive and scheme to assert dominance by demoralizing the local fighters and, consequently, the populace. The Chinese must win to keep their martial arts schools open to maintain its cultural identity despite the occupation. This premise has been recycled a zillion times ever since the Hong Kong action boom of the 1970s, often incorporating historic heroes like Ip Man or Wong Fei Hung. Western viewers will primarily associate Donnie Yen with the former, and Jet Li with the latter. This member of that vaunted fraternity of oft-filmed icons is Huo Yuanjia, who was also played by Jet Li in FEARLESS (2006).
So why spend your time on yet another iteration of a plot and premise you’ve likely seen before? Several reasons. Du Yuhang, who replaced Yen in the latest extensions of the IP MAN franchise, does a fine job here as the modest hero, reluctantly rising to defend the honor of his fighting style and country. He resembles Yen not only in looks, but in conveying that essential aura of quiet dignity and integrity between and during his fights – like Gary Cooper in most of his Westerns.
Since the star was an actual Wushu champion before his acting career, action sequences are artfully choreographed and more natural in scale than many others. Very little wire work; no exotic weapons; the slow-mo insertions accentuating highlight moves are deployed to good advantage. Lighting and camera angles are above average, allowing viewers to follow what‘s happening more clearly than is often the case. Fights are also more reasonable in duration, unlike many others in which the protagonists suffer absurdly prolonged beatings before prevailing, as we always knew they would
Perhaps the best facet is that director Cheng Si-Yu knew he was telling an oft-told tale, and pared this incarnation to a tight package running under 80 minutes. Also, as one who has endured subpar audio and visual elements (often including horrid English dubs) in dozens of streamed vintage chopsocky flicks from the Shaw Brothers and other studios of the 1970s-80s, it’s a pleasure to watch the new generation of these films with excellent production quality. Japanese viewers will likely feel otherwise, since, as always, those invading characters are portrayed as mostly devious and excessively brutal, with only the occasional warrior of honor among them. But the country that makes the movie gets to write the script the way it wants.
THE GRANDMASTER OF KUNG FU, in Mandarin with English subtitles, is streaming now on Hi-YAH!, and available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital formats as of Jan. 31.
