Brothers is a mixture of a historical drama and a military action movie. Based upon true events, it tells the tragic story of two brothers. The older brother protected the younger from a ruthless criminal whom he killed. He had to spend ten years in prison. Upon his release, the older brother decided to throw a party that quickly ran out of control. The two got arrested but instead of being sent to prison, they were supposed to be trained as soldiers by the Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War. They tried to escape but while the younger brother fled into the woods, the older brother got caught before he could leave. Five years later, the younger brother has joined the Chinese Communist Party and is asked to escort a group of female musicians to a strategically important city. On his way to High City, he gets ambushed by a group of Kuomintang soldiers led by his brother. The two brothers have to keep their cool in front of their colleagues but secretly start talking about what has happened to them. It soon turns out that both of them have drastically changed. The younger brother who was once innocent and naive has turned into a reliable and resilient sergeant. The older brother who was once careless and ill-disciplined has turned into a clever and ruthless leader. Still, the old brother wants to protect his younger brother and tries to prevent by any means necessary that he goes to High City to find certain death. However, the older brother underestimated the younger brother's determination and the two friends soon turn into foes.

One element that immediately stands out with this film is the use of impressive visual effects reminding me of the Sin City franchise. Most shots are in black and white with specific elements being painted in flashy colours such as blood, gunfire or some of the female musicians. 

While this approach gives the movie a visually stunning look, it certainly takes away from the gripping story. Despite the serious circumstances elaborated in the plot, the film fails to builds up any tension and plods along for prolonged periods of time. The audience is led to focus on the visual effects and fighting scenes but all other elements remain disappointingly shallow. 

The acting performances are rather unspectacular. The two brothers seem constantly overwhelmed by emotions, supporting each other at one moment just to try to kill each other a few moments later. The supporting characters aren't developed very well and seem quite lifeless. Especially the shy love story between the younger brother and one of the female musicians could have been much stronger. The short running time doesn't help in that aspect either. Many characters are introduced on the side and end up dying a few minutes later anyway. 

The plot has one minor twist in the final quarter but fails to build upon this element and ends on a bloody but simplistic resolution.

In the end, Brothers is worth to be watched thanks to its stunning visual aspects, its numerous prolonged fighting scenes and its steady pace from start to finish thanks to a concise running time. The plot however doesn't exploit its full potential, the historical elements aren't fleshed out and most characters remain shallow or confusing. Brothers is an entertaining experience and worth to be watched once but overall lacking quality to leave a deeper impression.

Big Brother is a highly entertaining movie that mixes social drama with some martial arts action elements. The movie tells the story of a veteran with a troubled past who comes back to his former Hong Kong high school to work there as a social science teacher. The school faces several problems such as reduced funds, obsolete infrastructures and difficult students. The protagonist uses quite unusual strategies to help his students and invests a lot of energy and time to solve their individual problems. While he soon gets along with his students, his colleagues and the principal are quick to criticize him and Henry Chen soon realizes that being a teacher might become his biggest challenge yet.

Donnie Yen's latest movie is so efficient because it combines social drama and action scenes in a very balanced way. The plot is quite mature, profound and serious. The occasional fight scenes offer welcome breaks from the intense content. The film convinces with intriguing characters that have troubled pasts. Viewers will connect with the war veteran who was everything but an obedient student, his former friend and antagonist who wasn't given the chance to realize his dreams and especially the students who have serious problems such as poverty, criminality and addictions. The film comes around with life-affirming, optimistic and positive message that are truly inspiring, especially if you are a student or teacher yourself.

Some people might criticize that this film features less spectacular fights than other movies starring Donnie Yen but this reduced and realistic approach suits the film very well. Other people might argue that such an intense social drama would be better off without any big fights at all but the serious content is much easier to digest with these vivid sequences. Big Brother leaves the trodden path, tries out an unusual combination of genres and succeeds almost perfectly to my very positive surprise.

If you like social dramas and martial arts films, you will adore this movie that turns out being one of the best in Donnie Yen's impressive career. The content, messages and vibe of the movie will make you think even long after the movie is over. Big Brother is a film for your body, brain and heart and one of the most positive surprises of the year.

Europe Raiders is a quite entertaining action-thriller with strong martial arts sequences that comes around with a major and quite efficient twist in its surprising conclusion. The movie revolves around an invention that makes it possible to track down terrorists around the world. This tool has however been misused by the Central Intelligence Agency and its inventor died in grief and regret. Many years later, the inventor's very intelligent daughter seeks vengeance and manages to steal a part of the invention. The inventor's former bodyguard and friend cooperates with his female colleague and love interest in order to bring the tool back for the Central Intelligence Agency. To achieve this goal, the duo must cooperate with the inventor's imprisoned son whose goals are quite shady. Quite soon, a family drama unfolds and leads to a brutal showdown.

There are many positive elements about this movie that reminds me of the glorious days of Hong Kong cinema in the late eighties and early nineties. First of all, the film has fluid pace and a perfect length. Secondly, the dynamic martial arts elements are performed in a very grounded way which give the movie a more realistic touch than similar efforts. Thirdly, the characters are quite interesting as one cares for the gentle yet determined bodyguard and his quirky yet charming colleague but also for the desperate daughter and mysterious son of the sympathetic inventor. Fourthly, the locations are quite interesting as the film takes place in numerous beautiful cities in Italy. Fifthly and most importantly, the film comes around with a twist that I didn't see coming but that made sense to me and ended the film on a very high note.

A few elements need to be criticized as well. There are too many artificially flavored special effects in this film. This still looks cool in the opening sequence that could come from the James Bond franchise but the final showdown ressembles a video game rather than an actual movie. The depiction of the Central Intelligence Agency members and their objectives remain relatively shallow as they are quickly stigmatized as bad guys without adding any depth to it. The plot seemed to be somewhat shallow until the final twist turned it around in a most positive way.

In the end, I can recommend the movie to those who like and miss Hong Kong action-thrillers of the eighties and nineties. Europe Raiders gives you everything you need from breathtaking fights over intriguing characters to a story with a major twist. Tony Leung convinces as cool protagonist while Tang Yan, who might have her breakthrough with this role, complements him with breathtaking charm and beauty. Ignore the negative reviews and enjoy the wild ride.

The Island is a mostly entertaining mixture of a survival drama with some social criticism, slapstick comedy and romantic elements. It tells the story of about thirty work colleagues who get into a heavy storm and strand on an isolated island. When nobody comes to their rescue, the group elects a military veteran as their leader who soon starts to abuse his power. The group splits into two camps when a clever businessman discovers a shipwreck with useful tools and convinces some of his colleagues to join his group. The story follows two unlucky brothers who soon realize that the military veteran is a sadist while the clever businessman is a liar and decide to live on their own. In order to feel superior just once in their lives, they successfully plan to play the two groups off against each other in order to become the new leaders. As time goes by, the two brothers need to decide whether they want to be leaders on an isolated island or ordinary people in a civilized world.

The movie starts very well with stunning special effects in a dramatic storm. The different characters are nicely developed and very distinctive. Every character has obvious strengths and weaknesses but living in the savage nature shows who the characters really are. The story is less interesting than the gripping character developments that have major impacts on the plot. The film finds the right balance between serious survival adventure with some social criticism related to the selfishness of mankind and some more light-hearted elements such as situation and slapstick comedy but also a romance between the older brother and one of the female co-workers.

The Island also has a few minor flaws. The movie is at least twenty minutes too long and the middle section is both repetitive and drifts at times off into the realm of fantasy instead of keeping the realistic survival story mode. The ending of the movie also feels stretched as there are additional scenes during and even after the credits. A more concise film would have been much more intense for the viewers. Personally, I didn't like Qi Shu's performance very much and don't understand why she is featured in so many movies these days. She is neither a particularly good actress nor a particularly beautiful woman that she often has to incarnate in my book. While other characters evolve mentally but especially physically on the island as they grow beards, long hair or get dirty and rough skin, Qi Shu's character always looks as if she came out of a beauty studio with perfect teeth, clean skin and smooth hair, even after having spent far over one hundred days on an isolated island. Her character simply feels misplaced and looks like a Barbie Doll in a cabinet of horrors.

In the end, I would still recommend The Island if you are looking for a quirky survival drama with intriguing characters. The story is somewhat shallow and the movie has its lengths but it's overall still very good thanks to outstanding acting performances, great camera work, exotic locations, poignant sound effects and impressive special effects as well as an interesting and mostly balanced mixture of different genres.

The Great Hypnotist offers an intriguing mixture of a psychological thriller and a mysterious drama. The movie convinces with a gloomy atmosphere from start to finish. With a length around one hour and a half without the credits, the film has solid pace and is coherent and consistent. The story is also very interesting and comes around with a few minor surprises and one twist that might be predictable for genre experts but that is still greatly executed because the movie offers many clues and details to the viewers. This immersive film is quite intellectual and offers some food for thought and debates long after you have watched it.

The story revolves around a famous psychologist who uses hypnosis to make his patients fight their inner demons. One day, the case of a troublesome woman who believes to see ghosts around her but doesn't understand their purpose is referred to the psychologist. It turns out that this isn't only going to be his most complex but also his most personal case.

There aren't too many negative elements to mention in this very good film. What bothers me a little bit is the fact that the two main characters are hard to symapthise with at first contact. The psychologist is full of himself while the patient acts in a hostile way. Some of these behaviors are explained towards the end and the last third of the film changes the initial perceptions completely. Still, the slightly antipathic characters make an initial approach to the film somewhat difficult. However, your patience will be rewarded by the end of the movie.

In the end, you should watch The Great Hypnotist if you like psychological thrillers or mysterious dramas. This movie stands out with its challenging story that requests the viewers to immerse themselves fully into a highly atmospheric film. Thanks to a gloomy atmosphere, this film is best enjoyed on a lonely night at home.