The Adventurers is a Hong Kong action-thriller by experienced director Stephen Fung who had been responsible for movies such as Tai Chi Zero in the past. Starring Hong Kong star veteran Andy Lau as lead actor, Taiwan's Qi Shu as lead actress and French star Jean Reno as leading supporting character, the film tells the story of a thief who got betrayed by an unknown opponent while trying to steal one out of three valuable pieces of jewelry that form an incredibly valuable necklace. After spending five years in prison, the thief wants to complete his mission by stealing the three pieces of jewelry and uncovering those who betrayed him five years earlier. The skilled thief teams up with two youngsters and his former boss but can't be sure whom to trust, must face a determined French cop and has to deal with his former girlfriend who wants him to settle down.

The Adventurers convinces with an intriguing story with a few twists and turns in the last third that keep you hooked until the very end.

The numerous star actors deliver the goods. Andy Lau convinces as skilled thief who looks balanced on the outside but feels tormented inside. Qi Shu impresses as expressive and quirky thief who easily seduces men to take advantage of them. Jean Reno is great as haunted police officer who has his very own reasons to try to bring the thief down.

The film also intrigues with numerous charming locations around Cannes in France and Prague in Czech Republic. The thieves have to rob out a French auction house, a Chinese star actress and a Czech castle in the forest.

The movie convinces with tense situations where the thieves have to deal with unexpected opponents and difficult security systems leading to intense car chases and dramatic standoffs. They have to use technology, talent and intellect to solve numerous challenging problems.

The camera work is enjoyably calm for a contemporary action-thriller. Instead of focusing on shaky cameras for a more immersve experience, the director opted for precise shots that point out the thieves' cleverness which was the right decision.

There are only a few minor elements that kept this film away from being more than a good movie. First of all, the story of the film is partially inspired by John Woo's Killer Target. Some sources call this film a remake but I wouldn't go that far. Still, the resemblances are at times obvious. I always prefer original movies with new scripts over films copying or honoring classics.

Secondly, as so many Hong Kong action flicks, this movie also tries to include a few slapstick elements. However, these elements are quite wooden here and only distract from the interesting characters, locations and plot. It also takes away from the thieves' credibility when they are joking around on their extremely dangerous missions.

Thirdly, this film really didn't need any stereotypical love stories but includes two rather shallow examples of it. First of all, the relation between the veteran thief and his former girlfriend is predictable and shallow and doesn't add much to the movie. The script could have cut out and re-written these passages for a more vivid pace without too many unnecessary flashbacks. However, the second love story is even less intriguing and also adds some unwelcome slapstick elements to the film. The younger male thief constantly tries to impress the younger female thief and behaves like an inexperienced teenager while his arrogant love interest rejects his attempts in an overtly cool and dramatic way. Their relationship doesn't add anything to the story and even makes the characters less credible because personal and professional interests shoulnd't interfere when you're trying to raid a higly secured castle in the middle of nowhere.

Still, The Adventurers is an entertaining action-thriller with an intelligent plot, very solid acting performances, beautiful locations and costumes, interesting and challenging situations and smooth camera work. Despite a few flaws such as references to another movie, slapstick elements and shallow love stories, The Adventurers will entertain you from start to finish.

The Mayor, also known as Special Citizen, is an excellent political drama that tells the fictional story of the charismatic, greedy and influential mayor of Seoul who seeks election for a third term which will set him up for a run at the presidency. The film follows his career and life from the start of his campaign until the immediate aftermath of election day. The movie revolves around conflicts, conspiracies and corruption among the mayor's team involving betrayal, blackmail, drugs, murder, prostitution, suicide and theft. Without pointing fingers,Park In-je's movie shows how disconnected politicians are from other citizens, hence the title of the film.

The movie convinces with a twisted story exposing the abyss of the human psyche with a particularly intense middle section. The characters have depth beneath their obvious greed which makes them round but static characters. The acting performances are excellent as Korea's best actor Choi Min-sik delivers yet another career highlight portraying the twisted mayor. Female lead actress Shim Eun-kyung stands out as determined, honest and smart rookie advertisement specialist who is constantly trying to not get corrupted by her more experienced colleagues and superiors. Camera work is enjoyably calm and precise. Settings, effects and costumes are so realistic that the movie almost feels like a documentary at times or at least like a film based upon a real story.

There are only a few minor negative elements to mention. First of all, several twists of the story are predictable since movies about shameless politicians are nothing new or shocking anymore. Secondly, the movie could have had a more concise introduction, portraying the greatest moments in the mayor's career instead of throwing us into a campaign for a third term right away. Thirdly, the same thing could be said about the ending as one would have liked to know what happens next after election day. On the other side, those minor negative points also show that the great script of this movie would have made for an excellent extended televions series in the key of ''House of Cards''.

If you like realistic, intense and honest political dramas, this film will fully satisfy you. The acting skills are outstanding, the movie offers some food for thought without being overtly moralizing and the detailed script is filled with numerous twists and turns. While the movie certainly doesn't reinvent its genre, it certainly is among the better of its kind in recent memory.

Warning: Spoilers

I'm glad I didn't trust the numerous negative reviews of Railroad Tigers and decided to purchase the film. This epic war movie convinces with a set of sympathetic characters, a vivid pace and flow, stunning settings, spectacular sound and visual effects and an intriguing story partially inspired by historic events. 

The film includes an atmosphere reminding me of old American westerns with train robberies in isolated places, incorporates a few martial arts sequences that contrast the shooting duels and instills a few humorous elements that are though never getting annoying as they focus on situation comedy rather than misplaced slapstick moments. Railroad Tigers is entertaining from start to finish and makes you want to experience the whole film again once the vivid roller coaster ride is over. Despite its length above two hours, not one single minute is wasted here.

As a matter of fact, there were so many characters with intriguing background stories such as the charismatic leader of the Railroad Tigers or the resilient noodle shop owner, that the film could have easily been even half an hour longer without getting boring. Even though a few characters weren't perfectly fleshed out, antagonists and protagonists were intriguing enough to stimulate potential spin-offs. The closing scene of the film hints at a potential sequel which would be very welcome in my book.

Railroad Tigers got some unfair criticism for promoting communist propaganda which is completely exaggerated. The film features a communist soldier fleeing from Japanese troops who has about ten minutes of screen time and doesn't look too heroic and the final battle concludes with an ambush of arriving communist troops that might get five minutes of screen time but that's all. The film truly focuses on a group of railroad workers who are attempting to destroy a strategically important bridge to stop Japanese supplies to conquer the northern parts of China. The film doesn't include any obvious political propaganda and rather underlines values like courage and friendship. Other critics claimed that the Japanese weren't portrayed accurately in this film and even suggested that the movie might be slightly disrespectful or racist. Once again, this is nonsense since the film shows two quite dangerous Japanese antagonists, a brutal male military and a determined female investigator who aren't easily fooled but rather never give up and fight back until the very end. Other people criticized the film for being one of Jackie Chan's most disappointing films but along with the sinister The Foreigner, this film is the best he has made since 2011 and easily beats more shallow family entertainment in the key of Chinese Zodiac and Kung Fu Yoga. I would even consider this movie a late career highlight by Asia's most famous actor of all times.

In the end, the epic Railroad Tigers is an unfairly underrated war movie that will entertain you from start to finish with its explosive mixture of intense action sequences, character development, historic inspiration, humorous elements and western atmosphere. Some of the fight scenes are slightly grisly as some blood is shown and as the body count is quite elevated, so I would rather recommend this film to older teenagers and adults since this isn't your typical Jackie Chan movie for the whole family.

Takashi Miike did it again! His one hundredth work as a director is at least one of his very best, if not his greatest film and a serious candidate for movie of the year.

Everything about Blade of the Immortal just seems perfect to me. First of all, there's the gorgeous cinematography. The first twenty minutes of the film are shot in elegant black and white sequences and tell the background story of a samurai who becomes immortal. The two hours consist of colourful shots with calm and professional camera work. Instead of overusing special effects, the film convinces with a gripping sense for realistic sounds and visuals. It also honours the stylistics of the classic Japanese samurai movies of the sixties and seventies like Zatoichi and Lady Snowblood. The film uses a great mixture of epic long shots and intense close-ups inspired by the world's greatest directors like Sergio Leone. This intensifies the film's atmosphere and gives it an epic dimension. Just as in Sergio Leone's film, moments of silence and narrative elements are followed by shocking outbursts of violence. This makes for a diversified narrative that carries the movie despite its epic length. There wasn't one single unnecessary minute among the one hundred forty ones this film consists of.

Secondly, the movie has a story that manages to remain relatively simple to follow but still turns out to be profound because of a strong character development. Once again, the movie finds just the right balance between two extremes and the storytelling progresses in chronological and logical manner. Our lonesome samurai Manji gains his immortality from a mysterious eight hundred year-old nun after he had turned against his corrupt lord and lost his sister in an unfair fight against a horde of bandits. Fifty-two years later, Manji lives a secluded life and still has to cope with the poisoned gift of his immortality. When a girl approaches him to help her avenge her family after her father got brutally murdered and her mother raped and kidnapped, Manji sees his dead sister in the innocent Rin. After initially refusing to help, the bitter samurai ends up saving Rin's life and challenging a powerful group of warriors who desire to control the country. Manji doesn't only need to fight those ferocious warriors but has to face numerous competitors and must take care of the desperate Rin.

Thirdly, the characters have depth and are performed brilliantly by the actors and actresses involved in this film. Kimura Takuya convinces as bitter yet passionate samurai, Sugisaki Hana impresses as innocent yet traumatized young woman and Fukushi Sota delivers the goods as ambitious antagonist who soon becomes hunted himself and has to deal with a conspiracy. The numerous quirky side characters such as the mysterious eight hundred year-old nun, a female contract killer with internal conflicts and a sadist swordsman without any moral compass make the movie even more valuable.

Obviously, the fight sequences are another essential element of the film. Instead of focusing on elegance, this film concentrates on passion as the combats are quite brutal, fast and pitiless. They give the fantastic movie a gloomy and grounded note that contrasts its epic atmosphere very well. Obviously, most of these fight scenes are exaggerated when a lonesome samurai slays through a group of fifty bandits and kills all of them in roughly five minutes. This intensity is however typical for many Japanese samurai movies and is also related to the eponymous manga series. Overall, the fight sequences are brutal enough to be gripping but also exaggerated enough to fit the movie's fantastic side.

An honourable mention needs to go out to the soundtrack of the film. It always suits the respective moods of the different scenes and intensifies feelings of anger, despair, fear, introspectivity and sadness among many other elements.

In the end, Blade of the Immortal is probably my favourite movie of the year because of its clever directing, its intriguing story, its diversified characters, its intense fight sequences and fitting soundtrack. Even with his one hundredth movie, workaholic Takashi Miike proves that he cares as much about quality as he cares about quantity and that he still has a lot to show. Blade of the Immortal definitely elevates him among the greatest filmmakers of all times such as Sergio Leone and Kim Jee-woon.

Explosion is a sinister mixture of a desperate action film, an emotional drama and a conspiracy thriller. The movie tells the story of a blast technician who has once been to prison for having developed and sold explosives. As he now tries to live a normal life using his talents in mines and supporting his pregnant wife who owns a tiny restaurant, he gets involved in a conflict between two pitiless businessmen. He nearly gets killed in an explosion that brutally kills four coworkers and wants to find out how this disaster could happen. As he investigates, he becomes both the prime suspect of having caused the explosion on purpose and is seen as a menace by the two businessmen who want to hide what really happened in the mine. The blast technician soon has to clear his name, face powerful enemies and must protect his wife.

Explosion convinces on many levels. First of all, the movie has a truly sinister atmosphere. This is especially due to the settings. It's often raining or snowing, many scenes take place at night, the viewers get to explore abandoned or destroyed factory halls and mines and several places show dirt and pollution. The movie shows the dark side of China's industrial boom which gives the film a realistic touch which is far away from many idealized films of that country with strong propaganda elements. The film recalls Black Coal, Thin Ice but the locations are less static and more diversified which makes Explosion easily the superior movie.

The mixture of genres is another strength of this film. Observing the main character trying to clear his name, reorganizing his life with his pregnant wife and facing his childhood friend and police officer who is torn between helping and arresting him give the movie a humanistic touch despite all the grey settings. These dramatic sequences meet a conspiracy thriller involving two businessmen fighting each other by any means necessary. The film shows corruption, greed and vengeance as powerful motives leading to a few twists and turns. The film's solid atmosphere is often interrupted by realistic pursuits, gun battles and of course numerous explosions.

The film also has an interesting plot. The movie has a very short exposition and literally starts with a bang. From then on, the main character's personal investigation is a tense rising action. This leads to a first climax where several character get assassinated and the main character has to go into hiding. The resolution shows how the blast technician tries to find a way to clear his name and start a new life which turns out to be impossible. This leads to a final showdown and resolution in an abandoned factory hall where all three genres meet in equally balanced and strong proportions. The finale is filled with action, emotion and tension.

The characters are also quite convincing. The unpretentious main character is a desperate and quiet man who simply desires to live in peace and dreams of a better future. His desperate wife's struggles are authentic enough to make the audience really care for her. The police officer being torn between arresting and helping the accused might be the movie's most vivid character which gives the film a solid dose of energy. Even the clever villain has his very personal motives to go on a killing spree and one almost empathizes with him. Even the side characters including resilient contract killers, hectic chiefs of security and a brutal businessman are quite interesting.

There aren't many negative aspects concerning this movie. Parts of the plot were somewhat predictable and reduced the tension at times. The unusual ending felt somewhat underdeveloped in my book but was at least somewhat original.

In the end, if you like movies with a gripping, realistic and sinister atmosphere, you will most definitely enjoy this profound action, crime and drama movie. Explosion has intellectual depth without being static. This movie represents what the critically acclaimed Black Coal, Thin Ice should have been like if the director had been less pretentious. Explosion certainly deserves more attention and praise than it currently gets. Give this great film a chance at your local cinema or purchase it once it's going to be released on BluRay and DVD.