Jason Wu Jing returns with a bang again. This time he’s the good hearted hired killer Bo who head over to a small island off Hong Kong where a triad leader is hiding. His job is to kill and return with the head. This is a revenge killing by his hirer.

Bo  easily kills and takes the head but he cannot get off the island when it’s closed down in a typhoon warning. Last ferry brought some hoods sent by the triad leader’s Japanese wife who was unable to contact her husband. They found the body and was instructed by the dead triad leader’s wife that the missing head must be recovered at all cost. As the gangsters comb the outlying village, Bo befriended a local policewoman, Holly,  when he helped her rescue a cat that had climbed up a tree. Later, Holly confronted 3 strangers in a small eatery on suspicion that they were wanted robbers and a fight ensured. Bo saved her and subdued the 3 robbers.

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From the director of Strange Woman, Strange Man comes the family melodrama Likable or Not (a.k.a. I Hate You, But It’s Fine) starring a new generation of rising stars like Han Ji Hye (Sweet 18), Kim Ji Suk ( The Vineyard Man), and Cho Dong Hyuk (Mr. Goodbye). Like its predecessors, this daily drama has a firm foothold in the ratings chart. In 2005, Strange Woman, Strange Man came second only to the blockbuster drama Jumong in overall ratings, and Love in Heaven (a.k.a. Dear Heaven and Sky) dominated the national ratings for a number of weeks in early 2007. I Hate You, But It’s Fine has recently been enjoying the #1 spot in viewership, even beating out the two primetime heavyweights Four Gods and Dae Jo Young. Its mass appeal lies in the tried-and-true formula, presenting a warm family classic that revolves around everyday antics filled with lighthearted humor and occasional social messages to mix things up.

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Fong Sai Yuk 1

Starring the fabulous Jet Li, this incredible historical epic with its deft blend of high drama, slapstick and more subtle forms of comedy coupled with breathtaking martial arts action, represents Hong Kong?filmmaking at its very best. The story contains many serpentine twists and a complex mixture of plots and subplots. The story is set during the Manchu dynasty in Canton. Li plays Sai-Yuk, a courageous young martial-arts expert who is the very best around, as can be seen in the opening kung-fu matches. Those he beats swear vengeance and a chaotic fight breaks out. All involved, including Sai-Yuk, end up in jail. Sai-Yuk’s father is most displeased. Later Tiger Lei, a local official, decrees that whoever can beat his wife Siu Huan in a match will win his daughter Ting Ting’s hand in marriage. Lei then builds an enormous scaffold on which the combatants will fight; the first fighter to touch the ground loses. Sai-Yuk gladly takes on the feisty mother.

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One of the best period kung-fu actioners Hong Kong has to offer, Iron Monkey is produced by Tsui Hark and helmed by renowned filmmaker and action director Yuen Woo Ping (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Action greats Donnie Yen (SPL) and Yu Rong Guang (My Father is a Hero) team up and face off in blistering martial arts set pieces. Set in the late 19th-century Canton folklore era of patriotic heroes, evil oppressors, and chest-thumping righteous action, Iron Monkey revolves around the heroic struggles of a patriotic vigilante, folk hero Wong Kei Ying, and his even more famous son Wong Fei Hung, here still an adolescent and played by actress Angie Tsang.

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Legendary director John Woo (A Better Tomorrow, The Killer) returns to Asia after fifteen years in Hollywood with Red Cliff, his adaptation of the Chinese classic, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Woo’s epic is much more faithful and grand than the recent Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, but the director still puts his own personal stamp on the material, concentrating on his human heroes, their personal relationships, and above all the brotherhood they forge in the heat of battle. The first of two films chronicling the legendary battle, Red Cliff is without doubt the Chinese film event of the year.

In Red Cliff 1:

208 A.D., The Battle of Chang Ban. Liu Bei (You Yong) and his followers narrowly escape the armies of Prime Minister Cao Cao (Zhang Feng Yi), but Cao Cao’s lust for power continues to grow. Fearing that Liu Bei and the Kingdom of Shu cannot oppose Cao Cao, strategist Zhuge Liang (Kaneshiro Takeshi) proposes an alliance with the Kingdom of Wu. However, Wu ruler Sun Quan (Chang Chen) is uncertain on challenging Cao Cao. Zhuge Liang instead looks to persuade Sun Quan’s chief strategist Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), and discovers in Zhou a kindred spirit versed in the arts as well as battle. The two men form an instant bond, and decide to battle Cao Cao at the water port of Red Cliff. Their alliance comes not a moment too soon, as Cao Cao approaches with an army that vastly outnumbers the combined Wu and Shu forces. But Zhuge Liang has a plan -- one that will hopefully enable the smaller force to emerge victorious.

The battle takes place in Red Cliff 2:

Picking up where the first film left off, Red Cliff 2 finds Wu princess Sun Shang Xiang (Vicki Zhao) behind enemy lines. As she plays spy for Shu strategist Zhuge Liang (Kaneshiro Takeshi), Sun Shang Xiang strikes up an inadvertent friendship with an unknowing enemy (Tong Da Wei). Beset by typhoid, Liu Bei (You Yong) and the Shu forces retreat, leaving only Zhuge Liang to aid the remaining forces of Wu. Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) resort to subterfuge and cunning mindgames, seeking any advantage against the increasingly overconfident Cao Cao (Zhang Feng Yi). However, their forces are still vastly outnumbered by Cao Cao’s, and with the battle fast approaching, victory seems far from assured. In the end, their only hope may by an unexpected plan launched by Zhou Yu’s wife, the beautiful Xiao Qiao (Lin Chi Ling), as well as a surprising change in the wind…

Red Cliff 1 Battle of the 8 Trigram Formation: Zhuge Liang’s plan to entice Cao Cao’s advance guard to chase some skirmishers, and then trap them in a battlefield maze and destroy them.

Part 1 of video:

Part 2 of video:

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