A fairly good documentary (especially considering it comes from Arena Video) that shows the history of Hong Kong action cinema, concentrating mostly on martial arts movies. I would have liked more treatment of heroic bloodshed movies (Russell seems slighted against the genre for some reason) and clips from better movies. Let's put it this way -- there's about ten minutes dedicated to Cynthia Rothrock and three about Chow Yun-Fat. Rothrock is a good martial artist, and she does have some importance within the history of HK cinema as the first westerner to become an action star. However, there's really no denying that Chow was (and is) a much bigger star and deserves more treatment than the lip service he is given here.

But there are some good interviews with notables such as Sammo Hung and Ti Lung as well as some interesting information. Overall, a decent presentation hampered somewhat by a muddy sound mix that makes Russell's narration inaudible at times.

RATING: 6

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