Armed with one of the longest titles I’ve ever seen, “Once Upon A Time In High School” is an engaging coming-of-age Korean drama. This is a rather brutal film that apparently does a really good job of showing what schools were like in 70s South Korea. At times, it reminded me more of prison films such as “Island Of Fire”.

In this film, Hyeon-su (Kwon Sang-woo “Hitman: Agent Jun”) is an avid fan of Bruce Lee (“Fist Of Fury”) when he gets transferred to a different school in Seoul. The staff routinely hit the students with batons and some of the more aggressive students like to extort and bully others. Hyeon-su meets a nice girl from a nearby school. However, she seems to be more interested in someone else.

Kwon Sang-woo is really believable as Hyeon-su. He’s awkward but in a realistic way unlike most awkward people in films. He’s very shy around girls and likes to try and keep his head down. However, the violence he faces at school eventually leads to him being inspired by Bruce Lee to train his body to meet the threat. The other characters are also quite believable. The love triangle that involves Hyeon-su, a girl and Hyeon-su’s friend is somewhat intriguing too.

This is not a martial arts film, it’s a coming-of-age drama but it does feature a fight scene near the end that might just be the most realistic fight I’ve ever seen in a film. It’s sloppy, the fighters get tired and everybody is injured by the end. The whole movie feels very realistic. It’s never goofy like “The Karate Kid” or anything like that. I must stress though that this is not a martial arts movie. Some of the marketing material and the subtitle of “The Spirit Of Jeet Kune Do” may make you think it is but this is a drama movie. I recommend having a look for this movie.

“Batman: Soul of the Dragon” is another enjoyable direct-to-video flick from DC with the Dark Knight. Some have complained about the fact that Batman barely appears in this one but I think it actually works quite well. This is clearly meant to be inspired by the 70s kung-fu movies such as “Enter The Dragon” and I like that style.

In “Soul of the Dragon”, Richard Dragon is a super spy that needs the help of Batman and others to help stop a group of bad guys from unleashing an unspeakable evil. Dragon and his gang of fellow martial artists will need to use all their skills in order to save the world from a deadly entity.

The Richard Dragon character is clearly based on Bruce Lee; he looks just like him and has his mannerisms. He really is the star of the movie but I think that’s okay. I don’t want DC just do to redo the same thing for every movie so if it means moving Batman to the side a little bit then I’m okay with that. We also have Ben Turner, who is based on Jim Kelly from “Enter The Dragon” and “Black Belt Jones”. We also have Lady Shiva here so some “Batman” fans maybe excited to see a lesser-known villain get a role here. Bruce Wayne/Batman is here and he is still enjoyable. The animation on all the characters is decent.

If you like old kung-fu movies and you like “Batman” films then this is one to check out. It’s a modest recommendation from me but it is a recommendation because I think there is just enough action, just enough 70s style and just enough originality to keep you entertained. Don’t go into expecting Batman to be the centre of the movie because he’s just not.

The “Predator” franchise is easily one of the most recognisable sci-fi/action franchises along with “Terminator” and “Alien”. Here is my personal ranking of the films.

6. AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator Requiem

A second attempt at a crossover between “Alien” and “Predator” was some how even worse. This felt like it was made by The Asylum. It’s more like a teen slasher flick than the epic showdown we wanted.

5. AVP: Alien vs. Predator

After years of comics, videogames and little teases in the movies, we finally got to see the Xenomorph and Predator battle on the big screen. Unfortunately, the film is not very good and fails to capture the style of the earlier films.

4. Predators

“Predators” felt way too much like the first film. Adrien Brody (“The Pianist”) felt completely out of place in the sci-fi/action flick.

3. Predator 2

Despite its interesting dystopian L.A. setting, “Predator 2” was a bit of disappointment. Danny Glover (“Lethal Weapon”) is okay in the lead role. It does feature some new gizmos for the Predator to use in combat. There are some good moments in here but it’s never as engaging or innovative as the first film.

2. The Predator

2018’s “The Predator” came the closest of all the sequels to capturing the excitement and humour of the original film. Offering some new variants of the Predator creatures and plenty of creative action sequences, this is one sequel worth checking out.

1. Predator

The original and still the best of the “Predator” franchise. A group of commandos including Arnold Schwarzenegger (“The Terminator”) go deep into the jungle and find themselves battling against a mysterious extra-terrestrial hunter. This movie still packs a real punch after all these years and is one of the most memorable sci-fi/action films of the 80s and the Predator character remains iconic.

We seem to love nothing more than seeing movie worlds filled with crime just so we can see a tough film cop clear up the streets. Here is a list of my personal favourite tough film cops.

5. Nico Toscani – Above The Law

In his first film, Steven Seagal (“Under Siege”) stars as Nico Toscani. He’s a Chicago cop that used to be in the Special Forces. He’s also a martial arts master and his family in the Mafia. This is back when Seagal was still in good shape and doing more elaborate stunts.

4. Marion Cobretti – Cobra

Sylvester Stallone (“Rocky”) has played a cop in many films such as “Tango & Cash” and “Demolition Man” but it’s in “Cobra” where he gives his most menacing performance. Viewing himself as the cure to crime, he’s going to dispense justice his way.

3. RoboCop – RoboCop

I couldn’t have this list without RoboCop (Peter Weller “Naked Lunch”). After being killed in the line of duty as Alex Murphy, he’s brought back from the dead as a cyborg and he’ll obey his prime directives to rid Detroit’s streets of crime.

2. John McClane – Die Hard

John McClane (Bruce Willis “Armageddon”) is cop with the worst luck in the world as he finds himself at the centre of multiple hostage situations. He has a pretty big mouth and has a way of really getting to his enemies by constantly jeering them. Whether he’s jumping off the roof of a skyscraper, blowing up a plane or stopping a bomber in New York, you don’t get much more tough than John McClane.

1. Harry Callahan – Dirty Harry

Who else could it have been? Clint Eastwood (“Unforgiven”) plays the ultimate tough cop in the “Dirty Harry” franchise. Using his .44 Magnum, Harry Callahan is unstoppable as he takes down murderers, robbers and other criminals. When you think tough film cops, you think Harry Callahan.

“Spider-Man: The Animated Series” follows Marvel’s most famous superhero. Unfortunately, it came out in the 90s and it’s nowhere near as good as the “Batman” and “Superman” cartoons from the same era. It’s also not as fun as the 60s “Spider-Man” cartoons or the 70s live-action show from Japan.

Spider-Man is the web-slinging protector of New York City. The city is constantly in peril with various supervillains all trying to engage in sinister schemes. However, Spider-Man is always there and he’s never going to surrender against the forces of evil. As Peter Parker, he must try to live a normal life while ensuring he does not endanger those he loves with his activities as a superhero.

We do get to see a real great array of characters. There is of course Spider-Man but we see tons of villains such as Green Goblin, Kingpin, Venom (Hank Azaria “The Simpsons”), Hobgoblin (Mark Hamill “Star Wars”) and Mysterio. Some of the voice acting in this show is really bad though. Spider-Man in particular sounds awful. The dialog is often atrocious too with Spider-Man saying countless lame lines. The animation is okay but it’s nowhere near as good as the animation seen in “Batman: The Animated Series”. Also, Harry and Norman Osborn both have really weird hair.

My biggest problem with this show is that it’s just too frantic. Characters virtually never stop speaking and they try to cram so much into each episode. Some of the animation is not very good as the C.G.I. buildings that are used for some of the backgrounds while Spider-Man swings around the city have not aged well at all. It’s not terrible by any means and I hear a lot of comic book fans like the fact that a lot of the source material was utilised. However, “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” is a show I can do without.

Jackie Chan (“Rush Hour”, “Drunken Master”) directs and stars in this great mixture of non-stop action and comedy. This is most certainly one of Chan’s most famous movies as it features the extraordinary scene where he hangs on a moving bus with an umbrella (he really did that) and this is the movie that features the stunt that temporarily paralyzed Chan.

In “Police Story”, Chan stars as police officer Ka Kui, who is responsible for the arrest of a major drug lord and his companions. Ka Kui becomes a role model for the police force and has to protect a witness until her court appearance. Ka Kui is then framed for murder and must break the rules in order to prove his innocence resulting in one of Chan’s most action-packed finales.

Jackie Chan is decent as Ka Kui. Jackie Chan will never be considered great at delivering lines but he makes that up by giving us some truly great choreography. Maggie Cheung (“Hero”, “Clean”) is okay as Ka Kui’s girlfriend May. Brigitte Lin is okay as the witness Ka Kui must protect. The rest of the cast are quite bad and I think that the dialog for the characters is rather weak.

“Police Story” features great humour as well as great action, a trademark Chan has, and he rarely fails to deliver. For fans of action movies, you’ll eat this up as there are car chases, shootouts, hand-to-hand combat and daring stunts that only Jackie Chan could pull off. Although it may not have great acting (not that most action movies do), a massive Hollywood budget or the greatest plot (again not that most action movies do), “Police Story” delivers the goods and it is a great big, dumb, fun movie and that’s something many action movies can only hope to be.

Steven Seagal was one of the biggest martial arts action stars of the 90s. However, his career began to fade as he moved to direct-to-video films in the 2000s. He’s done plenty of bad films but here are my personal picks for his worst films.

5. China Salesman

Seagal has a small part to play in this hilariously bad Chinese action film. This an action movie that focuses on securing telecoms contracts in Africa and it’s as ridiculous as it sounds. Seagal gets to have a fistfight with Mike Tyson.

4. Attack Force

“Attack Force” is a complete mess. It was shot as a sci-fi film but the studio didn’t like it so they shot new scenes and dubbed over some (but not all) of Seagal’s lines to make it a regular action flick. It’s so jarring occasionally hearing the wrong voice come out of Seagal’s mouth.

3. Against The Dark

If you ever wanted to see Seagal slicing up zombies with a sword then this is the movie for you. Actually, they are apparently vampires but they behave more like zombies. It’s a pretty bad zombie survival movie but there is some enjoyment to be had seeing Seagal killing hordes of monsters.

2. The Asian Connection

Seagal plays the villain in this heist film. The budget was clearly so low that it looks as though they recycled the same bank for multiple heists. The main characters are so unbelievably dull that it’s hard to tolerate them any time they are on the screen.

1. General Commander

Armed with the most generic title in action film history, “General Commander” proves to be the worst Seagal film by far. Completely unwatchable with horrendous action sequences and lots of dull moments.

Dishonourable mentions:
Killing Salazar and Pistol Whipped

We have all seen films where the protagonist gets wronged and goes on a killing spree. Maybe their family is being held hostage by terrorists, their sister has just been raped by a vicious gang or their pet dog got a bullet in the head. No matter, the motivation, you know some bad guys are going to pay dearly. I like to call these ‘revenge rampage’ movies and here is a list of my personal picks of great ones to check out.

10. The Foreigner

Jackie Chan (“Rush Hour”) takes a more serious turn in “The Foreigner”. He searches for a new I.R.A. group that carried out a bombing that killed his daughter. Chan gives a strong performance opposite Pierce Brosnan (“GoldenEye”).

9. First Blood

After “Rocky”, Sylvester Stallone starred in “First Blood”, another iconic film. Here he plays John Rambo, a traumatised ex-soldier that served in Vietnam. Now, he’s being mistreated by local law enforcement. He will strike back the only way he knows how in this exciting and surprisingly moving movie.

8. Hang ‘Em High

Clint Eastwood (“Dirty Harry”) plays an innocent cowboy that gets wrongly hanged by an angry mob. He then sets out to take down the men responsible. A very satisfying Western from Eastwood.

7. Death Wish II

Charles Bronson (“The Magnificent Seven”) returns as architect Paul Kersey in “Death Wish II”. When his daughter is kidnapped, he’ll stop at nothing to rid the streets of the scum that took her. Often overlooked but easily the best of the “Death Wish” sequels.

6. Mr. Majestyk

Charles Bronson plays a melon farmer that goes to get revenge when his crops are destroyed. Maybe not the most emotionally engaging reason to go out for vengeance but this an entertaining film regardless.

5. Desperado

A great action flick with a terrific Mexican aesthetic as ex-musician El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas “Shrek 2”, “The Mask Of Zorro”) hunts down those that wronged him. Lots of spectacular shootouts throughout.

4. Death Wish

The quintessential revenge rampage film. Charles Bronson plays a simple architect that turns to vigilantism after his daughter is raped and his wife murdered by thugs. A very realistic and captivating movie about the effects of vigilantism on a city.

3. Fist Of Legend

A remake of Bruce Lee’s “Fist Of Fury”, this Jet Li (“Lethal Weapon 4”) martial arts classic sees him battle with Japanese occupiers in China after the death of his master. The brilliant fight sequences and simplistic plot make this very enjoyable.

2. The Crow

After being murdered along with is girlfriend, Brandon Lee (“Rapid Fire”) plays a man resurrected and guided by a mysterious crow as he seeks vengeance. A really gritty superhero flick with a city that makes Gotham from the “Batman” films look like the Emerald City from “Wizard Of Oz”.

1. Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Uma Thurman (“Pulp Fiction”) stars as the Bride as she seeks revenge on those that left her for dead on her wedding day. While people debate whether the first or second film was the best, I think the first entry was substantially more entertaining. The action scenes are phenomenal and some of the best I’ve seen.

Honourable mentions:
RoboCop and John Wick

Jackie Chan (“Shanghai Noon”, “Chinese Zodiac”) returns to the “Police Story” franchise with “Police Story: Lockdown”. This is a rather bleak film with a very different style of action to the kind we are used to seeing in Chan’s films. It is an interesting watch but ultimately a disappointment from one of cinema’s greatest action heroes.

In “Police Story: Lockdown”, police officer Zhong Wen (Chan) finds himself a hostage when a group of men takeover a nightclub. As time goes on he realises that this is no ordinary hostage situation as the lead criminal has orchestrated this whole event in order to exact revenge. It seems to have pretty much nothing to do with the other “Police Story” films.

We’re used to seeing Chan smile his way through his films but he has little to smile about here. The fight scenes are often very brutal and seem a world away from the slapstick action from his other movies. However, the film’s dark tone allows for Chan to do a bit more actual acting and he does a reasonable job. The villains aren’t very memorable and nobody else really stands out all that much, which I think is a real shame.

As I mentioned, “Police Story: Lockdown” feels as though it’s a name only sequel so don’t expect it to have anything in common with the earlier films. There are some tense moments and some clever scenes here and there but I found the elaborate plot to be unnecessary as I hoped to see more action. I’m a big fan of Jackie Chan but I think most fans are going to feel conflicted about this movie. Those that have always dismissed Chan as a clown are unlikely to bother with it. If they did, they may be pleasantly surprised to see that the man is capable of something more serious than his usual light-hearted antics.

Jackie Chan (“Armour Of God”, “Police Story”) returns as director and actor in this average sequel. I really liked the original because it was funny, action-packed and aspects such as the plot, characters and dialog were decent enough for it to work. This movie forgets about how important humour, plot, characters and dialog are as it is a movie that is fine for fans of Chan but not great for many other people.

In this movie, police officer Ka Kui (Chan) has to stop a dangerous group of bombers while his old enemies from the last film are out for vengeance. Also, Ka Kui is having a hectic personal life as his girlfriend May (“Hero”) becomes tired of his work and it isn’t long before the bad guys target her to in an attempt to get back at Ka Kui for trying to ruin their plans.

Jackie Chan is sadly mediocre this time around but his martial arts skills are still absolutely fantastic and the stunts this time around are just as daring as they were before. It’s a pity the action isn’t spread out more like last time though as I found myself waiting a long time to get to the fights. Maggie Cheung is okay as May. The rest of the cast are mainly poor.

If this movie had worked more on its plot, on its characters and on its dialog as well as throwing in some humour, this movie could have been as good as if not better than the first film. Jackie Chan fans will not be disappointed by the martial arts as it is really good. “Police Story 2” is an average movie for average moviegoers but those that really enjoy their martial arts movies will be really impressed. I can’t stress enough what a misfire this movie was. Also, I wish it had stood on its own as I feel it is just an extension of the first movie.