The King of Fighters (2010)

I wasn't expecting magic earpieces that warped fighters to another dimension. Is that a thing? I haven’t played the games.
I was prepared for it to be shit, but I thought with Gordon Chan directing there might, just might be the possibility that it’d at least be better than the MK (1995) or SF (1994) movies. It was, in my opinion, but it’s still dung.
Casting directors take note: if you must use Ray Park in your film please don't give him a speaking role; make him a mute.

1½ tilted camera angles out of 5

Beast Cops (1998)

I'd expected a typical Triads Vs Hong Kong Cops movie with high quality shoot-outs and elevated danger levels (because it was co-directed by Gordon Chan), but Beast Cops was different. The cops don't really do very much, which, ironically, is where the real heart of the story resides.
It's helped immensely by the fact that Anthony Wong Chau-Sang is such a great character actor. He can do serious drama just as well as he can do comedy. I could watch him all day. Even Michael Wong, whom I'm not a great fan of ordinarily, fit his character's shoes nicely.
If all you want is a HK action movie, you'll likely be disappointed because there's a lot of comedy and some unconventional turns in the story.

3½ gray areas out of 5

2000 AD (2000)

aka Gong Yuan 2000 AD

There's some crap about Y2K bugs, espionage, murderous secret agents and then I nodded off (not literally). And the 'bleak vision of cyber-terrorism' that the blurb promised was a lie.
I don't like Hollywood in my HK films; I'd rather they play to their strengths instead of trying to ape the work of a soulless machine.

1½ Heavenly King fails out of 5

Fist of Legend (1994)

Good guy Gordon Chan remade Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury (1972), and through careful writing managed to surpass the original in many ways.
Jet Li took on the Chen Zhen role, making the character less two-dimensional, less consumed with rage, and much more emotionally aware of the consequences of his actions. Jet’s wireless martial arts ability flourished under Yuen Woo Ping’s instruction making the action scenes equally as legendary as Bruce’s own, and a hell of a lot more violent.
The film earns a place on the list of remakes that don’t suck.

4½ invading ants out of 5