EvilPhoEniX

An incredibly strong, emotional, and intense experience. Knock Out is an unexpected gem that hit my emotions hard. The story focuses on a boxing champion who is attacked by gangsters with baseball bats in a bar after a match, he naturally gives them a sound beating and goes to serve a tough eight-year sentence. Upon release, he learns that his girlfriend is dead and has left him with a little girl to take care of. After the action-packed opening, the film turns into a social drama, which is fortunately very effective, as the relationship between the former champion and his daughter is beautifully portrayed. But the wealthy mother of the deceased girlfriend wants to take the girl under her custody. An emotional court process follows, which leads to a damn devastating twist that had me reaching for tissues (I thought to myself, the director must be the devil!). It's a tearjerker that literally shook an unprepared viewer like me. Fortunately, the main hero regains the desire to box again and challenges the current champion, and I must say that the final fight meets the strictest parameters of all boxing films. Cinematography, story, emotions, action, and actors (the little girl is brilliant). A tryly mature film. Story *****, Action ****, Humor> No, Violence *, Entertainment ****, Music ***, Visual ****, Atmosphere ****, Tension ***. 8.5/10.

The first hit of this year and one of the best movies on the theme of drugs in recent times. A series of dead young people associated with a new drug on the market called Synchronic show up in a city. The drug has bizarre effects, it allows people to travel in time, but whatever happens to you there, you bring it back with you. Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan are paramedics who more or less go from apartment to apartment, and for the first half an hour, the film has a very tense, unsettling, and unpleasant atmosphere that reminded me of the cult-classi Se7en. I would have preferred if the whole film followed a similar tone, or if they showed the trips of all the dead people, but that would cost more money. Anyway the film has a solid pace, great visuals, a hallucinogenic and trippy atmosphere, and enough corpses to keep the viewer's attention. Very good! Story****, Action***, Humor>No, Violence***, Entertainment****, Music***, Visuals****, Atmosphere*****, Tension****. 8/10.

A lighter version of the recent hit Beasts Clawing at Straws, quite entertaining and definitely not boring, but I prefer a darker and grittier style. Once again, there's a bundle of money around which a group of people revolves: a serial killer, a police officer, gangsters, and a delivery man. It has a good pace, the occasional humor works – the senile serial killer was very good – and the visuals are traditionally fine. As an entertaining one-off, Snatch-up does its job, but to earn a higher rating, it should have some sharper action. Story****, Action***, Humor***, Violence*, Entertainment****, Music***, Visuals****, Atmosphere***, Tension***. 6/10.

Niall Shukla’s debut is quite similar to his hit A Doll Distorted. The sound and image take the lead, but for my taste, it is unnecessarily long and not as intense, but Guilt definitely deserves attention. 6/10.

After a very long time, a solid old-school action film from Hong Kong. A diligent detective tries to track down a gang of six thieves led by the devilish Daniel Wu (who had a very prominent role in Into the Badlands) who have been successfully resisting the police for several years. The first half has a captivating pace, the gang robs one bank after another and ruthlessly shoots people in the process. It is filled with interesting ideas and occasionally there are short but decent shootouts, although there's only one truly remarkable action scene. In the second half, the film focuses more on bread and slightly deviates from the main theme, losing some of its tempo, which is a shame. However, I enjoyed watching the duel between the smart policeman and the smart gang leader, and fortunately, the film delivers a fairly solid fight in the finale, giving Daniel Wu a chance to show off at least once. Hong Kong's best years are behind it, others countries are dominating now (South Korea, Indonesia), but if this is meant to be a comeback, then it's on the right track. Story***, Action****, Humor>No, Violence***, Entertainment****, Music***, Visuals****, Atmosphere****, Tension****. 7/10.

Yuri Bykov is a decent Russian director and so far I have liked everything from him, but Guard didn't really interest me thematically. The film is more of a drama, which escalates a bit towards the end, but I didn't find it very entertaining. If these story-driven films don't have a captivating story and dialogue, they don't impress me. Story***, Action>No, Humor>No, Violence*, Entertainment***, Music***, Visuals***, Atmosphere***, Tension***. 5/10.

A solid 8-minute short from Canada, where an exhausted forensic doctor is pursued by a revived corpse in the morgue. Great unsettling atmosphere, a few jump-scares, excellent make-up effects, and nice visuals. This really worked out. 8/10.

Praised abroad (7.1), this is a social drama about the fate of children living on the streets who earn money by selling lottery numbers, where they receive praise for winning and a scolding for losing. Even with a very generous running time of 80 minutes, the film has a rather slow and unexciting pace, nothing interesting happened here for my taste and therefore I cannot give an average rating either. However, anyone interested in the way of life of children in Vietnam and those who like pure drama can be satisfied. Story***, Action>No, Humor>No, Violence>No, Entertainment**, Music***, Visual***, Atmosphere**, Tension*. 4/10.

Voice of Silence has an interesting story about two boys working for a criminal organization. Their job is to get rid of dead bodies, but one day they are tasked with taking care of a kidnapped little girl and everything takes an unexpected turn. The actor from the recent zombie flick Alive is mute and although he does dirty work, he has a good heart and there is a strong chemistry between him and the little girl. I liked the twist in the 20th minute, which I found funny and good at the same time, but I'm a bit disappointed that the film is more of a drama and the crime and thriller genres take a back seat. The ending left me a little disappointed, I wished it would turn out differently, but I still have to say that I had unexpectedly good fun. Story****, Action>No, Humor**, Violence*, Entertainment****, Music***, Visuals****, Atmosphere***, Tension**. 6.5/10.

A bit of a mess and definitely the weakest link in the trilogy. A complete departure from the central theme and the humour is also significantly lacking. Agnieszka Wiedlocha is still great to look at, she's a cute actress, and Maciej Stuhr is cool too, but this sequel is a bit pointless and unnecessary.