38 Action Movie Previews – February 2010

Because I’m running behind schedule on completion of our Action Movie Previews feature for February I’ve decided to post the list incomplete and add to it as time permits. So please check back in the next few days as our list grows. Most of the theatrical releases for the month have been added but I still have lots of home video releases to get to. Also, check out the January 2010 list for the addition of two Indian films, period epic VEER (Jan. 22), starring Salman Khan and modern-day actioner JAGGUBHAI (Jan. 29), starring Sarath Kumar. Both films premiered in India last month.

HEROES SHED NO TEARS (February 2 – Trailer)

Alexander Fu Sheng is a young swordsman on a mission to put an end to a curse surrounding a “Teardrop Sword” that could prove fatal to him. His quest leads him to get involved in bitter rivalries between supreme fighters in the martial world. Featured is SHINJUKU INCIDENT director Derek Yee as a villainous swordsman sowing discord among rivals in the martial world. Famed wuxia filmmaker Chore Yuen directs this colorful swordplay film from Shaw Brothers. It’s not one the studio’s better wuxia films but it has its appeal for fans of stately martial dramas involving intrigue.

Starring: Alexander Fu Sheng, Derek Yee, Ku Feng, Jason Pai Piao
Director: Chor Yuen
Action Director: Tang Chia
Distributor: Well Go USA
Availability: DVD – U.S.

ONG BAK 2: THE BEGINNING (February 2 – Trailer)

Thai martial arts sensation Tony Jaa returns in this sequel in name to the film that made him an international action star and this time he’s also behind the camera, at least for most of the production before his mentor Panna Rittikrai stepped in late to help him complete the film. Jaa plays the son of a nobleman in 15th-century Siam whose parents are murdered. He vows revenge and trains in martial arts with a band of outlaws before confronting his parents’ killers. The film ends on a slightly disappointing cliffhanger but this should be remedied when ONG BAK 3 arrives. ONG BAK 2 has some plot structure problems but features phenomenal, hardcore martial arts action with Jaa unleashing a wide variety of fighting styles without gimmicks but plenty of high-impact intensity and physical skill. Nobody currently in the business doesn’t it better.

Starring: Tony Jaa, Sorapong Chatree, Sarunyu Wongkrachang
Director: Tony Jaa, Panna Rittikrai
Action Coordinator: Tony Jaa, Panna Rittikrai
Distributor: Magnet Releasing
Availability: Blu-ray, DVD, VOD – U.S.

RICA TRILOGY (February 2)

All three films in Japan’s classic pinky violence trilogy are brought together into one DVD set from Media Blasters. This includes RICA, RICA 2: LONELY WANDERER and RICA 3: JUVENILE’S LULLABY, each previously released individually by Media Blasters. The series centers on Rica, a man-hating Japanese-American daughter of a prostitute who becomes a tough-as-nails leader of an all-girl crime gang. Mired in a seedy criminal underworld filled with thugs, rapists, drug dealers, slave traders, and exploitive porno filmmakers, Rica applies her body, karate skills and fierce determination to fight for revenge, justice and survival.

Starring: Rica Aoka
Director: Ko Nakahira
Distributor: Tokyo Shock
Availability: DVD – U.S.

THE DELIGHTFUL FOREST (February 2 – Trailer)

Martial arts star Ti Lung plays Wu Song, a fictional hero from famed Chinese literary classic the “Water Margin.” Wu Song has been sentenced to prison for beheading his sister-in-law to avenge her infidelity and murder of his brother. While in transport to prison he becomes indebted to prison guard Golden Eye Shih En (Tien Ching) for sparing him from physical punishment and he opts to help the guard to reclaim Shih’s restaurant, the “Delightful Forest,” from a thug who has forcefully taken over the establishment. This wuxia classic from Shaw Brothers is co-directed by Chang Cheh and Pao Hsueh-li and features the fight choreography of action directors Tang Chia and Lau Kar-leung.

Starring: Ti Lung, Tien Ching, Yu Feng
Director: Chang Cheh, Pao Hsueh-li
Action Director: Tang Chia, Lau Kar-leung, Chen Chuan
Distributor: Well Go USA
Availability: DVD – U.S.

UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION (February 2 – Trailer)

Jean-Claude Van Damme reunites with UNIVERSAL SOLDIER star Dolph Lundgren in this lean and gritty sci-fi actioner also starring MMA fighter Andrei Arlovski. Using stolen tech, terrorists have created a next-generation super soldier, or Unisol (Arlovski). With it, they seize the Chernobyl nuclear reactor and threaten to unleash a radioactive cloud. In response, authorities reactivate and retrain decommissioned Unisol Luc Deveraux (Van Damme) to assault the terrorists’ heavily fortified position. But waiting for Luc is not only the new and improved Unisol, but also his old nemesis Andrew Scott (Lundgren) who has been reactivated and upgraded. UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION is directed by John Hyams, son of Peter Hyams, director of Van Damme’s TIMECOP and SUDDEN DEATH and DP on this film.

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Andrei Arlovski
Director: John Hyams
Action Coordinator: Borislav Iliev (stunts), Charlie Picerni (stunts)
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Availability: Blu-ray, DVD, VOD – U.S.

ZOMBIELAND (February 2 – Trailer)

Mix comedy, zombies and thrills together in one movie with a decent budget and it’s hard to go wrong. Woody Harrelson is a gun-totting, enthusiastic zombie killer who heads up a small group of zombie apocalypse survivors as they cut a wide path through the living dead. The film is being favorably compared to SHAUN OF THE DEAD and popular video game LEFT 4 DEAD.

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Action Coordinator: G.A. Aguilar (stunts), Jill Brown (stunts)
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Availability: Blu-ray, DVD, VOD – U.S.

THE STORM WARRIORS (February 4 – Trailer)

Sequel to THE STORM RIDERS sees Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng reunite as sword heroes Cloud and Wind to defend China from a Japanese warlord (Simon Yam) intent on conquering the country. Universe’s DVD and Bly-ray editions come with English subtitles, trailers, character profiles, music video, photo gallery, interviews, “Reunion of Wind and Cloud,” montage, “The Origin of All Swords,” “Special Effects Production,” “The Production Lineup,” “Cloud’s ‘Ba’ Style,” “Wind Turned Evil,” “The Fatal Battle On Cliff,” and “Composition of Special Effects.”

Starring: Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Simon Yam
Director: Oxide Pang, Danny Pang
Action Director: ma Yuk-sing
Distributor: Universe
Availability: Blu-ray and DVD (Hong Kong)

TO LIVE AND DIE IN MONGKOK (February 4 – Trailer)

From filmmaker Wong Jing comes this tense crime thriller set within Mongkok, Hong Kong, an area known as the most crowded in the world, where a schizophrenic ex-con views his Mongkok surroundings as a prison he can’t get out of after he is released from a 30 years jail sentence.

Starring: Nick Cheung
Director: Wong Jing
Distributor: Tai Seng
Availability: DVD (Hong Kong)

A QUEEN’S RANSOM (February 5 – Trailer)

Bar girl Jane reports to the police that one of her customers, a Philippine told her he would assassinate the Queen of England. Since it’s the eve of Queen’s visit to Hong Kong, Superintendent Ko sends his man Wah to investigate it. George, a reactionary from North Ireland, comes to Hong Kong with his girlfriend Black Rose, planning to assassinate the Queen. His assistant hires six killers for him. Chan, the Philippine is among the list. George assigns the six killers to locate at different sites where the Queen is about to pass by, so that they can carry out their plan. Meanwhile, the police get the news that large quantities of gold will be smuggled into Hong Kong by some Cambodian governors. When the police get the clues about the six killers and successfully arrest them, the major criminals George and Black Rose disappear. Actually by using his assistant to transfer the police’s attention, they go to get the gold from the Cambodian. After a severe fight between them, lots of people die and get hurt while George is caught by the police.

Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu, Angela mao, George Lazenby
Director: Ting Shan-hsi
Action Director: Lu Tsun
Distributor: Joy Sales
Availability: DVD

AASAL (February 5 – Trailer)

This stylized Tamil-language crime actioner is set in France and deals with the infighting of a crime family that gets mixed up in a bid to control the Mumbai underworld. Tamil action star Ajith Kumar takes on duel roles as international arms dealer Jeevanandam and his favored son, Shiva. Jeevanandam’s other two ambitious sons from a different marriage begin to cause trouble by trying to sell drugs and arms to terrorists, as well as plan an assassination of the current head of the Mumbai underworld, all of which Jeevanandham and Shiva oppose. When one of the two troublemaker sons gets kidnapped by the Mumbai underworld boss, Shiva comes to his rescue but both brothers double-cross him and leave him for dead. Shiva recovers and plots his revenge.

Starring: Ajith Kumar, Prabhu, Sameera Reddy
Director: Saran
Action Choreographer: William Ong, Kanal Kannan, Thalapathi Dinesh, Patrick Bruneton
Availability: Theatrical – India

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE (February 5 – Trailer)

The latest actioner from the team of producer Luc Besson and director Pierre Morel, who together brought us DISTRICT 13 and TAKEN, put John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers through their paces as CIA operatives out to bust a terrorist plot in Paris. James Reece (Meyers) is the U.S. Ambassador to France and a low-level CIA agent who pines for some real spy action. He gets more than he bargained for when he’s teamed up with trigger-happy, wise-cracking agent Charlie Wax (Travolta) on a mission to stop a terrorist act. James finds himself on a wild ride through the Parisian underground with no way out after learning that he’s now a target of the crime ring he’s after. As crazy as Charlie is, his partner may be James’ best hope of surviving. The film looks formulaic and early reviews suggest it doesn’t come near the quality of TAKEN. But Travolta hamming it up in a stylized Besson actioner still looks like a guilty pleasure wroth considering. The film features the fight work of Olivier Schneider (TAKEN).

Starring: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Director: Pierre Morel
Action Coordinator: Philippe Guégan (stunts), Olivier Schneider (fights)
Distributor: Lionsgate
Availability: Theatrical – U.S.

BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS (February 8 – Trailer)

Donnie Yen heads an all-star cast in a thrilling story of how a band of kung fu fighters band together to defend Chinese revolutionary Dr. Sun Yat-sen from an elaborate assassination attempt in the heart of Hong Kong at the turn of the 20th century. The film is noted for possessing the most elaborate and expensive outdoor set ever constructed for a Chinese-language film. Kam & Ronson’s Blu-ray and DVD releases include English subtitles, a making of and trailers.

Starring: Donnie Yen, Leon Lai, Nicholas Tse
Director: Teddy Chen
Action Director: Stephen Tung, Donnie Yen
Distributor: Kam & Ronson
Availability: Blu-ray and DVD (Hong Kong

A DANGEROUS MAN (February 9 – Trailer)

Steven Seagal is an ex-Special Forces operative released from prison after six years for a murder he didn’t commit. Now on the street, he comes to the rescue of a young woman held hostage in a car trunk along with millions of dollars in cash. This puts him on a collision course with an international drug ring and corrupt cops. I’ve long ago given up trying to find something witty to write about Seagal’s bewildering ability to crank out two or three modest DTV movies a year when he’s fast approaching 60 years of age. 2009 may have been a highpoint. He delivered three movies including DRIVEN TO KILL and THE KEEPER and starred in the reality TV series STEAVEN SEAGAL: LAWMAN. Clearly, he’s doing something right to remain a commercially viable action star but I don’t understand it, especially when it’s getting tougher to make money in the DTV market now that DVD sales are down and piracy is up.

Starring: Steven Seagal
Director:Keoni Waxman
Action Coordinator: Lauro Chartrand (stunts, fights)
Distributor: Paramount
Availability: DVD, VOD – U.S.

BRONSON (February 9 – Trailer)

Artsy and violent prison actioner from Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn chronicles the exploits of Britain’s notoriously violent prison inmate, Charles Bronson. He was sent to prison for seven years for robbing a post office and ended up staying in solitary confinement for 30 years. Refn’s film attempts to offer viewers a creative glimpse into the troubled mind of Bronson which is aided by a charismatic performance from Tom Hardy, a rising actor we will next see in Gavin O’Connor’s highly anticipated MMA drama WARRIOR. Magnolia’s Blu-ray and DVD releases come with “Charles Bronson Monologues,” a making of documentary, behind-the-scenes footage, a trailer, “Training Tom Hardy” featurette, and interviews.

Starring: Tom Hardy, Matt King
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Action Coordinator: Julian Spencer
Distributor: Magnet Releasing
Availability: Blu-ray, DVD – U.S.

BUSHIDO: THE CRUEL CODE OF THE SAMURAI (February 9 – Trailer)

Leading film star Kinnosuke Nakamura (GOYOKIN) plays members of a samurai family from seven generations in award-winning director Tadashi Imai’s epic, 350-year exploration of how Japan’s code of the samurai has shaped the country and its people all the way up through the first half of the 20th century. Amazon lists the film at only 23 minutes but that is incorrect. AnimEigo’s print is 123 minutes long and comes with an image gallery, program notes, trailers, biographies, and an exclusive essay on Japan’s Bushido Code by Randy Schadel. AnimEigo is the leader in putting out high quality, collector-grade samurai films in the U.S., typically with meticulously translated English subtitles.

Starring: Kinnosuke Nakamura, Eijirô Tôno, Kyôko Kishida
Director: Tadashi Imai
Distributor: AnimEigo
Availability: DVD – U.S.

FOREST WARRIOR (February 9 – Trailer)

Chuck Norris is John McKenna, a shape-shifting spirit warrior who packs a mean kick and is committed to protecting the forests of Tanglewood from evil lumberjacks bent on harvesting wood for… evil. John teams up with a band of children who love to play in the forest to kick lumberjack butt. Really? Chuck is playing a treehugger with shamanist powers who gets in the way of commercial exploitation of the natural world? If word of this ever gets out, the Republican Party is going to revoke his membership.

Starring: Chuck Norris
Director: Aaron Norris
Action coordinator: Dean Raphael Ferrandini
Distributor: Good Times Video
Availability: DVD – U.S.

HEIST (February 9 – Trailer)

When the younger brother of K (Rick Jordon), an L.A. gang leader, is betrayed by a member of a Columbian drug cartel, K orchestrates a daring daylight robbery of an armored truck to save his brother but it doesn’t go as planned. HEIST is the fourth low-budget movie from filmmaker-actor Rick Jordon who previously made thrillers THE REMNANT, A CONSPIRACY and STAGE FRIGHT.

Starring: Rick Jordan, Christian Mendez, Erik David
Director: Richard Cooper, Rick Jordan
Action Coordinator: David Kabbe
Distributor: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Availability: DVD – U.S.

ICARUS (February 9 – Trailer)

Dolph Lundgren directs and stars in this low-budget actioner about a divorced father and investment company employee who lives a double life as a KGB-trained assassin. When his family is threatened he puts his lethal training to use in protecting them. ICARUS is making its debut on Canada’s Movie Central, a premium movie channel. The film features the action choreography of Lauro Chartrand and Barry Evans.

Starring: Dolph Lungren, Stefanie Von Pfetten, Samantha Ferris, Bo Svenson
Director: Dolph Lundgren
Action Coordinator: Lauro Chartrand (fights, stunts), Barry Evans (fights)
Distributor: Movie Central
Availability: TV – Canada

SHOOT FIRST AND PRAY YOU LIVE (February 9 – Trailer)

Lance Doty makes his directing debut with this low-budget, stylized homage to the Italian western. In the American Old West, Red Pierre (Jeff Hephner) hunts for infamous gunfighter Bob McGurk (James Russo) to avenge the murder of his father. Along the way, Pierre gets jumped by a band of marauding outlaws and ends up joining them before he finally has a showdown with McGurk. I’m not sure what there is left for any filmmaker to do with the Western genre that hasn’t already been done better but since few get made these days, especially stylized ones with odd titles, this one might be worth checking out. I’m also curious to see what just about any new action director comes up with.

Starring: Jeff Hephner, James Russo, John Doman
Director: Lance Doty
Action Coordinator: Tomas Sanchez
Distributor: Lionsgate
Availability: DVD, VOD – U.S.

THE TREASURE HUNTER (February 9 – Trailer)

Directed by Kevin Chu (SHAOLIN POPEY), THE TREASURE HUNTER stars Jay Chou as Ciao Fei, a chivalrous young man who struggles to protect buried treasure amassed from ancient Chinese dynasties by recovering a map of its whereabouts from an international criminal organization known as The Company. Ciao Fei was forced to trade the map to them in exchange for the life of his mentor’s daughter, Lan Ting (Lin Chi-ling). Now joined by an archeologist, Ciao Fei and Lan Ting race to get the map back and stop The Company from getting to the treasure first. The film, which draws heavily on Hollywood adventure films like THE MUMMY, has been widely panned by critics in Asia which makes its chances of arriving Stateside almost nonexistent unless picked up by a small home video distributor like Tai Seng.

Starring: Jay Chou, Lin Chi-ling, Eric Tsang
Director: Chu Yen-ping
Distributor: Joy Sales
Availability: DVD (Hong Kong)

XIII: THE CONSPIRACY (February 9 – Trailer)

XIII: THE CONSPIRACY is an action-packed political thriller in the mold of the Jason Bourne films starring Stephen Dorff (BLADE) and Val Kilmer that was originally released as a two-part TV miniseries in France last year. The first part aired on NBC in the U.S. on February 8, a day ahead of its Blu-ray and DVD release. The first female president is assassinated by a sniper and Dorff wakes up in a forest after the event with no memory and a strange tattoo on his chest. Due to his professional instincts and reflexes, he’s soon implicated in the crime which leads him to investigate his true identity as he sinks deeper into a major conspiracy. This film/TV miniseries actually looks decent. Nothing special, just a fast-moving thriller with lots of action.

Starring: Stephen Dorff, Val Kilmer, Caterina Murino
Director:Distributor: Phase 4 Films
Availability: Blu-ray, DVD – U.S.

MULAN (February 11 – Trailer)

Historical epic centers on Hua Mulan (Vicki Zhao), a young martial arts-trained woman of ancient Chinese legend who leaves her home disguised as a man to replace her ailing father in an all-male army in order to help defend her homeland from invaders. Hong Kong distributor Panorama is releasing the film on Blu-ray, DVD and a 2-Disc Special Edition DVD that includes a making of, music video, director and cast interviews, deleted scenes, and a trailer.

Starring: Vicki Zhao, Jaycee Chan, Hu Jun
Director: Jingle Ma, Dong Wei
Distributor: Panorama
Availability: Blu-ray and DVD (Hong Kong)

TRUE LEGEND (February 11 – Trailer)

Yuen Woo-ping re-imagines the exploits of Chinese martial arts folk hero Beggar Su. Late Qing-era war hero Su Qi-er ( Vincent Zhao) retires from the military to live with his wife and son until he’s attacked and severely wounded by his vengeful step-brother Yuang (Andy On) who wields the dark martial art of the Five Venom Fist. Su and his wife escape but their son is kidnapped by Yuang. While recovering from his injuries, Su hones his fighting skills with the help of a mysterious Bearded Man (Leung Kar-yan) and his apprentice Lord Wushu (Jay Chou). Su’s wife is killed while trying to recover her son and Su falls into despair which leads him to become a drunken beggar. When his son faces a new threat from Imperialist Westerners, Su musters all his fighting skills and unwittingly develops the Drunken Fist technique in the process.

Starring: Vincent Zhao, Zhou Xun, Michelle Yeoh, Jay Chou
Distributor: Yuen Woo-ping
Action Director: Yuen Woo-ping
Availability: Theatrical – Asia

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF (February 12 – Trailer)

It’s the latest attempt to capture HARRY POTTER’s success in a bottle. THE LIGHTNING THIEF is based on the first entry in the popular children’s fantasy book series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” by author Rick Riordan. Percy (Logan Lerman) is a seemingly ordinary teenager who discovers that he is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes. Like Harry Potter, he is exposed to a hidden world that lurks just beneath ours, a place where all the monsters and gods of Greek mythology reside. While frequently being the target of attacks due to his status, Percy sets out to settle a long-running war between the gods. Lerman, who previously starred in GAMER, is backed up with am impressive cast that includes Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Steve Coogan, and the mighty Sean Bean. If successful, expect a lot more PERCY JACKSON action in years to come. There are currently five books in the series while Riordan is at work on yet another. KICK-ASS and NINJA ASSASSIN fight coordinator Zhang Peng handled fighting action here.

Starring: Logan Lerman, Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Steve Coogan, Sean Bean
Director: Chris Columbus
Action Choreographer: Bob Brown (stunts), Dean Choe (stunts), Jon H. Epstein (stunts), Zhang Peng (fights)
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Availability: Theatrical – U.S.

THE WOLFMAN (February 12 – Trailer)

From Joe Johnston, the director of HILDAGO, one of the most underrated adventure movies of the past decade comes this redo of Universal Pictures’ 1941 horror classic THE WOLF MAN. This time, Benicio Del Toro takes on the role of Lawrence Talbot, an American visiting his ancestral home in England who is bitten by a werewolf and becomes cursed with the same affliction. Sir Anthony Hopkins plays Talbot’s father John and MATRIX trilogy star Hugo Weaving is a Scotland Yard inspector. Unlike other recent films with werewolves such as UNDERWORLD and NEW MOON, THE WOLFMAN appears to be a more classical treatment of the lycanthrope mythos that places emphasis on thrills, atmosphere and high-quality visual effects. Word is the movie came about as a result of Del Toro’s affection for the original and a long-held desire to play Talbot. Given Del Toro’s acting chops this should bode well for his performance. Gore hounds will not be pleased to know that the original script, which called for heavy-duty carnage was ultimately toned down to make the film appeal to a wider audience. Fight work is by C.C. Smiff who previously choreographed the fighting in WANTED.

Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving
Director: Joe Johnston
Action Coordinator: Steve Dent (stunts), C.C. Smiff (fights)
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Availability: Theatrical – U.S.

LITTLE BIG SOLDIER (February 14 – Trailer)

During the Warring States Period where ruthless warlords wage endless battles for control of territory in China, an aging Liang foot soldier (Jackie Chan) survives a bloody ambush and takes a young wounded general (Wang Lee-Hom) from the rival Qin state hostage in hopes of trading him in to his commander for a discharge and a piece of land. Far from civilization, the two reluctant companions set out on perilous journey beset with dangers that forces them to work together in order to survive. This period action comedy is something Chan thought up 20 years ago and only now got around to making. An early review at Twitch suggests the wait was worth it, even though the aging star defers some of the action he could have done in years past to his younger co-stars.

Starring: Jackie Chan, Wang Lee-hom
Director: Ding Sheng
Action Director: Wu Gang
Distributor: Emperor Motion Pictures
Availability: Theatrical – Asia

20TH CENTURY BOYS: THE LAST HOPE (February 16 – Trailer)

Part two in a blockbuster sci-fi trilogy that’s based on a manga by Naoki Urasawa.

It is now 2015, and Friend rules a disturbing new world. Kenji has been missing since the Bloody New Year’s Eve of 2000, and his niece Kanna, who has been looked after by Yukuji, is now in high school. Her history textbook contains a fabricated story about Kenji and his friends being the terrorists behind the horrific events of 2000. Kanna, knowing the truth, openly resents this, and as a result she is marked as a problem child by her teacher and sent to the Friend Land program because of her anti-Friend behavior. Friend Land is a facility where people with rebellious behavior are re-educated. As the program begins, Kanna and her classmate Kyoko Koizumi achieve high marks and are sent to the advanced program called the Bonus Stage, where they find themselves in a virtual reconstruction of 1971, when Kenji and his friends were kids. There, each of the girls learns crucial secrets about Friend. The surviving secret base members have been separated since Bloody New Year’s Eve but each has spent the last 15 years in various activities opposing Friend and his regime. Otcho has been incarcerated in Umihotaru Prison. Yoshitune now leads an underground group against Friend. Maruo works for an important figure in the regime, waiting for the right time to act against Friend. As Kenji’s friends all try to find out the truth about Friend, they discover the shocking existence of The New Book of Prophecy, the sequel to The Book of Prophecy. The New Book describes an event: In 2015, at a church in Shinjuku, a savior will rise to uphold justice but will be assassinated. Who is the savior? Once again, Doomsday looms near…

Starring: Renji Ishibashi, Naomasa Musaka, Katsuo Nakamura
Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Distributor: VIZ Pictures
Availability: DVD – U.S.

BLACK DYNAMITE (February 16 – Trailer)

Action star Michael Jai White stars in this very well received spoof/homage to ’70s-era Blaxploitation movies. I have to quote the official synopsis to get the flavor right on this one. “This is the story of 1970s African-American action legend Black Dynamite. The Man killed his brother, pumped heroin into local orphanages, and flooded the ghetto with adulterated malt liquor. Black Dynamite was the one hero willing to fight The Man all the way from the blood-soaked city streets to the hallowed halls of the Honky House.” White has seen his star rise considerably lately, especially among martial arts movie fans, for roles in Isaac Florentine’s UNDISPUTED II, urban actioner BLOOD AND BONE and now this. It’s a welcome trend for White who saw his best chance to make it big as star of SPAWN back in 1997 crumble amid the film’s dismal box office reception and White’s anonymity as a result of spending most of his screen time behind a mask. My hope is that White will get a second chance to play another bog screen comic book hero, specifically Black Panther or Luke Cage.

Starring: Michael Jai White, Arsenio Hall, Tommy Davidson
Director: Scott Sanders
Action coordinator: Roger Yuan
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Availability: Blu-ray, DVD, VOD – U.S.

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN (February 16 – Trailer)

After flopping badly in 2006 with the awful Milla Jovovich sci-fi actioner ULTRAVIOLET, Kurt Wimmer has stepped away from the director’s chair to settle back on screenwriting which seems to have been a good idea so far. In addition to contributing to the screenplay for crime drama STREET KINGS, upcoming Angelina Jolie thriller SALT and a planned remake of TOTAL RECALL he penned this intriguing crime actioner starring Gerald Butler as a father screwed over by the U.S. Justice system when one of the men who murdered his family is set free. He subsequently goes on a meticulously planned killing spree that continues even after he’s imprisoned. Jamie Foxx is a prosecutor who comes to realize that he’s the only man capable of stopping Butler. Critics are saying this movie starts out as an indictment against our justice system and its many flaws and quickly turns into an ultra-violent, simple-minded action movie.

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler, Colm Meaney
Director: F. Gary Gray
Action Coordinator: Artie Malesci
Distributor: Anchor Bay
Availability: Blu-ray, DVD, VOD – U.S.

I CORRUPT ALL COPS (February 23 – Trailer)

Hong Kong’s top populist filmmaker Wong Jing sets his usual sex and low-brow comic material aside to helm this serious crime drama starring Anthony Wong, Eason Chan and Tony Leung Ka-fai.

The head of this empire of corruption was the Hong Kong Island Chinese chief inspector Brother Lak. Every time Brother Lak was unable to solve a case, he would order his subordinate Fire Kirin to find a scapegoat to take the blame. Somehow, Fire Kirin arrested university student Han Chi Bong and wanted him to admit to several dozen crimes including theft, indecent assault and battery…

Starring: Anthony Wong, Eason Chan, Tony Leung Ka-fai
Director: Wong Jing
Action Director: Adam Chan, Mars
Distributor: Tai Seng
Availability: DVD – U.S.

LIKE A DRAGON (February 23 – Trailer)

Takaski Miike directs this adaptation of the Sega PS2 video game “Ryu Ga Gotoku” (aka “Yakuza”).

Kazuma Kiryu, once one of the most fearsome yakuza and known as the Dragon of the Dojima Family, comes back to Kamuro-cho after a ten year jail sentence. His return means many things to many different people, but to one girl, it means she may have a chance of finding her mother. To one of Kazuma’s yakuza friends, however, it means a chance to settle a score.

Starring: Kazuki Kitamura, Gorô Kishitani
Director: Takashi Miike
Distributor: Tokyo Shock
Availability: DVD – U.S.

ROAD OF NO RETURN (February 23 – Trailer)

ROAD OF NO RETURN follows the final nine days in the lives of four hit men who are secretly brought together in a covert operation to fight the nation’s drug trafficking epidemic. Underneath their cold-hearted facades, the hit men are lost souls in search of redemption. On this mission they’ll confront their own demons. When the hit men rescue an orphaned girl from the hands of the criminals, a close bond blossoms between them and the child, a bond that jeopardizes the operation. The forces behind the operation order the men to be killed; and so the hunters become the hunted…

Starring: Michael Madsen, David Carradine
Director: Parviz Saghizadeh
Action Coordinator: Monty Jordan (stunts), Navid Negahban (fights)
Distributor: Osiris Entertainment
Availability: DVD – U.S.

SOO (February 23 – Trailer)

Twin brothers Tae Jin and Tae Soogrew up in the streets together, but they get separated when Tae Jin gets caught by a gangster for stealing. Years later Tae Jin has grown up to become a police officer, while Tae Soo is now a top assassin. The brothers finally reunite after two decades of separation, only for Tae Jin to be brutally murdered in front of Tae Soo’s eyes. Determined to avenge his brother’s death, the guilt-ridden Tae Soo assumes Tae Jin’s identity and sets out on a blood-slashing path for revenge and redemption.

Starring: Ji Jin-hee, Kang Seong-Yeon, Oh Man-seok
Director: Sai Yoichi
Distributor: Virgil Films and Entertainment
Availability: DVD – U.S.

TAXI HUNTER (February 23 – Trailer)

Inspired by an actual Hong Kong taxi strike, TAX HUNTER stars CAT III legend Anthony Wong (Ebola Syndrome, Untold Story) as an angry insurance agent out for revenge. When his pregnant wife is brutally run over by a taxi driver, Ah-Kin (Wong) goes on a rampage of death and destruction. He decides to take out his aggressions on the taxi drivers that overcharge and treat their customers poorly. Directed by Herman Yau (Ebola Syndrome). TAXI HUNTER is Hong Kong exploitation at its best!

Starring: Anthony Wong, Yu Rong-guang, Athena Chu, Ng Man-tat
Director: Herman Yau
Action Director: James Ha
Distributor: Discotek Media
Availability: DVD – U.S.

WRONG SIDE OF TOWN (February 23 – Trailer)

Bobby (Rob Van Dam), a former Navy Seal, seeks revenge by killing a crooked nightclub owner who attacked his wife. The owner’s brother comes after Bobby by placing a massive bounty on his head. Bobby’s only hope will be to enlist his old friend Ronnie (David Bautista) in retaliation efforts. But first he’ll have to repair the falling-out they had years ago. With Ronnie’s help he’ll stand a chance, but ultimately it will be up to him to save his family and escape his death sentence.

Starring: Rob Van Dam, Dave Batista, Ja Rule
Director: David DeFalco
Action Coordinator: Phil O’Dell (stunts), Marrese Crump (fights)
Distributor: Lionsgate
Availability: Blu-ray, DVD, VOD – U.S.

A PROPHET (February 26 – Trailer)

This Oscar-nominated crime drama from Jacques Audiard is being hailed as one of the best French films of 2009 and is even being favorably compared to THE GODFATHER. It concerns an illiterate Arab immigrant imprisoned for an alleged assault on police who works his way up through the ranks of a powerful Corsican crime family. Its star, relative newcomer Tahar Rahim, will next be making an appearance in Kevin Macdonald’s Roman sword-and-sandal actioner THE EAGLE OF THE NINE.

Starring: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif
Director: Jacques Audiard
Action Coordinator: Olivier Schneider
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Availability: Limited Theatrical – U.S.

DEFENDOR (February 26 – Trailer)

Action comedy starring Woody Harrelson as a would-be superhero minus superpowers has a limited theatrical release in Los Angeles.

Arthur Poppington is a regular man who adopts a superhero persona known as “Defendor” and combs the city streets at night in search of his arch-enemy Captain Industry. In his attempts to combat crime and bring down this drug and weapons dealer, whom he mistakenly blames for the death of his mother, Defendor ends up befriending a young prostitute. Armed with unconventional weapons like marbles and paper clips, and with his new friend by his side, Defendor proves that everyone is capable of making a difference as he puts his life on the line and foils the entire crime operation.

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Kat Dennings, Elias Koteas
Director: Peter Stebbings
Action Coordinator: Bryan Renfro
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Availability: Limited Theatrical – U.S.

THE SWORD WITH NO NAME (February 27 – Trailer)

A 19th-century bounty hunter named Moo-myoung (Jo Seung-woo) meets and falls in love with future Joseon Empress Myeongseong (Soo-ae). After she marries King Gojong (Kim Yeong-min) and claims the throne, the lovestruck Moo-myoung becomes her personal guard. When the Empress becomes embroiled in political turmoil involving foreign nations, Moo-myoung must use his fighting skills to defend her from an invading army. The film is premiering on DVD in South Korea from local distrib PRE.GM in region 3, 2-disc and 3-disc limited edition packages. Both releases come with English subtitles.

Starring: Jo Seung-woo, Soo-ae
Director: Kim Yong-gyoon
Distributor: PRE.GM
Availability: DVD (South Korea)