5. Everything Everywhere All At Once (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Chinese-themed-US)
Furthermore, “the Daniels” as they are currently known by, take full advantage of the many parallel universes in order to present their character in very different colors, mostly through the prism of action, comedy, and eventually drama. In that fashion, a number of the action scenes are truly impressive to watch, with the job done by action choreographers Andy and Brian Le, the stunts, and the visual effects being truly top notch. The different types of humor are also hilarious here, starting with the IRS agent becoming a villain as much as the security guys of the building, and continuing with a number of one-liners Yeoh utters at well-timed moments and segment like the one with the sausage fingers or the one only featuring rocks whose “words” are presented through narration and text on screen. At the same time, the directors also manage to deal with a number of social issues, concerning immigration, the generational gap, family, relationships and motherhood among others. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
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4. The Big 4 (Timo Tjahjanto, Indonesian)
The first one is definitely the action, with action choreographer Muhammad Irfan presenting a series of rather impressive scenes, which find their apogee in the rather lengthy finale. The martial art parts are of the same, quite high quality Indonesian cinema has gotten us used to since “The Raid”. However, the truly unique aspect here is the extensive use of guns, which are frequently used in rather close proximity, essentially taking the part of knives previous productions from the country had. This allows for the finales of the fights to be grotesquely impressive, with the blowing up of heads in particular definitely staying on mind. Furthermore, the fact that all the protagonists also get their share of punishment works quite well for the narrative, as much as the combination with comic elements that pleasantly tones down the brutality here. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
3. The Witch: Part 2. The Other One (Park Hoon-jung, S.Korea)
It would seem that Park Hoon-jung is a man who takes criticism fully on board. After facing heavy censure for the treatment of females in “V.I.P.”, he went ahead and made his very first film with a female lead with “The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion” straight after. The biggest negative comment that the naysayers of that feature had was that the action starts too late. This too is an aspect that Park changes almost from the word “go” in “The Other One” and the action here is simply magnificent and it gets progressively better, the set-pieces bigger and grander in scope, while keeping the story flowing freely forward and also giving us some flashback early on to further explain the extent of the experiments done by The Ark and the other Facilities. The way he manages to keep the full extent of the Girl's powers is also commendable so that when she finally uses them, they still retain the thrill and surprise factor that those of Ja-yoon had. (Rhythm Zaveri)
2. The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves To Die (Choi Jae-hoon, S. Korea)
“The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves To Die” has absolutely no regard for any kind of modern political correctness, not to mention the fact that women here are portrayed as much the villains as the men, to say the least, while realism is thrown out of the window essentially from the beginning of the movie. Who cares though, when the entertainment it emits comes from every scene and the quality of the production is so high? “The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves To Die” is one of the best action movies of the year and a return to a cinematic past of Korean movies that I feel many have missed significantly.
1. Project Wolf Hunting (Kim Hong-sun, S. Korea)
“Project Wolf Hunting” begins as an ominous slow burn; Hong-Sun sets this up nicely, introducing the guards and the inmates and consistently teasing the idea that ominous plans are lurking in the background. Yet once things pick up, they don't stop until the final seconds of the film's two-hour runtime. Regardless of whether you're a seasoned horror and thriller viewer or you're new to the game, it can be guaranteed that “Project Wolf Hunting” will keep you guessing and in a consistent state of captivation with its slow-pan shots and dark, eerie sequences. (Spencer Nafekh-Blanchette)
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