		Year: 1998 Director: Lam Wai Lun Starring: Chiu Man Chuk, Shu Qi, Andrew Lin Genre: Action/martial arts Literal title translation: 'Emerald Blood Blue Sky'

This film begins with Yim Dong (Chiu Man Chuk) engaged in a hostage situation on an airplane. After disobeying orders (but still saving the hostages) he is dispatched to the mythical European country of Lavernia to work for the Chinese ambassador. There he is reunited with his childhood sweetheart (Shu Qi) and incurs the wrath of Kaizo Misihima (Andrew Lin) who is a cult leader from Japan and responsible for the bombings of the underground tube network.

This film felt like it was directed by Yuen Kwai and followed the recent tradition of Hong Kong films being shot in a European location. The introduction of Chiu's character was very good but unfortunately he does not have enough screen time fighting the amazingly talented Hung Yan Yan (Clubfoot from the OUATIC series). From here the action moves to Lavernia and the best fight of the film is delivered when Chiu first meets cult leader Mishima. This sequence was choreographed by the prolific Ching Siu Tung and shows that Chiu's on screen fighting skills are getting better all of the time. The only thing that is bad about this scene is that it's too short. Although good, the film's other fight scenes do not live up to this initial confrontation and it is clear that the director is heavy handed in his handling of the dramatic scenes. Also, the English dialogue that is used is laughably bad. It is shame because in the hands of a better more experienced director (Ching Siu Tung?) this film could have been brilliant.

This is by far Chiu's best performance as an actor and fighter and shows that he can easily cut it as a mainstream lead. It's just a shame that the rest of the film is a bit clichéd and the rest of the cast (except Lin) are woefully underdeveloped. Watch this if you want to see Chiu giving it his all but not if you want to see a well structured piece of filmmaking.