\n<\/p>\n
Rent or buy on most major platforms.<\/a><\/p>\n Yuri (Joey Iwanaga) and Makoto (Tatsuomi Hamada) are silly but deadly cleanup men, who are so disregarded they\u2019re often handed the messiest assignments: In the film\u2019s opening scene, the two are tasked with annihilating a lone dealer. But they are not told about the goons accompanying their target. The mix-up leads to a jarring, chaotic, but rapturously executed shootout. Yuri and Makoto are tired of these dead-end gigs; they want to move up to the big time. With all the full-time assassin roles filled, they need to create an opening by murdering two employed killers. They just happen to be Chisato (Akari Takaishi) and Mahiro (Saori Izawa), the stars of the first \u201cBaby Assassins\u201d film, reprising their roles.<\/p>\n From the returning writer-director Yugo Sakamoto, \u201cBaby Assassins 2\u201d is an expansive, world building sequel that\u2019s as much about the friendships shared by these teams of hired guns \u2014 especially Chisato and Mahiro\u2019s queer-coded connection \u2014 as much as the body count they amass. It\u2019s why a comedic fight by Chisato and Mahiro in mascot costumes isn\u2019t merely hilarious, it\u2019s nimble, intense and wonderfully off-kilter.<\/p>\n Stream it on Netflix.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Renny Harlin, the director behind \u201cCliffhanger\u201d and \u201cDie Hard 2,\u201d is keen on lone stoic heroes. In his latest, \u201cThe Bricklayer,\u201d Aaron Eckhart follows in the stoic hero tradition as Vail, a former C.I.A. operative turned bricklayer recalled to service by his former boss, O\u2019Malley (Tim Blake Nelson), to stop Radek (Clifton Collins Jr.), an informant turned rouge, from leaking government secrets. Vail is teamed with Bannon (Nina Dobrev), an inexperienced field agent, to travel to Greece for the hit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe Bricklayer\u201d is filled with throwback testosterone-fueled tropes: Vail rekindles a romance with a woman of questionable motives; he teaches Bannon the ropes; he\u2019s an old dog whose old tricks still work. Eckhart maintains an even-keeled action persona, all while leaping from death-defying explosions, getting up from aching punches and staying true to an ethos of not leaving until the job is done.<\/p>\n Stream it on Tubi.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Zhang Tu (Richie Jen) is a dedicated, drug busting police officer and a single father to a young son. After noticing bruises on his son\u2019s back, Zhang ventures into a seedy nightclub to get revenge against the boy\u2019s bullies. Zhang not only engages in an all-out brawl, where he flings beer bottles at the heads of gangsters, he also saves a prostitute, Chin Maung Su (Yao Chen), from her abusive client. That good deed, however, has larger repercussions: The client is the son of a powerful sex trafficker, who decides to take revenge by kidnapping Zhang\u2019s child. Zhang teams up with Chin on a cross-country trip to rescue him.<\/p>\n Chan Tai-Lee\u2019s film is both a social justice movie \u2014 teaching viewers about the human trafficking industry \u2014 and a pulpy action flick. Jen is a knockout desperate dad, one so driven by fatherly love, he\u2019ll use shards of glass to fight a man armed with Karambit blades.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I love the Korean action star Don Lee. A broad, towering figure, he brings a lovable tenacity to a menacing genre. Nowhere is his unique presence more felt than in the \u201cThe Roundup\u201d franchise, where he plays the hulking detective Ma Seok-do. The third installment in the series, \u201cNo Way Out,\u201d from the director Lee Sang-yong, offers more of the comic violence, crushing blows and winking one-liners audiences have come to love.<\/p>\n Though \u201cNo Way Out\u201d is a tad convoluted \u2014 Ma and his fellow cops are traveling to Japan to stop the sale of a new, exotic drug sold by the Yakuza \u2014 the film is simple where it counts. Lee delivers roundhouse kicks and swinging fists that land with concussive force. Every big hit recalls an early moment in the film: Ma says his job as a cop is to \u201cpunish and serve.\u201d As an action hero he upholds the same standards.<\/p>\n\u2018The Bricklayer\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Fierce Cop\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Roadkill\u2019<\/h2>\n