A private eye (Sam Elliott) battles a criminal (Robert Culp) in the Australian outback for the possession of a priceless opal in this all-out action flick.

A milestone film from 1971 and winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, The French Connection transformed the crime thriller with its gritty, authentic story about New York City police detectives on the trail of a large shipment of heroin. Based on an actual police case and the illustrious career of New York cop Eddie Egan, the film stars Gene Hackman as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, whose unorthodox methods of crime fighting are anything but diplomatic. With his partner (Roy Scheider), Popeye investigates the international shipment of heroin masterminded by the suave Frenchman (Fernando Rey) who eludes Popeye throughout an escalating series of pursuits. The obsessive tension of Doyle's investigation reaches peak intensity during the film's breathtaking car chase, in which Doyle races under New York's elevated train tracks in a borrowed sedan-a sequence that earned an Oscar for editing and was instantly hailed as one of the greatest chase scenes ever filmed. Produced on location, The French Connection had an immediate influence on dozens of movies and TV shows to follow, virtually redefining the crime thriller with its combination of brutal realism and high-octane craftsmanship. Boosted by the film's phenomenal success, director William Friedkin gained even more attention with his follow-up film, The Exorcist. -Jeff Shannon.

China Girl is a re-imagining of Romeo and Juliette Abel Ferrara-style-which is to say West Side Story redone without the songs. The ethnicities updated to a 1987 focusing on the New York City clash between the Italians and the Chinese, and there is a lot more gritty on-the-streets action. China Girl offers a lower intensity than most Ferrara movies, revolving not around a lone obsessive Driller Killer-such as the Ms. 45, King of New York, Bad Lieutenant figure-but a pair of fairly bland young lovers, played by actors who get an "and introducing" credit but don't seem to have done much since, Richard Panebianco and Sari Chang. However, Ferrara does have a great collection of New York acting talents in support, with James Russo, David Caruso and Robert Miano in the Eastern camp and Russell Wong, Joey Chin and James Hong in the Triad gang. The feud situation is even more complex than in most versions of the story as the gang-fight clashes between Italian hoods and Chinese thugs are contrasted with the mock-civilised behaviour of each community's criminal elder statesmen. Like most Ferrara films, it's ragged around the edges and mixes scenes of silent movie-style melodrama with others that seem utterly real. Always a great low-budget action director, he scores here with many scrambles over chainlink fences, knife-fights in neon-lit alleyways and what other director would smash a statue of the madonna and leave her head spinning in a gutter? Fifteen years later and the film has a real 80s feel in its crowded disco scenes, with pumped-up and preening youths and surprisingly resonant rock score. -Kim Newman.

Death Race 2000, Paul Bartel's 1975 cheapo satire about a futuristic international sport-an anything-goes car race where drivers score points for hitting pedestrians-stars David Carradine as a hero behind the wheel and Sylvester Stallone as his nemesis. The film is clever and macabre enough as a modernist satire, but finally overplays its hand in grim, decadent humour. The sets are gloriously artificial, and former Andy Warhol-star Mary Woronov is in sexy, comic form. -Tom Keogh.

Tom Berenger and Billy Zane head the cast in this silly action film about a tough Marine and an Olympics marksman who team up in the Panamanian jungle to take out a rebel leader and the drug kingpin financing him. Berenger's done this switched-off soul bit before, but Zane doesn't seem quite ready for his part. In any case, the acting doesn't matter as much to director Luis Llosa as fancy camerawork to give viewers the sense of a bullet hurling along its trajectory. -Tom Keogh.

A Hollywood multiple murder is investigated by a homicide cop, despite high-placed efforts to cover up the crime. peter weller. sela ward,bruce weitz.

Eric the would-be assassin is such a nice, caring fellow that Hitman has an immediate credibility problem: how could Eric (oriental superstar Jet Li in his follow-up to Lethal Weapon 4) ever believe he could be a cold-blooded murderer? The script tries to get around this by emphasising his poverty, and once he meets conman Norman (Hong Kong comedy star Eric Tsang), the film manages to blend amiable humour with amoral characters and polished action into an entertaining whole. A yakusa crime lord has been murdered by the Angel of Death, a professional hitman who only kills those he believes deserve to die. Getting well out of their depth in the hunt for the assassin, Li and Tsang make an appealing double act, while Gigi Leung is charming as Norman's lawyer daughter. With a moderately involved plot and an emphasis on character, action is limited to five well-staged set-pieces which are stylishly conceived, exciting and don't outstay their welcome. The finale even has a joke at the expense of Die Hard's running across broken glass, while the ending sets up the inevitable sequel. A long way from Li's magnificent Once Upon A Time in China (1991), Hitman is efficient, highly watchable Hong Kong entertainment. -Gary S Dalkin.