The story of Mel Gibson's stately anti-hero begins in Mad Max, George Miller's low-budget debut, in which Max is a "Bronze" (cop) in an unspecified post-apocalyptic future with a buddy-partner and family. But, unlike most films set in the devastated future, Mad Max is notable because it is poised between our industrialised world and total regression to medieval conditions. The scale tips towards disintegration when the Glory Riders burn into town on their bikes like an overcharged cadre of Brando's Wild Ones. Representing the active chaos that will eventually overwhelm the dying vestiges of civil society they take everything dear to Max, who then has to exact due revenge. His flight into the same wilds that created the villains artfully sets up the morally ambiguous character of the subsequent films. -Alan E Rapp, Amazon. com.

If you're not a connoisseur of graphic horror and gruesome gore, you'd better steer clear of Braindead, a wicked 1992 horror-comedy from the demented mind and delirious camera of writer-director Peter Jackson, years before he went on to mainstream success with The Lord of the Rings. However, if non-stop mayhem and extreme violence are your idea of great entertainment, you're sure to appreciate Jackson's gleefully inventive approach to a story that can judiciously be described as sick, twisted and totally outrageous. The movie's central character is a poor schmuck named Lionel who's practically enslaved to his domineering mother. But when ol' Mum gets bitten by a rare and poisonous rat monkey from Skull Island and is turned into a flesh-eating zombie, Lionel has the unfortunate task of keeping Mama happy while fending off all the other zombies that result from her voracious feeding frenzies. If you've read this far, you'll either be crying out for censorship or eagerly awaiting your first viewing (or second, or third. ) of this wildly clever and audaciously uninhibited movie. While director Jackson would later achieve far greater critical and box-office successes, his talent is readily evident in this earlier effort. If you find this kind of thing even remotely appealing, consider Braindead a must-see movie. [+]

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is so many things: a historical epic on a grand scale, an Asian martial-arts flick with both great effects and fantastic fighting (choreographed by The Matrix's guru Yuen Woo Ping) and a story of magic, revenge and power played with a posse of star-crossed lovers thrown in for good measure. Set during the Qing dynasty (the late 19th century), the film follows the fortunes of righteous warriors Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien (Asian superstars Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh, respectively) whose love for one another has lain too long unspoken. When Li Mu Bai's legendary sword Green Destiny is stolen by wilful aristocrat's daughter Jen (exquisite newcomer Zhang Ziyi), who has been trained in the way of the gangster by Li Mu Bai's arch-rival Jade Fox, the warriors must fight to recover the mystical blade. The plot takes us all across China from dens of iniquity and sumptuous palaces to the stark plains of the Western desert. Characters chase each other up walls and across roof and treetops to breathtaking effect and to Tan Dun's haunting, Oscar-winning East-West inflected score. Directed by Taiwanese-born Ang Lee and cowritten by his long time collaborator American James Schamus, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon joins the ranks of the team's slate of high-quality, genre-spanning literary adaptations. Although it superficially seems like a return to Ang's Asian roots, there's a clear thread connecting this with their earlier Western films, given the thematic focus on propriety and family honour (Sense and Sensibility), repressed emotions (The Ice Storm) and divided loyalties in a time of war (Ride with the Devil). Nonetheless, a film this good needs no prior acquaintance with the director's oeuvre; it stands on its own. The only people who might be dismissive of it are jaded chop-socky fans who will probably feel bored with all the romance. Everyone else will love it. [+]

The on-screen infatuation with serial killers continues with Messiah, an absorbing, intelligent two-part BBC TV film that's a close cousin to David Fincher's Seven. Based on the novel by Boris Starling (who also co-wrote the screenplay), Messiah follows Detective Chief Inspector Red Metcalfe (Ken Stott) in tracking down someone with a Christ complex in a murder-case involving 12 "Apostles". A fine line is trod in presenting enough horror so as to intrigue, but not so much as to repel. Decapitations, cut out tongues and flayed skin are all masked in shadow or reflection. More attractive to the eye is a strong cast including Edward Woodward as the case's religious consultant and the keeper of Metcalfe's wayward brother and Michelle Forbes as his deaf wife (the actress learnt sign language in six days for the part). Other notables are Ron Berglas as the unemotional expositional pathologist and Gillian Taylforth as the beleaguered wife of corruptible copper Duncan (Neil Dudgeon). With fine supporting work from Frances Grey, Jamie Draven, Art Malik and 25,000 flies, you'll be racking your brains to spot the killer. Expect to jump several times along the way. On the DVD: a 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary interviews all the key cast members on their thoughts of grisly imagery and working with one another. The producers have plenty to say on the original script and use of red herrings to distract us. [+]

Essentially a cautionary tale of slightly futuristic cyber-terrorism, Netforce carries Tom Clancy's heavyweight name as the executive producer (but not writer). Don't expect a drama on the level of Patriot Games, however: Netforce is a blunt and somewhat rushed thriller with little time for character or relationship development. What it does offer is a scenario for the prospect of organised crime uniting with computer geeks and malevolent industrialists to sabotage national security through attacks on the Internet. Scott Bakula plays the FBI agent in charge of the Netforce division of the bureau; he takes charge after his mentor (Kris Kristofferson) is murdered and the investigation points to the involvement of a Web pioneer (Judge Reinhold). The hero's romance with a colleague (Joanna Going) grows a little trickier after he promotes her to the number two spot behind himself, but with the president's chief of staff (Brian Dennehy) breathing down their necks, that's the least of their professional problems. The action bounces around from good guys to sundry bad guys, but there's no question that a creeping paranoia about Net vulnerability and its disastrous implications grows on this production-and the viewers. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

John Huston (The Maltese Falcon) directed this smart thriller about a gangster (Edward G. Robinson) who holds a number of people hostage in a hotel on the Florida keys during a tropical storm. Humphrey Bogart is the returning war veteran who takes on the villains, and Lauren Bacall is on hand as one of the people on the wrong end of Robinson's gun. Somewhat similar in tone to Howard Hawks's To Have and Have Not (which also featured Bogart and Bacall), Key Largo is a moody movie which captures a certain despair offset by the bond between individuals united by common purpose. Claire Trevor won an Academy Award for her part as Robinson's alcoholic girlfriend. -Tom Keogh.

Con Air is proof that the slick, absurdly overblown action formula of Hollywood mega-producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Days of Thunder, The Rock, Crimson Tide) lives on, even after Simpson's druggy death. (Read Charles Fleming's exposé, High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess, for more about that). Nicolas Cage, sporting a disconcerting mane of hair, is a wrongly convicted prisoner on a transport plane with a bunch of infamously psychopathic criminals, including head creep Cyrus the Virus (John Malkovich), black militant Diamond Dog (Ving Rhames), and serial killer Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi, making the most of his pallid, rodent-like qualities). Naturally, the convicts take over the plane; meanwhile, on the ground, a US marshal (John Cusack)and a DEA agent (Colm Meaney), try to figure out what to do. As is the postmodern way, the movie displays a self-consciously ironic awareness that its story and characters are really just excuses for a high-tech cinematic thrill ride. Best idea: the filmmakers persuaded the owners of the legendary Sands Hotel in Las Vegas to let them help out with the structure's demolition by crashing their plane into it. -Jim Emerson.

She can't (and won't) drive 55. Stephen King's novel about the twisted love affair between a boy and his car gets transferred to the screen, courtesy of suspense master John Carpenter. Although lacking some of the more outré supernatural elements of the source material, this high-octane cinematic tune-up more than delivers the goods, horror-wise (Christine's midnight rampages will never be forgotten)-as well as being a sly exposé of the random cruelties within the high-school pecking order. Keith Gordon (who has gone on to become a stellar director in his own right, with films such as A Midnight Clear and Mother Night to his credit) gives a wonderfully controlled central performance. Carpenter's atmospheric original score is backed up by a well-chosen collection of rock classics, including George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" (the titular character's all-too-apt theme song). -Andrew Wright, Amazon. com.