100 Yards

Directed by Xu Haofeng and Xu Junfeng, 100 yards follows rivals Qi (Andy On) and Shen (Jacky Heung) as they battle for control of a well-regarded martial-arts academy. Filmmakers Xu and Xu, armed with their own screenplay, deliver a mostly underwhelming endeavor that contains little in the way of a coherent narrative or forward momentum, as the movie essentially consists of low-stakes brawls in between a series of interminable, uninvolving conversations. (The structure of the picture involves a discussion about a fight, which is followed by a fight, and this is repeated endlessly for the duration of a very padded-out running time.) The arms-length atmosphere is compounded and perpetuated by an absence of both compelling characters and a sense of genuine propulsiveness, and while some of the action sequences admittedly are fun (albeit far from exciting), 100 Yards, which also suffers from a grating, annoying score by An Wei, generally (and predominantly) comes off as a thoroughly ineffective and uninvolving endeavor that would hardly be worth mentioning were it not for its action interludes.

*1/2 out of ****