When I saw The Incredible Hulk yesterday at a matinee screening, I was entertained. (My feelings were very similar to what Scott Weinberg wrote in his review, so no sense repeating them here.) But, truthfully, the CGI-to-death battle scenes made me long for hard-core, physical action sequences involving real people, an itch that was easily scratched by watching Invisible Target, which came out on DVD earlier this week.

Directed by veteran action maestro Benny Chan, Invisible Target is a very basic Hong Kong "cops and criminals" tale with a couple of deeper psychological layers thrown in for good measure. As I wrote in my review when I saw it at Fantastic Fest last fall, "Invisible Target may not be strikingly original in either its plot or action choreography, but there's definitely something entirely positive to be said for a film that intends to be nothing more than a delivery system for adrenaline and keeps its promise in a very satisfying fashion."

The Hong Kong film industry, renowned for producing action pictures with a unique blend of outrageous antics, has been enjoying a small resurgence of late. On the modern action side, Wilson Yip's SPL (retitled Kill Zone for the US market) kicked things into high gear in the fall of 2005, and more recently, Yip's Flash Point and Benny Chan's Invisible Target got fanboys like myself excited when they played at TIFF and Fantastic Fest last fall.

In between those films, Dennis Law's Fatal Contact came out in October 2006, and this week Dragon Dynasty makes it available on Region 1 DVD. Unlike those other films, the hero of Fatal Contact is not a police officer but a kung fu champion from Mainland China named Kong (Wu Jing, AKA Jacky Wu Jing, a villain in both SPL and invisible Target). His spectacular performance with a traveling opera company brings him to the attention of the criminals that run the underground boxing scene in Hong Kong. At the urging of a fetching, gold-digging co-worker (Miki Yeung), Kong is drawn ever deeper into a violent world ruled by bosses who gamble millions of dollars on every match.

Very much a story told in the traditional manner, with generous doses of broad humor, social drama and unrequited yearning, Fatal Contact succeeds by delivering a satisfying quotient of increasingly brutal fight scenes. As usual, Wu Jing is a rocket-fueled, unstoppable field of energy. Also notable is Ronald Cheng, a singer turned actor who looks pretty sharp as a fighter in the "street hustling sidekick" role. For good measure, he also performs a song over the closing credits.

Dragon Dynasty's two-disk edition includes an audio commentary by director Law with Bey Logan, four interviews, and a "behind the scenes" feature.

Also out this week is Ryuichi Hiroki's Vibrator, which won acclaim on the festival circuit a couple of years ago. It's a road drama about an alcoholic freelance writer (Shinobu Terajima); she's a woman "on the edge of madness, despair and finally love," in the words of Mark Schilling, writing in The Japan Times. The DVD is from Kino Video.

DVD hounds know that Tuesday is normally DVD release day. With Christmas falling on a Tuesday this year, though, release schedules have been blown up; some releases moved up to Sunday, and others have been delayed until Wednesday.

In what appears to be an inspired bit of seasonal counter-programming, the DVD debut of David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises has been heavily advertised on TV the past week ... which is kinda weird, because I don't remember very much advertising for the theatrical release. Selective memory on my part, or is it more cost efficient for distributor Focus Features? Sad to admit, but I missed this when it played in cinemas a short time ago, so I'm looking forward to catching it now. Cinematical's Ryan Stewart appeared to like it, but not as much as the director's previous film, A History of Violence. The DVD includes two features on the making of the film.

I can't believe I'm recommending a Hong Kong film that's reminiscent of Three Men and a Baby, but it's a very thin week for new indie releases and besides, it's not as bad as it sounds. Jackie Chan stars in Robin B Hood (retitled from its original English title, Rob B Hood) as one of a trio of irresponsible burglars who must take care of a baby and grow up in the process.

As I wrote when I reviewed it for another site early this year: "It must be acknowledged: Jackie Chan moves with more agile grace, and subjects his body to greater punishment, than any other 52-year-old multi-millionaire in the entertainment industry. The problem here, though, is the same one that has often dragged down his films -- the non-action scenes." If you're an action junkie, though, it's worth a rental for some of Chan's best stunt work in years. The DVD includes two features, two interviews, and an audio commentary by director Benny Chan.

Crunch! Bam! Ouch! Wow! Great action movies make you want to express yourself in exclamation marks. As evidenced by Invisible Target, the Hong Kong film industry has forgotten more about making action films than Hollywood will ever learn. Invisible Target may not be strikingly original in either its plot or action choreography, but there's definitely something entirely positive to be said for a film that intends to be nothing more than a delivery system for adrenaline and keeps its promise in a very satisfying fashion.

A gang of thieves led by Tien (Wu Jing) and Yeng-yee (Andy On) blows up an armored truck so they can steal the millions of dollars that are secured inside. The explosion is so huge and fiery that it wipes out nearby cars and stores, including a jewelry shop where a woman is shopping for wedding rings. The woman is the fiancee of police detective Chan Chun (Nicholas Tse); six months later, he is still grieving her loss and aching for a chance to avenge her death.

Having fled Hong Kong after the robbery, Tien's gang is forced to return in search of their share of the booty, which was not paid as promised by their "invisible" boss. They cross paths with another police investigator, Fong Yik-Wei (Shawn Yue), who is as arrogant as Chan is brooding. Fong and his squad are in the process of making a drug bust when Tien's gang bursts in, displaying a brazen defiance of police authority. Fong suffers further when he is forced to (literally) eat lead. He aches for the chance to avenge his humiliation.

Is direct-to-DVD better than nothing? News about the latest Asian acquisition by The Weinstein Co. -- reliable veteran director Benny Chan's forthcoming cops 'n' criminals action flick Invisible Target -- broke a few days ago. Variety's brief report noted that the Weinsteins picked up rights for North America, Australia and South Africa to the Hong Kong-China film but "has not yet set release plans." That sounds to me like another way of saying, 'We plan to send this directly to the home video market, but we want people right now to think it might get a theatrical release some time in the near future, so they will hold out hope of seeing it in theaters, then slowly lose hope when it doesn't appear and we don't talk about it, and will then be grateful months from now when it's finally available on DVD, because then at least they'll be able to see it in some form.'

Maybe that's just my cynical side thinking out loud. To give them credit, the Weinsteins did release The Protector wide last fall -- trying to build on Magnolia's work in distributing Ong Bak, which also featured action star Tony Jaa -- and perhaps they felt the modest financial returns ($12,044,087, per Box Office Mojo) did not justify their investment, making them gun-shy for the future. From the looks of the smashing trailer, Invisible Target will be packed with flying stunts, explosions and angry young men. Nicholas * Tse, Wu Jing (who really knows his martial arts), Shawn Yue and Jaycee Chan (Jackie's son) star. Invisible Target is coming out soon in Mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore; it opens in Hong Kong this Friday, July 19. As already complained about above, we'll have to wait to see it in North America.

* Corrected. Thanks to commenter xxdeucexx for pointing out my misspelling.--PM