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."

Do you want to look forward or backward? Out on DVD this week are two Japanese films separated by more than half a century. Animation director Satoshi Kon first made his mark with Perfect Blue (1997), a trippy journey into a pop singer's psyche that transcended time and space. He reversed course with Millennium Actress (2001), which crossed decades to tell the story of of a reclusive movie star, and slid into the mainstream with the much more straightforward Tokyo Godfathers (2003) before returning to more familiar territory with the made for television multi-episode series Paranoia Agent (2003).

His most recent film, Paprika, is a "visually rich tale," wrote Kim Voynar, "about a group of private scientists at a research facility who have invented a device called the DC Mini that allows 'dream detectives' to enter other people's dreams." The DVD includes a "making of" documentary, several featurettes and a filmmaker commentary.

Is it possible to summarize the career of Akira Kurosawa? Suffice it to say that his 1948 noir Drunken Angel was his first step into personal filmmaking and his first collaboration with the great actor Toshirô Mifune. As is their custom, The Criterion Collection has produced a DVD that features a new, restored high definition transfer, audio commentary by Japanese film expert Donald Richie, a "making of" documentary, a new "video piece" on the challenges that faced Kurosawa, and more.

Quite frankly, Wilson Yip's Dragon Tiger Gate is an unholy mess that tries to pretend 40-something Donnie Yen is about half his age -- and that's just the starting point for the foolishness unleashed. It could be argued that the action and the dramatics are intended to be over the top, since it's based on a popular manga, but I think that's probably insulting to the source material, which I haven't read. If you're a glutton for punishment -- or just a sucker for any kind of martial arts action and/or pretty boys Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue -- you might like this more than I did. The DVD includes an audio commentary by Ric Meyers, a "making of" featurette and deleted scenes.

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.