Not to be confused with the various retellings of Poe’s famous tale, Black Cat is a high-octane Hong Kong action thriller that provides a hugely entertaining pre-curser to the likes of Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol 1 (2003) and South Korean cult classic, The Villainess (2017).

When Catherine (Jade Leung), a mentally disturbed young woman, is detained by the police after accidentally killing a truck driver, she finds herself part of a covert training system. Programmed as an assassin, having learned a host of new deadly skills, she becomes a lethal government weapon, codenamed Black Cat.

Director Steven Shin (Brotherhood, Easy Money, Black Cat 2), had initially intended to make a straight-up remake of Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita (1990) but when Disney bought out the rights he was forced to rethink. His solution was Black Cat, a slick, action-packed gun-toting thrill ride.