Director: Godfrey Ho
Year: 1989
Rating: 7.5
There has been a long-going debate about whether
this film is a whole film or two films cut together. The director is Godfrey
Ho who is known to pull little tricks like that. Watching it again, I have
to admit I am not sure. I am also not sure if it matters. It is one of the
best and most intense Girls with Guns films there is. I can see that it could
be two films - one dealing with Michiko Nishiwaki going up against Moon Lee
and Sharon Yeung Pan-pan and the other with Moon and Sharon going against
a big shot businessman. But I think it unlikely. For one thing where are
those two other films? And what are the chances that they both starred Moon
and Sharon. It is more a curious thing because if it was two films Ho did
a terrific job of integrating them. This is filled with great action scenes,
some real evil and a plot that takes a sudden dark turn that will rip your
head off. Mainly of course, it has three of the best of the Girls with Guns
stars - Moon Lee, Michiko Nishiwaki and Sharon Yeung - in top form. There
are a couple lulls in the film regarding a comic would-be suitor chasing
after Sharon that could easily have been dropped but otherwise it is a blast
of a movie from start to finish.
It begins with a wealthy businessman receiving
word that a former mistress is going to testify against him and he goes nuts
swearing like a blue streak. Upon closer investigation, I realize he is being
played by Yueh Hua, former Shaw Brothers star, a few pounds heavier and much
less hair. He wants her dead. That might not be so easy though as she
is being protected by two cops, Moon and Sharon, and a bunch of others. Their
first try for a kill is a classic set piece. The cops in three cars are transferring
her to a safe house when a bunch of motorcyclists appear well-armed with
machine guns and hand grenades. Leading them is James Ha with his oh so sweet
wife played by Michiko. We were introduced earlier to them when Ha was having
sex with a woman and Michiko watched until she gave him a big bite on the
shoulder. Clearly, a former Girl Scout. It is a terrific action scene with
Moon and Sharon fending off and killing bunches of them - shooting hand grenades
in the air, with two guys on cycles crashing into a car and go over it while
it is on fire. Kudos to those two guys. One of the hand grenades ends up
killing Ha and Michiko in her flaming red jacket swears revenge.
The drama is brought in when we learn
that Sharon's father, Kenneth Tsang, a former cop is on Yueh's payroll and
that the testimony of the mistress will implicate him as well. He found Sharon
as a child with no parents and took her in. Tsang is given the assignment
of killing the woman his daughter is protecting. It gets intense and goes
where you will not expect it to. Numerous small attacks against our two girls
take place. Yueh has a bunch of Gweilo thugs under him and sends them after
Moon and Sharon - one being Mark Houghton. And Michiko is at her evilest.
She seduces Moon's husband and leaves him with a giant hickey. He tells her
“You scare me stiff”. Stiff for sure. She keeps calling him with a psycho
stare and a painting of a snarling cat behind her as she throws darts at
a picture of Moon. Then it gets nasty. But both Michiko and the husband
disappear in the final third leading to the two-film possibility. A
big finale - nearly all guns - as our two girls take down men by the dozens.
It is a lovely sight.
