Dubbed
By most cinematic standards there is not much here that is redeeming about
this low budget exploitation trashy movie, but damn I enjoyed it. There is
lots of ridiculous over the top violence, a good helping of nudity and two
sexy killer dames at the top of their game. What more could you ask for? Good
acting? Good dialogue? Good dubbing? Logic? That stuff is for sissies. Real
men and women like it rough, tough and stupid with a huge kill count. In
the first few minutes. Count me in. It is directed by the low budget schlockmeister
Godfrey Ho who churned out these action cheapies as often as an old man has
to get up at night to go the bathroom. But this one is much more stylish than
his norm with great use of color and close-ups. He brings in a very solid
cast with Sibelle Hu, Lawrence Ng, Alex Fong, Ken Lo, William Ho (who lasts
for about three minutes till he is rubbed out) and Lam Chung who probably
played a villain in all 71 of his film appearances. And of course the two
female assassins - Maria Yuen Chi-wai as Eileen and Miyamoto Yoko as Miyamoto.
Maria who machine guns down a room full of sushi eaters was in a number of
Hong Kong films including the wonderful Seeding of a Ghost. This was to be
her last film. She is stunning even when she isn't shooting someone, which
isn’t often. Miyamoto seems to have been only in this film. Maybe working
for Godfrey Ho was the last straw. I miss the usual suspects - Yukari Oshima
and Sharon Yeung but this is nearly all gunplay and they look great with a
gun in their hand.
A tip to the guys out there. If a strange girl wants to have sex with you and you can't think of a good reason why she would, be sure to check under the bed and pillow for something to kill you with. The hair pin is of course more difficult to search for. This bit of advice has come in handy on a few occasions. Miyamoto goes to bed with a fellow - her target as it turns out - has sex with him and reaches for a sword under the bed. I thought that it was good manners for her to wait till after they were done. Or so says Emily Post in her advice column from long ago. "If you are going to kill him, please him first ladies". Eileen has it easier- no sex - just walk into a restaurant and kill everyone with a pair of machine guns. Just make sure your bright red lipstick is well applied. And Sibelle? What is she up to you ask. Beating the crap out of everyone when she isn't shooting them. She is CIA and they are after counterfeiters in the Philippines. She catches one guy and tells him, if you can beat me in a fight I will let you go. His eyes light up. Not for long. Then she catches another guy and puts him on the ground and rides a tractor towards his testicles, crushing watermelons along the way. He dies from a heart attack and she shrugs. Just another day at the office.
Our two girls also go to the Philippines - not for a vacation but to kill
a man - as it turns out the same man. Well, I thought, this is a bonding moment.
Kill him, get away and go shopping together. But then they get another assignment-
each other. Oops. Bonding may have to take a back seat. Their handlers -
Ken Lo and Alex Wong - want to clean up loose ends. Don't they always but
if you can't trust a professional killer who can you trust? Sure the girls
shoot each other in the shoulder but in this business that is only flirtation,
a love tap. When they realize every other person in Manila is trying to kill
them both it is time to team up. If more than five minutes go by without
an action scene, my hands begin to shake. Yes, I am an action junkie. Throw
in some more sleaze, naked go-go dancers, a prostitute who saves them both
by operating on them and that girlie moment when they talk about boyfriends
and how long they have been killing people. The usual thing. Then another
professional killer shows up. This is pretty great if you can turn your brain
off. I like that the Asian Institute of Tourism is one of the sponsors. Visit
the Philippines and die.
