Black Cat
Director: Stephen Shin
Year: 1991
Rating: 8.5/5.5
I don’t know if it
is Freudian, but the sight of Jade Leung running down the street with an
enormous revolver in her hand is quite exhilarating to me. This, her first
film, is a remake of La Femme Nikita and then the later Point of No Return
and though Jade is not as good an actress as either Anne Parillaud or Bridgette
Fonda, her action sequences appear much more authentic than the other two
actresses can deliver.
Jade has a feral athleticism and intensity
that makes her character very believable and the action in true HK fashion
goes way beyond the two other versions. I love the look on her face as she
cuts the throat of the Yakuza in the hot spring and the scene of her shooting
as a car is dragging her down the street.
For those not familiar with any of the above films - Jade is caught after
killing someone (though here he deserved it - unlike Nikita), but instead
of going to jail she is recruited by the CIA to be a professional killer.
Simon Yam is her CIA keeper. The unfinished ending obviously leaves open the
likelihood of a sequel.
My rating for this film: 8.5
Reviewed by YTSL
Three thoughts kept on asserting themselves as
I viewed this movie, all of which were related to its top biller.
The first of them was: If Jade Leung is ANYTHING like the BLACK CAT
character this petite-sized human portrays in the movie of the same name,
she truly would be one tremendously scary creature. The second one
was: If she is not, then she must be a really good actress indeed
(Maybe others thought this too; hence her winning the Hong Kong Film "Best
Newcomer" Award for her performance in this production).
The third one was: Did this young woman -- a fashion design student
newly returned from Switzerland and only twenty-one years old when she made
this, her maiden film -- have any idea what she was getting herself
into? Nudity is the least of it here (although it is a Category II
movie with no frontal nudity, Leung is obviously fully naked in quite a few
scenes. This apart, I have not seen a Hong Kong movie where an assassin
is so often shown wearing only -- admittedly plain – underwear before...).
Rather, some of the training segments and others of the action scenes are
quite brutal. And while I do know that it is "only" a movie after all,
this IS a Hong Kong actioneer: I.e., famously containing minimum special
effects, featuring fights which entail actual contact between the battlers,
having actors who (mainly) do their own stunts. Thus, I am inclined to believe that, say, when we see an
actual human (not some rag doll or obvious dummy) being buffeted by the roaring
water in one scene, that WAS Jade Leung (and not a stunt double) that we were
watching then and there...
The fact that these were the three consuming thoughts
that I had throughout the whole movie points to two things. On a positive
note, its remarkable star utterly dominates the picture. On the other
hand, this is in large part because there is not much else to this production
than this novice actress. That Leung manages to carry..."drag" may
be a more appropriate word here...the movie as far as she has through her
actions (but not her words...she does not say much; and probably her most
memorable line -- uttered in English and repeatedly -- is "I want to go pee"!)
is a tribute to her but a damning indictment of the rest of the cast (maybe
with the exception of Simon Yam) and crew.
Final comment: If you see this movie, see it only for Jade Leung.
For those of you who prefer higher quality movies featuring female assassins,
I would variously recommend instead "On the Run" (a classy film noir effort),
"Beyond Hypothermia" (not without flaws but obviously made with a larger budget)
and "Naked Killer" (a guilty pleasure – such stylish trash!).
My rating for this film: 5.5.
