Director: Billy Chan/Tang Hong-gen
Year: 1996
Rating: 5.5

This is what I wrote about 25 years ago.

"Ugh. A weak effort in the up and down career of Jade Leung. In this one she is a member of a special cadre of policewomen and she gets less time on screen than some of the other females. I don’t get it; Jade should be getting better roles than this. Jade was so inconspicuous that it wasn’t until 30 minutes into the movie that I even realized she was in it. Some so-so action scenes and lots of attractive women are the only pluses in this movie. It felt like every female extra in HK found her way into this film." Rating: 4.0

And the very few reviews that I can find of this film are in the same ball park. No doubt I have gotten softer around the middle and less critical but upon re-visiting it I found it ok. Not good by any means but this time I realized what I was going into and it made a difference. Expectations matter. I had none this time. First you have to know that this is not a Jade Leung vehicle. Back in 1996 with Black Cat, Satin Steel and Fox Hunter under her belt she was a fanboy's dream. Everyone who rented this did it for Jade Leung. But it turns out to be an ensemble piece in which she is no more important than many others and has no spotlight shined on her. She is just one of the gals. And this time I did recognize her out of the box. I have no idea why it took me 30 minutes to pick her out. Maybe it was the uniforms. The second thing you have to know is that this is basically a promotion film for the Mainland female police force. I am not sure whether I realized this last time and may have thought this was in Hong Kong. Nope, this is very pro-Mainland. The uniforms, the flags and the swinging arms when they march makes it obvious but I was so much younger then. To repeat, it was 1996 and no one was pissing off the Mainland. But the main thing to know going in is this is the story of a group of determined young women to join the police force. It begins with their entry into the police academy and ends with their graduation.

Much of it is taken up with their training. I wonder how accurate this is. If so, don't mess with any police women in China. Their training is near Delta Force intensity. They have large wooden sticks beaten against their backs, bricks broken over their heads,  seven days survival tests in the wilderness with no food or drink, excruciating endurance courses, written tests and at one point three of the girls were five minutes late and had to face off against three huge male martial arts foes and last for two minutes or get thrown out. That was kind of fun. Some of this goes on a long time - I felt like I was out there in the wilderness with them after about fifteen minutes. It is brutal. But sort of boring to watch. We get to know a few of the girl's background a bit. Jade's father is a General and doesn't want her to be there, Farini Cheung was pressured to join by her father who was a cop and the very cute and petite Pally Wu Pei-wen seems to be the one girl who won't make it until she gives a good kick in the balls.

The filmmakers do manage to squeeze in some solid action, It begins with the girls in their fashionable red berets infiltrating a building and taking out all the bad guys. Nicely done and that sets up expectations that this will be a great action film. Nope, it was a training exercise. They have another one later. On a weekend pass in Shanghai they see a fight between construction fighters and join in and beat the hell out of everyone and then run away from the cops. But the best is left for last. They are again in Shanghai when they get paged. This is the real thing. A bunch of killers with machine guns are holding up in a building. Go in and get them.

It is a good action set-piece with a ton of shooting and martial arts. Just for the hell of it they have three martial artists bad guys each take on one of the girls. I am not sure who two of them are but they were the real deal. The third I knew. Eddie Maher! Just watched him in Yes Madam the other day.  I was so happy to see him in his fight with Farini. So this isn't the disaster that I thought it once was. Dull for a large chunk of it but it is a group of attractive women – most of whom I don’t know - kicking ass a few times. Interesting, that Jade took a role where she wasn't the lead but I am sure she had her reasons. But nevertheless the Mainland salutes her. Directed by Billy Chan, the man behind Crazy Safari and License to Steal.