Dreaming the Reality
Riders on the Storm
Into the world was born
Into this world was thrown
Killer on the road
Director: Tony Lou Chun-ku
Year: 1991
Rating: 8.0
These Door lyrics played out in my mind
while watching Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima come walking out of the Bangkok
airport – looking so stylish and so deadly – primed and ready to kill. I’d
put these two up against Pulp Fiction’s Samuel Jackson and Travolta anytime,
any place. They would take them out the minute that Jackson goes into his
monologue – blink of an eye – no time for fancy conversation – just efficient
killing machines. Killers simply never looked this good before.
Brought up since childhood by their foster father, Eddie Ko, they were trained
by him in the art of killing and the art of showing no mercy, no hesitation,
no remorse. You have a target, an assignment – you finish it no matter what.
If a vanload of children get in the way – well that’s their bad luck. If
you are a witness – sorry – consider yourself dead. They may look chic, but
then so does a stiletto blade until it is stuck inside someone.
Whenever Moon Lee and Yukari show up in the same film, it is almost a guarantee
of a terrific “girls with guns” flick. Angel, Angel Terminator II, Beauty
Inspectors, Kickboxer’s Tears, Yes Madam: A Serious Shock are all excellent
– Avenging Quartet and the Big Deal somewhat weaker. Occasionally they are
on the same side but most often they are opposing one another with Yukari
generally in the role of the villain. The two are stark contrasts – Moon
tough and determined – but always adorable – while Yukari is tough as nails
– sleek but harder than Moon. Together on the screen they are simply a pleasure
to watch.
Here they are both professional killers – almost like one organism and they
can read one another’s thoughts like their own – their operations are carried
out like a well oiled machine because they know exactly what the other person
will be doing – and they know they will do it right. They carry out a few
hits before Ko assigns them to kill an Interpol agent who is carrying a disk
with evidence against him. The hit takes place in the Bangkok airport and
soon Moon and Yukari have much of the Thai army chasing them through the
streets of Bangkok.
They escape but Moon bangs her head and when she wakes up she has lost her
memory and is separated from Yukari – but she still has the disk. She ends
up finding shelter with Sibelle Hu and her brother who are having problems
of their own with a fight promoter. Moon and the brother begin falling in
love – but before long the promoter and ten machine gun wielding thugs of
his start shooting the hell out of Sibelle’s bar. In a classic scene Moon
first cowers behind cover – but then the instincts come back – like riding
a bike – a gun finds its way into her hand and Sibelle and the brother watch
in amazement as Moon takes them out one by one. When she kills one in cold
blooded ferocity, they know she won't be selling girl scout cookies door
to door.
Well love changes a girl or so I am told – even professional killers – and
now Moon begins to question her previous life - but Ko wants the disk
and he wants Moon silenced. Of course he sends Yukari to do it.
This is just a classic “girls with guns” film.
There is a lot of good action, but the whole family relationship between Moon
and Yukari and Ko plays out well and adds some nice layers to this action
film. The one weakness is that it spends a fair amount of time developing
the sub-plot regarding Sibelle and her brother (though some good kickboxing
matches are included) – and I would have much preferred the time spent on
Moon and Yukari icing a few more people.
