Sting of the Scorpion
Director: Lee Kwok-laap
Year: 1992
Rating: 7.0
A few months back
I picked up this film in the bargain basement bin at the back of a Chinatown
store in which the dust was nearly as high as the VCDs. Since they were practically
paying me to take it, I did and filed it away under the “likely never to
be watched” category. Even though it does have a picture of Anthony Wong
on the cover, the fact that I couldn’t even find it in the HKMDB (since rectified)
made me think it must be a real clunker. Then a friend who is writing up
an essay on HK female action films made mention of this little obscurity
a few times and made it sound pretty good. So I watched it and am glad I
did.
It’s a solid action/drama that reminded me mood wise a bit of She Shoots
Straight with a much smaller budget. In many ways it plays out like an average
low budget cop yarn, but it has enough twists along the way to keep you interested
and an outstanding performance from Maggie Siu. Maggie Siu is primarily a
very popular TV star in Hong Kong and I have not seen her in much, but as
the film slowly shifts to her character in the second half it takes on some
real dramatic tension and intensity. She also has a few action scenes in
which she looks just fine and I am looking forward to seeing the sequel to
this one – Murders Made to Order – in which she plays an undercover assassin.
The story is driven by corruption, betrayals, guilt, murder and revenge –
and all in the name of love. Three friends – Anthony Wong, Cheng and Maggie
Siu – go through police training together and initially work under Johnny
Wang. Cheng and Maggie are orphans that grew up together and Cheng always
expected they would marry. When he realizes that she loves Anthony, he goes
off the straight and narrow and begins secretly working with a major triad
figure, Eddie Ko. Cheng is one of the fastest rising cops in Hong Kong and
is soon a top inspector. Meanwhile, Anthony has joined the Internal Corruption
Bureau and Maggie is still working under Wang. The three of them are seemingly
still the best friends, but this is soon to explode under a barrage of accusations
and suspicions.
Anthony is given evidence that Wang may be accepting bribes, but as he digs
deeper he keeps unknowingly getting closer to his friend Cheng. Maggie is
being kept in the dark by Anthony and his actions make her begin to suspect
that he is corrupt as well – she turns to Cheng who still loves her and wants
to protect her – but he can’t allow Anthony to get any closer to the truth.
Eddie Ko then gives Cheng orders to silence Maggie permanently because she
is damaging his businesses. The first hour of the film sets it all up – with
some action scenes interspersed – and this leads to a terrific last thirty
minutes that have a few surprising and nasty turns.
