Ah, the old bait and switch. Kara Hui is prominently displayed on the posters
but spends less time in this film than I do studying neuro-surgery. She shows
her face in a couple early scenes in passing and then does a walkabout till
the final fight at the end of the movie. So that was a bummer since none of
the other actors are anyone you would normally want to spend 90 minutes watching.
Nothing against them but they don't generate a lot of excitement. It is generally
a mess of a film but with a fair amount of action throughout. And the action
is ok. The plot goes back and forth between Hong Kong and the Mainland and
the director is always kind enough to let us know by showing a flag. It starts
right out of the box. A man and his bodyguards are leaving a bank with a
briefcase full of money and a gang is waiting for them. They all unload about
150 shots at each other and hit no one – and no one else seems to notice
this shoot out downtown in the middle of the day - then both groups run out
of bullets at the same time and we get some kung-fu. But in the end the gang
gets the money. It helps having Billy Chow on your side.
They make a deal to buy stolen jewelry for the money – but it is a police
sting. But before the transaction is made Jim (Cheung Kwok-leung) comes from
above and steals both the money and the jewels. He probably should have worn
a mask because both sides know who he is and the rest of the film is basically
the cops and the bad guys chasing after him. He goes to the Mainland and a
HK cop has to co-operate with the Chinese cops. Kara is one of those but she
gives her female cutie colleague Captain Tien the job of working with Chen
from HK. None of it is well directed and the plot gets all twisted up like
dirty laundry – but fights do break out every 15 minutes or so. The big one
is left for last and finally Kara gets off her ass and kicks some. Like that
first fight it begins with gunplay and then everyone decides oh hell – let’s
have some fun and start beating on one another. She and Billy have a few
turns at one another and so does everyone else.
