Director:
William Cheung-kei, Yang Yang Year: 1992
Rating: 4.0
Dubbed
This Hong Kong film has all the characteristics
of a low budget get it out the door action film that the early 1990s were
rife with. Yet at the same time much of it is filmed in what is purportedly
New York City that I suspect was Canada with a large cast of Chinese
and Gweilos. But it is just so poorly written, every one from the Chinese
police, the American police and the bad guys - Mafia - are astonishingly
stupid and the dialogue is painful to listen to. The dubbing clearly didn't
help. But on the other hand it has a lot of action and some of it is quite
well done - and some is pretty bad. The martial arts fights are solid but
the gunplay is something out of a video game. Point a gun at a guy 50 yards
away and fifty feet above you and shoot and watch him fall down. There is
a lot of that. It is the type of film that the fast-forward button was made
for. Just get to the next action scene.
It begins in China with Sibelle Hu leading
a force of female cops. In a great opening scene an airplane on the tarmac
is filled with passengers and terrorists. So she takes a motorcycle, jumps
it on top of the plane, flips into the plane and shoots a ton of terrorists.
No negotiating here. They keep popping up and she keeps shooting them down.
One guy puts the proverbial gun to a passenger's head and without hesitation
she puts a bullet into his forehead. Our Sibelle. Next they find out about
a drug shipment arriving for Allen and have about 100 cops waiting - yet
they still manage to let him run away down the beach - all the way to America.
Sibelle and two of her force (Sherry Hon and Meng Xiang-li) go to America
to get him with the co-operation of the NYC Police - Michael Depasquale Jr.
He is apparently the real deal in the world
of martial arts but comes across as a low rent Italian Stallion. At one point
he tells the two Chinese female cops "I really like Chinese culture. Especially
the women. They are so different than American woman. You are all so cute".
How to win hearts and minds. Anyways, many fights to go. The two Chinese
actresses who have barely any other film credits are definitely martial artists
and Sibelle does her thing. Showing up near the end are two of my Gweilo
favorites in HK films - Mark Houghton and Sophia Crawford for a decent though
not exceptional fight. A hard film to rate really. Some good and a lot bad.
It might be better watching a Chinese language version.
