See, this movie was made in Hong Kong (as the Koran puts it, well, Duh!), and stars Cynthia Rothrock. It was originally made back when C.R. was first kinda big in H.K., then after a year or so, the producers went back, shot more fighting footage, changed the plot enitrely to change it from the original "Hong Kong comedy" to more of "Hong Kong buttkicker."
If you love continuity gaffes, this is the movie for you. Because it was shot at so many different times, peoples clothes change, the names change, everyone has to be a double agent in order to explain what they did in the previous scene that conflicts with the newly inserted scene five minutes before when they "pretended" not to know what was going on. And, best of all, Cynthia Rothrock has at least four different hair styles, frequently different from one scene to the next.
I think it will come as a surprise to no one how highly I recommend this movie. See, it doesn't matter if you're watching the low-brow comedy parts of the movie or the buttkicker parts, all of the parts are pretty good (if admittedly inconsistent). Those of you currently getting your strong-female quota from watching Xena are missing something great in this movie. Cynthia Rothrock's fight scenes in this movie are excellent (better than 80% of Jackie Chan's First Strike, the heretic says), with her fighting on scaffoldings, rope netting, ladders, office furniture......... Simply, simply great. The comedy scenes are pretty goofy, too, and a good balance to the other stuff. Partially because of the odd plot structure you don't necessarily know where any of it's going to go next, but you can be confident of enjoying it. I saw it with subtitles at the U.C. and then found a copy on video without and I can't really say one way made more sense than the other way, I just laughed more when I knew what was going on. If you want to see a whole movie, wait to find this one with subtitles. If you just want to see some good action scenes, get the tape and a remote. But either way you owe it to yourself (and, swoon!, Cynthia) to see her at the top of her form.
All written material on these pages is © 1997 by Jeff Lester. With the exception of non-profit distribution, all other rights are reserved.