During this latest Hong Kong cinema mini-marathon I took time out from the usual Jackie Chan vehicles to look at a few of the best adventures from Miss Malaysia herself, Michelle Yeoh. Sometimes credited as Michelle Khan or Michelle Kheng because of studio interference, (and overseas marketing plans) the credited names and the names of the film sequels can be a bit confusing. Particularly when it comes to the Yes, Madam or 'In the Line of Duty' series. I just wish that I had more of them to hand to expand this review. Regardless she does a great job right out of the gate, with the acting chops and charisma to match her male contemporaries, as well as being able to translate her dance background into action and stunt work.
Her first starring role is a typical example of this, as she takes on gangsters with Cynthia Rothrock in Police Assassins aka Yes, Madam. Incredibly this period in time saw a big shift in the Eastern action genre, and films like Police Story and A Better Tomorrow all came along close to one another. It's a fun buddy cop feature with a lot of silly humour and plenty of painful looking stunts, a staple of the genre. At times the sub-plot around a group of counterfeiters is a little distracting. So is the music stolen from John Carpenter's Halloween. It's a bit like that version of The Big Boss where Pink Floyd has been sampled... weird but strangely compelling. However, at the end of the day it's still a classic action vehicle, one that would prove to be the first of many successful outings.
My favourite of these, at least at the time of writing, is Magnificent Warriors, a tongue in cheek
adventure set somewhere in northern China in the 1930s. It lends the movie an
Indiana Jones type vibe and the film makers make sure that their take on the leather coat and whip combo makes an
appearance. Yeoh and her companions (including the ever amusing
Richard Ng) take on the typical military oppressors - Imperial Japan. The
action beats are all pretty good as a variety of fighting styles and
weapons are used, and there are some great set pieces leading up to a siege showdown. It has to be said that here is some laughably repetitive music used, the worst example being looped over and over again during a plane chase. Still, this is a minor complaint.
Elsewhere in the more traditional martial arts movie Wing Chun,
she also does a great job and her moves get showcased with the stylish choreography
of director Yeun Woo Ping. Though the puerile comedic elements are a little
more over done (even by the usual standards) it's still very entertaining and the menace of bandit
raiders provides plenty of great fight sequences. The usual mixture of feudal period scenery and vague fantasy trappings provide plenty of colourful visuals. The eponymous fighting
style having anything to do with the
events of the film is probably rather unlikely, but it makes for a solid if
unremarkable entertainment. They probably spend too much time in love triangle sub-plots and the comedy relief characters can grate, but the rest makes up for it.
Her central performance in Ang Lee's action drama Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon would of course bring her international fame (beyond her appearance as the best Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies)
and it remains a strong addition to her filmography. It's a story full of character
depth and beautifully framed drama as well as all those fantasy Wuxia style sword battles and showdowns. I don't think there are many other genre movies in this vein to include much emotive content which is a shame, since it adds to all the hand to hand magic in a unique way. It might not be my personal favourite, but it's probably the best overall film in terms of characters and poignant moments.
Elsewhere there are the likes of Police Story 3: Super Cop and Tai Chi Master. While these are both mostly vehicles for other stars there are still some impressive moments which should not be missed. The former is particularly impressive in terms of stunt sequences. Yeoh plays a mainland Chinese officer who goes undercover opposite
Jackie Chan's Hong Kong detective Ka-kui. The motorcycle finale is certainly a stand out moment and they have a good dynamic. If only the DVD release was better. I
have yet to acquire a quality version with the original language, the choices are a poorly mastered DVD or a dubbed cut which drops the idea that it's a sequel of any kind by simply calling it Supercop. (Editor's note: this has since been rectified!)
A
pseudo follow up called Project S (Super Cop again in some
releases which is very misleading, as seems to be the trend) is less than
impressive and one for completists only, with far too much
melodrama and very tentative links to the Police Story series. I also checked out the recent sequel to Crouching Tiger was released, however it's totally lacking the kind of human drama that made the original work so well - and even worse there are a lot of poor visual effects which are very intrusive. However this is a modern streaming release, and there are plenty of other features to check out in the near future from Royal Warriors to Silver Hawk and beyond. I'll keep you posted.
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