Way of the Lady Boxers
The only reason to go out of your way to see this
very standard and often times dull “girls with guns” film is to watch Sharon
Yeung (aka Yeung Pan Pan). Though she was certainly one of the better female
action stars, she did not appear in very many modern action films. Most
of her best work was in the earlier kung-fu films of the late 70’s and
early 80’s. Here she has a number of fighting scenes that display her athletic
abilities.
The plot is very routine – the most interesting
part of it being it’s very pro-Mainland attitudes. This is certainly reflected
in its Chinese title – “Pull Open Iron Curtain”. Sharon is a HK cop chasing
after some drug/arm dealers and in the opening she kills one of the top
dealers. The brother of this dealer then attempts to kill Sharon throughout
the film. She and her partner then follow the case to the Mainland where
they have to co-operate with cops, Sibelle Hu and another kung-fu star
– Carter Wong. At first Sharon is a lone ranger type, but by the end of
the film she is enlightened and sees the folly of her ways. As Sibelle
states “it is much better when we work together”. Perhaps some of the funding
came from the Mainland for this film or maybe they were just getting prepared
for 1997.
There is a fair amount of action, but most of
it is not all that well done with Sharon’s fights being somewhat the exception.
Even hers though are a bit inconsistent. In some of them she uses wires
and can improbably jump 20-feet, while in other scenes they don’t use wires
and she becomes very earthbound. She still has some good moments such as
jumping off a building while holding on to a balloon, being dragged along
by a truck and grabbing on to the bottom of an elevator for dear life.
Sibelle Hui’s popularity in action films is
somewhat mystifying. This popularity stems I believe from her appearances
in two Lucky Stars films of the mid-80’s and she has gone on to make a
seemingly infinite number of low budget action films. She is certainly
attractive and I enjoy her in her non-action moments – but she has no martial
arts abilities at all and it is always very obvious that she is being doubled
in any scene that involves anything slightly acrobatic. Most times it really
doesn’t bother me too much unless she is fighting side by side with someone
of Sharon or Moon Lee’s capabilities and then her lack of mobility and
her slowness is very evident.