License to Steal
This film has a real slapdash two-week production
feel to it – but it still manages to have enough action and charm within
to be a small but pleasurable treat. I suppose anytime, you throw in the
services of Yuen Biao, Ngai Sing, Billy Chow, Joyce Godenzi and Agnes Aurelio
– under the watchful eye of producer Sammo Hung – the chances are that
you will have some fun and it delivers that in bite size pieces.
In this same year – 1990 – Sammo also produced
the classic She Shoots Straight which is perhaps most famous for the match
up between Joyce and Agnes. Here again they find themselves at odds with
one another – and have not just one fight – but go at one another four
times! None of them perhaps contain the brutal thrills of the one in She
Shoots Straight – but watching these two very intense individuals go for
the jugular is riveting stuff. I always find it amazing to think that before
Joyce got into films she had no training in the martial arts or dance.
Though she may be a bit stiffer than some of the other female action stars
– she still performs some terrific action moves – but what I really like
about Joyce is her no nonsense approach – deadly serious with a cool look
in her eyes that could blow out a candle at twenty feet.
Joyce, Agnes and Alvina Kong have been brought
up by their adoptive father – Lau Shun – to be professional thieves. And
they are very good at it – but both Joyce and Alvina want to get out of
the life. Agnes feels under appreciated and so on their next job she sets
Joyce up to take a fall – paralyzes Lau Shun – and sets up her own gang
with Billy Chow.
A few years later Joyce gets out of prison and
wants to stay clean, but Joyce drags her back in by trying to frame her
for another crime. At the same time, cops Richard Ng and Ngai Sing are
investigating Agnes. Ng is his typical goofy character and Sing is all
choirboy charm – with a hell of a kick behind it. Yuen Biao drops in from
time to time – literally. In a character that feels like a cousin to that
in Dragons Forever, Yuen is a sweet eccentric kung fu artist – who often
appears at opportune times from nowhere – gives a few minutes of incredible
acrobatic artistry and vanishes again.
Behind this fairly flimsy plot lies some good
action – not only the Joyce and Agnes fights – but Yuen tussles with Agnes
as well – has a good set piece against Ngai – and a vicious fight with
Billy Chow. These are the kind of enjoyable mid budget action films – good
actors – a few laughs - very competent action choreography – that Hong
Kong use to be able to knock off like clockwork in the early 90’s – but
seem to be nearly nonexistent in the Hong Kong of today. For cameo watchers
– look for a quick glimpse of Sammo in nearly the very last frame of the
film.
My rating for this film: 7.0