Chinatown Video releases for March 2000
Weasel Alert: I occasionally do a bit
of work for Chinatown Video.
BIG BULLET (1996) Rated MA. Rental.
This one is a terrific cop film from Benny Chan. Sgt. Bill (Lau
Ching Wan) has a problem with his superior that he solves with his fists. One
good right hook gets him kicked out of the SDU and dropped back to the lowly EU - who are
only slightly up the ladder from traffic cops. There he is put in charge of Squad Car 2,
staffed by Jeff (Jordan Chan) who fancies himself as officer material and
sure doesn't think that Bill is; Apple (Theresa Lee) whose enthusiasm and
energy just may get her killed; Matt (Cheung Tat-ming), a gun nut who
cannot hit the side of a barn; and old Dan (Spencer Lam) who just wants a
medal before he retires. All are forced to buckle up tight as their new leader and
all-round loose cannon goes hell for leather after Professor (Yu Rong Guong),
an international criminal who busts his way out of custody and then plans to bust right
back in to retrieve the US $9M he was carrying when arrested. Professor wants his cash but
Bill wants his arrest - it just might be his ticket back into the SDU. There you have it,
misfit cops versus hardened criminals - and what a formula for entertainment it turns out
to be. We're talking hardcore bloodbath scenes where Professor and his chums (including
everybody's favourite nutball Anthony Wong) shoot up Hong Kong, intercut
with comic, human moments as the mismatched cops spar with each other. It's solid viewing,
and highly recommended.
LADY REPORTER (1987) Rated MA. $29.95
Martial arts star Cynthia Rothrock plays an FBI agent who goes
undercover as a newspaper reporter, in order to track down some counterfeiters.
Also known as Righting Wrongs 2, this is another 80s fu flick with Chin
Siu Ho and Cynthia Rothrock. The connection with the original Righting Wrongs is a bit nebulous, but that won't stop a
wholoe lot of action busting out. I haven't seen it, but I predict bad haircuts, bad
makeup, great kicking.
THE ORIGINAL SWORDSMAN (1990) Rated M.
Rental.
Fox, an easy-going and good-natured swordsman from Ming Dynasty China, gets
involved in a scarmble for a priceless book. A senior swordsman, Lin, tells Fox the
location of the book, and begs him to tell this secret to his son.
Okay, I've not seen this one yet, so let me stall you with some trivia: The Hong Kong
title for this film is plain The Swordsman, but Chinatown Video have retitled it
because their video release of Swordsman 2 came out under the name of The
Swordsman - the easy way to tell them apart is that the second one is the one that
stars Jet Li. The East is Red is the third film in the series.
Why did they retitle the film? At that time the first film was not available, but people
are hesitant to watch a film labelled '2', because they whine "Oh, but I haven't seen
the first one". The fact with most Hong Kong films is that you really don't need to,
but not many folks think that way...
SHE SHOOTS STRAIGHT (1990) Rated M.
$29.95
A tough female cop (Joyce Godenzi) battles the triads as she
struggles to keep her tenuous marriage to a police chief (Tony Leung)
from self destructing. Directed by Yuen Kwai, produced by Sammo
Hung.
Another film I haven't seen - sorry. Sounds like a straight-up police actioner to me,
perhaps more a renter than a keeper.
ALSO OUT THIS MONTH:
Sell-through releases of Happy Together (rated
MA, $29.95) and Sex & Zen III (rated
R, $29.95).
