Yes, Madam! / Royal Warriors


Within the martial arts genre, women have never been thought of as second rate.  Michelle Yeoh’s recent Oscar win might be an outlier (hopefully not the last) here in the States, but in Hong Kong she was part of a wave of female stars who kicked butt even harder than the boys.  And two newly released titles, previously part of the In the Line of Duty I-IV box set, are amped-up examples of the golden age of Hong Kong filmmaking…and proof that it doesn’t take a Y chromosome to take down the bad guys!

Yes, Madam! (1985) was Michelle Yeoh’s first starring role and it’s one hell of an introduction.  After thwarting an armored truck robbery in grand style, Inspector Ng (Yeoh) is paired up with Scottish investigator Carrie Morris (Cynthia Rothrock) to recover a missing microfilm that’s accidently passed through the hands of a group of dimwitted thieves.  The tone of this one bounces schizophrenically between tough cop drama and easygoing comic relief, but both women deliver solid athletic performances in tag team fashion.


Things get dramatically more exciting in Royal Warriors (1986) with a cadre of ex-military pals looking to avenge their buddy after Yeoh and company prevent a mid-air hijacking.  Actor Hiroyuki Sanada joins the cast as a renegade Interpol agent whose family pays the price for his involvement in the affair.  Directed with flair by David Chung, this one is an adrenaline rush from the opening scene all the way to the credits.  A mid-film nightclub massacre is every bit as intense as the Terminator sequence it was “inspired” by and Yeoh’s skill set is dramatically improved, proving she was already a star by her second film.

 

88 Films is on one hell of a hot streak with their 88 Asia Collection!  Both these titles are now available individually on Blu-ray with 2K restorations of both films, audio commentaries, deleted scenes and Cantonese or English audio tracks.  

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