She Shoots Straight

Martial arts movie fans are a pretty forgiving bunch…probably second only to horror fans. The structure and predictability both genres are part of their charm. So audiences are often willing to praise second-rate material simply because there’s so darn much of it. Which makes it all the more shocking when a movie comes along that really brings its “A” game. Fifteen minutes into 1990’s She Shoots Straight and you realize this is what all those movies were trying to achieve in the first place!

When Mina (Joyce Godenzi) marries into the Huang family, she butts heads with her husband’s four sisters, particularly Chia Ling (Carina Lau), who’s jealous of her new sister-in-law’s reputation in the police force. But a tragedy brings them together in pursuit of a vicious gang of Vietnamese thieves intent on covering the tracks of their most recent crime. That means taking out members of the Huang family one by one.

Produced by Sammo Hung’s Bo Ho Film Company and utilizing his top-notch stunt team, Sammo’s fingerprints are all over this gun crazy adrenaline rush of a movie. The principally female cast (Sammo and Tony Leung lend an assist) don’t simply hold their own in the action scenes, they embrace the chaos, trading bullets, punches, kicks and shattered furniture with a reckless commitment that obliterates any preconceptions of the weaker sex.

Director Corey Yuen dabbles with some slapstick and melodrama in between stunt set-ups, but they’re all moments well earned. Instead of slowing the movie down, they simply tee up the next stunt sequence. And then…showtime! The cast attacks each scene with a level of physicality that reminds you just how fearless Hong Kong action cinema can be at its best. In a genre crowded with interchangeable cops-and-robbers, She Shoots Straight is the real deal.

88 Films packages up a brand new 2K restoration on Blu-ray that includes Cantonese and English audio tracks, a commentary by Frank Djeng, interview with screenwriter Yuen Kai-Chi, alternate English credits, image gallery, trailer, reversible sleeve and slipcover.

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