Yuen Biao plays Hsia Ling-Cheng, a newly examined prosecutor whose mentor, an outspoken judge, is brutally murdered in front of him. This triggers a series of events where all Hsia Ling-Cheng's key witnesses in a drug case are killed off and with no faith in the law anymore, he decides to take care of the bad guys himself. Hot on his tail is the female cop Cindy (Cynthia Rothrock from Yes, Madam) but she doesn't care whether the truly bad ones are solely arrested. For her a killer is a killer and therefore she is only out to catch Hsia Ling-Cheng. Through different turn of events it is discovered that the head of the criminal organization is a well respected police man (Melvin Wong from Eastern Condors) and now Hsia Ling-Cheng and Cindy have to join together to bring him to justice...

Corey Yuen has on several occasions worked as an action choreographer in films such as Jet Li's Hollywood efforts and you're pretty much guaranteed a good execution in that department when his name pops up on the screen. In Righting Wrongs, he has together with his team of choreographers, which include Yuen Biao himself, come up with some truly excellent fight- and action scenes. He never fails to show off Yuen Biao's amazing acrobatic- and martial arts skills but the feeling of these scenes is more towards brutality and grittiness. Something which suits the movie very much in tone. Among the highlights in the choreography is the garage scene where Biao is fighting both cars and humans plus the almost shocking climax of the movie with Yuen Biao, Cynthia Rothrock and Melvin Wong. There are only a few select times where the editing of the action is a bit hard to follow but this is just a minor point. The action generates wonderful entertainment despite the movies dark undertones.

Righting Wrongs is a pretty straightforward and simple story that one would argue shouldn't be analyzed to the extreme but I feel there were still flaws that needed to be addressed. It's mainly Corey's work as a director of actors and the way he shoots those scenes, that is really average. Most of the dialogue scenes are ok on a directorial level but they still feel somewhat flat and lifeless. All in all they work for this kind of movie and they're just really interludes in between the action.

The movie has a furious pace in the beginning parts but after that it sort of drags a bit while we get to see the little but serviceable plot develop. Yuen Biao's character actually goes missing for a fair amount of time here while we follow Cynthia Rothrock and Corey Yuen's (yes, that's the director in a fairly significant role) investigation of the trails left behind by Hsia Ling-Cheng. Despite a less than complicated plot, characters enter the movie very quickly and we have to ponder a bit as to how they fit into the picture. You eventually have everyone and everything laid out clear and can enjoy the next hard hitting action scene. When Yuen Biao eventually goes into action again the remainder of the running time goes by at a smooth pace.

I do think that Righting Wrongs could've gained more power if it had been been played serious all the way through the end. Here and there, mainly in the first half, there are a few of your usual Hong Kong slapstick scenes thrown in. This is nothing new in Hong Kong filmmaking but it still doesn't really fit when we're soon after get to see a serious scene or a brutal one. It's not as extreme as the juxtaposition between the nasty stuff and the humour in Dr. Lamb though.

The theme of taking the law into your own hands is one we've seen before and the motivation of Yuen Biao's character is passable considering the genre of movie it is. The character of Hsia Ling-Cheng quickly loses confidence in the law and when he's asked which ones he thinks the law protects, he sorrowfully says: the bad guys. So almost from the beginning the character has hit the point of no return and from this the movie carries with it a very dark and pessimistic tone about a world with no real justice. I personally think that films need to put that message up on the big screen at times. We don't live in a perfect world and sometimes it's easy to forget that fact. Another movie that I think dealt with this subject is Alfred Cheung's On The Run.

In the above mentioned On The Run Yuen Biao showed me the definite sign that he has what it takes to to be a dramatic actor. In that film he threw one kick and the rest was him showing a dramatic and gritty side to his acting, something which made the character more human. In Righting Wrongs he does well in the balance act between playing the lost character of Hsia Ling-Cheng and the performance in the action scenes. It must be said though that the script isn't that well written even though Biao's character is the most fleshed out one. His acting doesn't quite reach the height that the movie aims for but Biao's central performance is still quite good despite those flaws.

I must admit that I hadn't seen any movie with Cynthia Rothrock prior to this one and I didn't expect a whole lot from this fast kicking American female. Her cop role isn't exactly multi layered and original but, despite the often horrible Cantonese dubbing of her, she handles herself in a perfectly acceptable way. She adds strength to the movie through her skills as an action actress and by the looks of it performs a good slew of the stunts herself. There were some very obvious doubling of her and you'll especially laugh at that during her introductory scene. While Biao beats her in the acting department, she is a good match and counterpart to him when it comes to the martial arts itself.

As the film's bad guy we see Melvin Wong and, once again, his character arc is nothing new to Hong Kong movies but I thought Melvin put in a good performance. He managed to show the almost cold blooded nature of his character who will stop at nothing when it comes to silencing people. There are some fairly gruesome scenes involving him and this is a movie bad guy that I will remember for a little while. Other actors could act out this role way over the top and almost make it comedic but Melvin stays well within those borders and is actually at times quite scary.

One supporting player worth mentioning is veteran actor and director Wu Ma who plays the father of Corey Yuen's character. Their scenes are the so called funny ones in the movie and while they were not entirely non-humerous, I could've done without them. Wu Ma does have a memorable dramatic scene later in the film that involves the death of one of the police men and his understated reaction in that scene is probably what earned him the supporting actor nomination that year.

When we start to approach the final 15 minutes of the film, the expectations are high for a killer climax and the choreographers certainly was at the top of their game when it came to the end. If the fight between Yuen Biao and Melvin Wong had been the final scene of the movie, I would've been very satisfied but there's more! Melvin's character takes off in a small air plane with Yuen Biao's character pursuing on foot! Here Yuen shows his most crazy side and the stunt work on display here is absolutely amazing. It doesn't even look like they took any security measures at all, they just did it apparently. Whether Yuen himself performed all the aerial stunts is unknown to me but regardless it's still a highly impressive climax to this movie. Just like the final reel of On The Run there's some sometimes shocking and brutal violence being shown but I think it's all very reasonable to present it that way since that tone has been set early on.

Righting Wrongs is a movie I will be revisiting many times but I think that it would've been even better if the filmmakers had chosen to leave out the humour and gone with the serious tone all throughout the movie. Don't let these negative remarks stop you from adding this movie to your collection though. It's a very good piece of Hong Kong cinema but if you want to see Yuen Biao showing his acting skills, I recommend watching On The Run before this. It will make a great double bill!

The action comes fast and furious in Righting Wrongs. It's definitely some of Rothrock's best work, worlds above most of her crappy US B-movies. She is, bar none, the best non-Asian fighter I've seen in a martial arts movie. Her fights in Righting Wrongs are fantastic, especially one where she fights fellow gweilo Karen Shepard, which ends with her making a 20-foot high flying tackle. Yuen is also great in the movie, doing a tremendous job with both stunts and fighting. The scene where he literally dives over several cars trying to run him over has to be seen to be believed.

The US version, known as Above the Law, has a lighter tone, with less violence and a different, more upbeat ending. But the despite a horrible dub job is still worth tracking down if you can't find the HK version.

Mind you, that complexity isn't always a good thing. While not devoid of cool surprises and some involving non-action scenes, Righting Wrongs is laughably overwritten in some ways and bafflingly underwritten in others. The diatribes about the true effectiveness of the Law (always capitalized) and the relative advisability, or lack thereof, of taking it into your own hands just eat up the time and trigger a "Well, DUH!" reaction from the viewer. At the same time, the movie suffers from a couple of really big-ass plot holes...but so what. Too much chatter gets in the way of the ass-kicking, and that is one respect in which Righting Wrongs is beyond reproach.

The fight scenes are all good, and they're well spaced-out throughout the film. Yuen and Cynthia have a great outing against each other but, sadly, don't do any team-up fighting. Also noteworthy is Cynthia's duel with Karen Shephard. Interesting to see two Caucasian women given such a great showcase for their talents in a Hong Kong movie. A stunt double is used for some of Cynthia's spots, but this isn't as big a problem as it was in YES MADAM, another Corey Yuen flick in which she appeared (check out her miraculous color-changing hair in the chandelier bit).

The climax has a great bout between Yuen Biao and Melvin Wong, who I think makes a pretty good villain. It's followed by one of the most impressive stunts I've yet seen, since we all know that HK movies from the 1980s don't use computer effects to fill in for real people.

(SPOILER ALERT: skip this paragraph if you don't want to find out what happens at the end.) Ah, that ending...what a kick in the nuts. Yes, I know there are TWO endings, and I'm actually talking about both of them. In the original, everybody dies. In the revised one, Cynthia lives but looks ready for eight weeks of physical therapy, and Yuen gets fucked over by the system he once served (although there's no question that he brazenly violated the law...oops, I mean the Law...no matter how justified his actions were). I think a synthesis of the two endings would have worked best of all; I would have had Cynthia survive (but only just), and had Yuen sacrifice himself in his kamikaze-like quest to bring down the bad guy. If the audience finds it "too shocking", I say fuck 'em.

It's a very good action movie...maybe a little too harsh for some, but such is life. If nothing else, it proves that Yuen Biao is capable of carrying the lead role instead of playing second or third fiddle to Sammo Hung and/or Jackie Chan. RW is well deserving of a recommendation...

REVIEW:
In this remarkable take on the vigilante genre, Corey Yuen had assembled some of the best martial arts practitioners from Hong Kong and America to lock horns. With a ultra-grim tale of good guys gone bad, the film explodes with enough frenzied fights and spectacular stunts to send Charles Bronson running for cover.

"Righting Wrongs" is Hong Kong's answer to the "Dirty Harry" and Charles Bronson vigilante films in the U.S. The story itself is a rather bleak portrayal of police corruption and civil apathy. Eventually, all of the main characters are willing to bend the law to varying degrees to suit their needs. Yet, the price to pay is high as few players remain alive by the end. In fact, the original Cantonese version was dark enough to warrant shooting new scenes for the international (Mandarin) version. Corey Yuen's incredible choreography shines regardless of the film's tone.

Speaking of tone, the lighting on the film was generally not very good. Its a small complaint but valid. Often, shots of combatants were left in the dark with not enough highlight, slightly diminishing otherwise excellent scenes.

Yuen Biao was at his peak, having recently turned in excellent performances in Sammo Hung's "Eastern Condors" (1986) and "Millionaire's Express" (1986). Being one of Biao's best showcase films, there are a number of terrific sequences that have him nimbly ducking speeding cars, trading blows with Cynthia Rothrock, and engaging in a glass-shattering brawl with Peter Cunningham. One of the unique features of this film is the choice of cast. A number of American actors, namely Rothrock, Cunningham, and an equally devastating Karen Shepherd look just as good as their Asian counterparts. This is thanks, in part to the incredible choreography of Corey Yuen ("Kiss of the Dragon"). Cynthia Rothrock was a world champion martial artist whose mastery of wushu, Eagle Claw, and Northern Shaolin kung fu gave her a distinct advantage over other American martial arts film stars. While her subsequent American films have suffered due to inferior choreography, "Righting Wrongs" remains a testament to her potential on screen and is perhaps her best role overall. Cunningham and Shepherd have both appeared in only several inferior American films. But once again with the right direction, these two give Biao and Rothrock a run for their money in two excellent fight scenes.

Even though this film appears visually attached to the eighties, "Righting Wrongs" is still great to watch and remains a good introduction to the world of Hong Kong action cinema. The fights are well paced and intense with terrific performances by all the martial arts stars. Thankfully, this tempers a dismal story of vengeance where righting a wrong doesn't make a right and the only rule is: everybody dies.

The plot is fairly simple and the production is mundane and at times a little sloppy, but the reputation of this film rests on its fabulous action scenes. And fabulous action it is throughout the film. The fights are terrific and some of the stunts are truly scary to watch at times.

The film should simply be viewed as a vehicle for both Yuen and Cynthia Rothrock to display their amazing talent. If you look for much more than that you will be disappointed. At the time this was made both actors were at the top of their game – Cynthia just having done Yes Madam and Yuen beginning to come out of the shadows of his two brothers – Jackie and Sammo.

The film begins with two hits on potential witnesses in a drug case. Yuen is the prosecutor for the case and realizes that with the witnesses' dead he has no case. Roy Chiao is the judge for the case and afterwards he hints to Yuen that when the law is misused to protect the criminals other means to bring justice must be used.

Yuen therefore decides to take justice into his own hands and kill the two drug lords that got off. He succeeds with the first one, but when he goes to kill the second one he finds him already dead. At the same time Cynthia Rothrock and her dim partner – Corey Yuen-Kwai (who also directs the film) are assigned to find out who killed the dealers and she is soon hot on the trail of Yuen. It turns out the second killer is a cop who was in partnership with the dealers and he is soon leaving a trail of bodies all over HK.

The fights are great fun to watch and there are one on ones between Yuen and Cynthia, Yuen and Peter Cunningham, the classic one between Cynthia and Karen Shepard and many other smaller ones. Some of the stunts are astonishing. In one scene the bad guys are trying to run over Yuen in a parking garage with four cars. How Yuen manages to dodge or jump over these cars is breathtaking.

This is a classic action film and one of Yuen's best.