THE FILM: A Hong Kong action-comedy is a very detailed animal. Plotted and carefully planned by cast and crew in terms of performance down the most minute detail. It is sheer film making precision.... Okay I lied. HK action comedy, especially a mid-low budget affair like Madam City Hunter (aka. Lady Hunter, 1992) is completely made on the fly with plotting that amounts to, intro action scene- action scene- comedy- plot- action scene- comedy- comedy- plot- and so forth until the BIG FINALE, with scattershot moments throughout that attempt to tell a somewhat cohesive story. But, hey, does it deliver a few good chuckles and some neat action? That is all the audience wants, so that is all that really matters. Its a confectionery, not a full meal. If you are looking for light entertainment it does deliver, though in the most dumbed down b-movie way, and its simply amazing that the film makes any sense at all.

Obviously the title was some vain attempt to cash-in on Jackie Chan’s City Hunter, but make no mistake, it has nothing to do with that film and is your typical butt kicking girl cop comedy action film. And of course, in HK action- comedy, you can get away with a scene where in a abandoned building, a girl hanging out with a bunch of paint and glue huffing druggies pees her pants in fear before being shot by the films baddie. Yes, it is still a comedy! The action is all pretty good. Very standard martial madness but entertaining and frequent enough (except for the middle when the comedy really takes up the film) that viewers aren’t likely to get bored. Particularly standout is a finale battle that takes place on some bamboo scaffolding. The scene gives the Cynthia Rothrock Righting Wrongs duel a run for the “Greatest Scaffold Fight” award.

Cynthia Khan got her start as Michelle Yeoh’s replacement in the In the Line of Duty series. At the time, Yeoh was known as Michelle Khan, thus Cynthia was given a similar name to further capitalize on Yeoh’s breakout stardom. With such films as Tiger Cage 2, Deadend of Besiegers and Blade of Fury, Cynthia carved out a pretty nice career as an action heroine in late 80’s early 90’s ‘girls with guns’ and swordplay martial arts films. She seems to have dropped out of making films since 1996’s Yes Madam 5, which, I assume means she, like so many other stars, got married and quit the biz or she has been doing only tv work. Anthony Wong is Anthony Wong, an HK legend, an artistically astute b-film workhorse with a huge resume of mixed work, from the god-awful to great, including Hard Boiled, Erotic Ghost Story 2, Heroic Trio, Taxi Hunter and Time and Tide. Wong could have phoned his performance from anywhere in the world, but comes off pretty good, gets to play a goofy occasionally drag dressing, super penis powder accidentally eating hero instead of a psycho. Sheila Chan, from Hero Among Heroes, Doctor Vampire, gets the comic role; she’s aggressively quirky and loud and supposed to be cute, but I find that kind of character, seen all too often in HK film, to be annoying. Last up on the acting front, Tommy Wong, Wild Search, Prison on Fire 2 and veteran looker Kara Hui, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, Kung Fu Mistress, Visible Secret playing a great sexpot and doing a more lame than titilating 9 ½ Weeks/Flashdance dancing number. Director Johnnie Kong hasn’t exactly made a dent in the HK film world. His other directing creds are the Category 3 Story of Prostitutes and the God of Gamblers ripoff King of Gamblers, but to his credit, he was Wong Kar Wai’s assistant director on Days of Being Wild and Fallen Angels.

THE DVD: World Video

PICTURE: Widescreen. Well, getting good HK prints are usually a mixed bag, especially when it comes to low budget stuff like this. The image looks more in league with a vhs or VCD, but sometimes thats the best you can get. Contrast is on the gray side, color could be much better, softness, and some spots of dirt and wear, pretty washed out and bright.

SOUND: Cantonese or Mandarin Dolby Digital 2.0 with burned in white English subtitles. The audio has a constant low buzz distortion in the background. Most of the time it isn’t very noticeable, overwhelmed by the fx, music, and dialogue, but is pretty shoddy. The subs have their fare share of flaws and are, unfortunately, white disappearing in the films brighter scenes. But the movie is so simple you aren’t going to get lost. There is a scene or two near the end of the film where the subs are shaky.

EXTRAS: 8 Chapters---Trailers for Dead Target and Deadend of Besiegers

CONCLUSION: Perhaps if you are an HK action-comedy fan who has completely exhausted all of the DVD releases of such films, this is well worth adding to your collection. Otherwise, the transfer isn’t exactly A or B grade, and there are certainly a higher caliber of films from the same genre out there. It is decent enough but not exactly so mind blowingly good HK action or goofball comedy fans should rush out and grab it, but, I did enjoy it because HK just doesn’t make them like this anymore.

A female cop (Khan yet again) becomes embroiled in a mob killing when she meets a pair of witnesses to the assassination. Before she can further her investigation though, the policewoman finds herself as a suspect when the witnesses are murdered. After the inevitable suspension from duty while her case is heard, she combines forces with a private detective who seems to have links with the events. Before any answers can be uncovered the pair must first stop a deadly gold-digger concentrating her talents on the policewoman's besotted father. Strangely enough though, the two seemingly unrelated problems merge into one as each episode nears its end.

It was certainly reasonable to expect much better from the talent that combined for this production. A cast that combines femme fatale queen Cynthia Khan with top Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong and familiar faces Tommy Wong and Hui Ying Hung should have offered a solid 90 minutes of entertainment. Instead a watchable opening ten minutes descends into a frustrating mixture of insipid comedy and pointless drama. Adding to this painful blend is the presence of Sheila Chan - perhaps one of Hong Kong's most annoying screen personas; a few seconds of her screaming and bawling into the camera is enough to test even the most forgiving viewers. Although it could be argued that there is some well-executed action at the end, the fact of the matter is that it comes too late to succeed in entertaining. With all this against it and other weaknesses not even mentioned here, it goes without saying that this is best avoided.

Perhaps where this film excels is in the "nonsense comedy" department, though the meaning behind many of its colloquialisms are entirely lost in the absurd literal translations (see www.FlubTitles.com for highlights). Our feeling is that the uncomfortable mix of comedy and violence in this film serves to undermine itself in both directions. And, seeing as how neither the comedy nor the action are noteworthy, that's not a good thing.

In the end, though the film has an impressive cast and director, it fails to deliver the goods. We recommend skipping this snoozer and finding yourself either a good comedy or a good action flick rather than this failed attempt at both.

Like most low-budget action movies produced during this period, the script and expostion are pretty bad, and the acting is just lousy in parts. The movie really drags during the middle, where lame comedy replaces fisticuffs, but the bookend action sequences are spectacular stuff. Even Anthony Wong looks impressive busting out kung-fu moves (even though he was obviously doubled for some of the more acrobatic stuff), and of course, Cynthia shines during the action bits. One notable sequence has Cynthia fighting a guy on bamboo scaffolding, which is much more powerful than a similar scene in Rush Hour 2. More casual or "arty" viewers may be bored silly by Madam City Hunter, but action fans will find a lot to like in here.

Note: I am not sure if this movie really has any relation to City Hunter. The logos for the movie are similar, and City Hunter's theme plays in the film, but no characters from City Hunter make an appearance here.