Silverhawk creates a new female super-hero whole cloth. This movie isn't based on a manga. It's not inspired by any hero in particular. Michelle Yeoh through the force of her free-wheeling portrayal, martial arts and the Silverhawk accoutrements makes a very credible, striking champion that's superior in some ways to the characters currently found in the comic books.

The story opens with Silverhawk popping a wheelie over the Great Wall of China to intercept a national theft. She quickly drives her tricked out motorcycle up to the robbers and announces her presence with kicks and hits. Given that this is a Hong Kong movie, you can be sure that this fight actually took place on the top of a moving truck, and that it was indeed Yeoh. After defeating the criminals, we discover what Silverhawk has recovered from the bandits. The discovery is whimsically unique and allows the viewer to see a different side to Silverhawk's personality.

As the story progresses, the makers of the movie begin building the myth of Silverhawk. They give her an unusual origin, that's steeped in Eastern traditions. They give her a visually appealing headquarters, an engaging partner, a series of silver costumes and some headaches from the traditional sexism of a woman's place in society. All through the movie, it's Michelle Yeoh's personality that holds everything together. You don't question her conviction at all, and she seems perfectly natural as Silverhawk. She also takes great delight in making the hero's secret identity a game. There isn't a massive schism between Silverhawk and Lulu Wong, but you wouldn't really guess she was the crime fighter until you saw her in a fight. That's what gives her away in a later scene.

Silverhawk must contend with simple bandits, a well-meaning aunt and as well an old friend assigned to clip her wings. Silverhawk according to the higher ups demoralizes the department, but these officers are her fans. Still, a job's a job, and yet again the movie twists in a different direction. Lulu doesn't merely dismiss Detective Richman as an egotistical buffoon. She takes steps to impede his progress very early in the film, and the character is definitely more than comedy relief. He's not without a sense of humor, but the filmmakers pay attention to their own continuity. He and Lulu as kids attended the same dojo. He's a good fighter. He has a decent goal. He cares about Lulu, and he didn't become a detective just because he knew somebody. The way he catches Silverhawk evinces his canniness and exemplifies how Silverhawk is smarter than most action movies.

The movie changes its tone when the super villains are introduced, and it's surprising how fluid the plot forms. A character who seemed only to exist to be ignored becomes important to the core of the story. The villains arise because of him, and they're being controlled by an even greater fiend. While these are super-villains, they don't possess super powers in the classic sense. The movie never becomes too far-fetched. Rather it reinterprets the martial arts and cyber technology as the source for larger than life characters.

The fight choreography impresses, and there are numerous original moments within these elements, such as when Silverhawk must defeat the head villain's army. The cast all take their roles seriously while having fun. There is no camp. There's only a very smart super-hero movie. I suspect it's the super-hero concept that reviewers found campy. Silverhawk isn't a dark, angst-ridden hero. Rather she is a crusader out to use her natural gifts honed by the best teacher on behalf of the innocent. That said, Silverhawk can become tense. In one scene a fight goes too far, and it's Silverhawk's intervention that ultimately wins the day. The battle between Silverhawk against the Big Bad is memorable because of her method for outmaneuvering him and the destruction of a set that looks like it cost a small fortune.

The DVD I purchased was a dubbed no frills version published by Screen Media Films. There are other pressings available and from other regions. However, though there are no special features on the disc, the anamorphic widescreen presentation looks immaculate. The audio pops, and the dubbing was performed by the actors. That naturally made the movie far more entertaining.

SILVER HAWK is even better than THE TOUCH. More action, more humor (not the campy, BATMAN-style, as this movie's detractors would have you believe), and as villians, it includes BLADE II star Luke Goss, and even better, playing one of his main henchmen, Michael Jai White!!!

SILVER HAWK takes place in the futre where billionareiss Lulu Wong (Michelle Yeoh) lives a double life. In public, she's Lulu Wong. In, well, public, she's also the Silver Hawk, only with a mask on. What distinquises Lulu from other super-heroes, is she actually finds it fun to battle evil-doers.

Her greatest challenge yet comes two-fold. On the one-hand, she is rekindling a romance with police man Rich Man (Richie Jen), whom she studied Kung Fu with at the Shaolin Temple, and who seems to be taking quite a while remembering who Lulu is. He also is hotly pursuing the Silver Hawk, who he is unawrae is Lulu.

On the other hand, she must defeat Alexander Wolfe (Luke Goss), a demented genuis with martial arts skills to match hers and two prostethic arms made of titanium. Wolfe has kidnapped an inventor and is forcing him to turn his latest invention into a mind control device, which Wolfe will use to brainwash humanity and conquer the world.

It certainly is great seeing Michelle back in action. In terms of bith her beauty and her atleticism, you'd never guess she was 42 when SILVER HAWK was released in Asia. Her best battles in the film can be found with Michael Jai White, who has literally one line, but his skills confrim that actions speak louder than words. Michelle trading punches with Luke Goss is also noteworthy.

Alot of reviewers thought SILVER HAWK was a campy, BATMAN-style kung fu movie, but I must diasgree. The action and the humor were both outstanding, and personally, I think it's about time a superhero movie came out of Asia. Even better that the superhero is a woman. Don't listen to the detractors, SILVER HAWK is pure gold!!!!!!!

How can anybody call this a "good" film? It's stupid, wasteful and has nothing to offer. I have two theories about why people could like this film: The first deals with Michelle Yeoh's popularity and how her fans could not call this film bad. The second involves with the lack of good HK flicks in 2004, so that brought positive reviews from those who couldn't find anything else worth seeing.

Here's the film in a nutshell, Take Michelle Yeoh, ripoff Batman, throw in bad action (generic crap that Jean Claude Van Damme's Straight To DVD films destroy), horrible acting, and most of all a horrible HORRIBLE story. That's this film in a nutshell and what I saw was just plain pathetic, very much like Ms. Yeoh's other flick that she released ("The Touch", I think?). This film also tries to be funny, but misses in all places.

Doing a bit of research, the film had a negative response in HK and did poorly at the box office. At least someone has seen this point, because this film is just plain bad! Now this is coming from a guy who loves action films and is a Michelle Yeoh fan in the process. This seems to be the typical line from most reviewers

"PRETTY GOOD ACTION FILM, BUT NOTHING SPECIAL"

Or something to that degree. I didn't really see much good action in this film, a bunch overdone and idiotic camera angles that were played out when Jingle Ma was back doing the work on Drunken Master II. Then they get the most annoying cast I've ever seen, and why'd they go international for a cast? Luke Goss and Michael Jai White were boring and could have been replaced by any white/black guy who could make a mean face.

Bah to all of you who said this film was "good", because it is far from that. It's a horrible film that most people will forgive for the action. The action sucks, so this film is basically nothing. Hopefully, this film is thrown into the garbage.

Not in this case. While Tokyo raiders features innovative fights and humourous action sequences, Silver Hawk uses a lot of wires. Michelle Yeoh's martial arts talents is completely wasted here because she and the bad guys spend a lot of time flying through the air, delivering high-kicks and assume supposedly cool poses instead of actually fighting(as in hand-to-hand, toe-to-toe fighting). Any idiot can fly in the air with the aid of wire.

Remember Shanghai Knights? I'd expected to see a spectacular showdown between Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen but it was so disappointing. They didn't need someone like Donnie Yen to play the bad guy if they were not gonna put his talents to use. Same thing can be said for Michelle Yeoh in Silver Hawk.

The story is terrible un-interesting, too. And the humour is just so-so.

All in all, this is just a waste of money and talents. But if you are a die-hard fan of Michelle then go ahead and watch it anyway.