Unlike most Hong Kong science fiction, which tends to look very bad compared to its' Hollywood counterparts, I Love Maria has a stylish and compenent look to it. Perhaps it's the lack of CGI imagery and emphasis on solid camera and editing techinques which soldifies I Love Maria. Most anyone -- even amateur film-makers -- can make decent special effects nowadays, but when the computer, and not the film-maker, becomes the primary tool, a movie tends to suffer. Of course, there have been exceptions to this (Storm Riders is a wonderful example of CGI eye candy) but most times, CGI just looks cheap to me. I Love Maria recalls an older time with simpler techniques that were sometimes more competent than something more techincally advanced.

The movie's solid foundations are helped along by the performances of the cast. It says something when the duo of John Shum and Tusi Hark doesn't make you want to kick in your TV (see Yes Madam for an example of the opposite effect). True, there is some dopey comedy (a bit about the robotic Sally electrocuting the duo is almost beaten to death), but it doesn't go too far over the top like some Hong Kong comedies. Ben Lam, one of the more under-rated actors in Hong Kong movies, is perfect as the villainous leader of the Hero Gang, and Lam Ching-Ying turns in another solid performance as Tsui's sympathetic friend in the Gang. Of particular note is Sally Yeh's performance. I have never regarded her too highly as an actor, but she is great in I Love Maria, being suitably nasty as the human Maria and surprisingly charming (and great-looking) as the robot version. Long-time Hong Kong film fans will also have some fun picking out various personalities in cameo roles, such as Kirk Wong as a bartender or John Woo as a police commander.

What really puts I Love Maria as a "must watch" movie are the action sequences. I have said it before and I will say it again, Ching Siu-Tung is a genius who often doesn't get the credit he deserves. Some people don't like his high-flying wire-fu style, but it fits in perfectly with this film. The action in I Love Maria is explosive and over-the-top, just like any good Hong Kong movie should be. If there is a fault with the action, it's that there isn't enough of it. The stuff in here is so good that I wanted more. I Love Maria is one of those rare movies that you want more of after it ends.

Some of the comedy is a bit too repetitive but the visuals are often stunning and there are a number of ambitious, well-realized special FX. Tsui gives a fine, comic performance and Sally Yeh does an excellent job as the mechanical Maria but is less convincing as her human model. Terrific fun, the film, alas, bombed in HK, disappearing from theatres after only six days, and remains one of the few HK science fiction films. Lam Ching-ying and Paul Chun Pui co-star, and actor/director Che-Kirk Wong Chi-keung has a fun cameo as an obnoxious bartender. John Woo can be just barely glimpsed, under the end credits, as The Police Commissioner (hanging a medal around Chun's neck).

In addition to the 5.1 remixes, the soundtrack here is radically different from the one found on the old Golden Cinema City laserdisc. While Romeo Diaz and James Wong Jim contributed some original music, a good portion of the score is swiped from the American films INVASION USA (music by Jay Chattaway) and WAVELENGTH (music by Tangerine Dream). Some, by not all, of those cues have been replaced on the DVD with different, less effectual music (possibly derived from ROBOFORCE, the film's English-dubbed version) and the changes will prove quite distracting for those used to the LD. The remix adds some stereo separations but portions are clearly out-of-sync (like the opening attack by Pioneer 1, where explosions are seen before they are heard, glass shatters and is then heard a beat later, etc) and the track generally sounds limp. (If more recent Universe releases of Mega Star properties are any indication, the company will just be presenting the original mono from now on). The picture usually looks terrific, with detailed contrasts and rich colors, and is a major improvement over the dark and washed-out LD. However, there is a brief stretch (starting around the 25 minute mark), bathed in blue light, that looks oddly distorted. Some slight ghosting can be detected at times, though it is not as pronounced as on some of the company's newer releases, like A HERO NEVER DIES and EROTIC GHOST STORY III. A theatrical trailer (which offers additional footage of Woo and a glimpse of a deleted sequence, that features John Sham on top of a flag pole), previews for SAGA OF THE PHOENIX and LEGEND OF THE DRAGON, and Chinese-only bios/filmographies for Sally Yeh, John Sham, Tsui Hark, and Tony Leung Chiu-wai can all be accessed through the menu.