Royal Warriors

'Royal Warriors (1986)' is absolutely wild. This exhilarating action movie pushes through high-octane set-piece after high-octane set-piece, rarely letting its foot of the gas as it presents a compelling mix of old-school Hong Kong Kung Fu and exquisitely eighties action excess. It's the kind of movie in which everyone wears either 'The Terminator (1984)'-esque leather, Vietnam-era combat gear or bold business blazers three sizes too big for them. It's filled to the brim with death-defying stunts, metal-crunching car chases, squib-triggering shootouts, bone-crunching brawls and dizzying amounts of collateral damage. It's incredibly exciting. Rather unusually for a film of its kind, it only features four baddies. There are no giant fights between our heroes and hoards of faceless goons, just personal battles between people seeking revenge in a nearly endless loop that threatens to make good on the promise that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. It's actually a sequel to 'Yes, Madam! (1985)', and it's superior to that picture because it keeps its focus firmly on Michelle Yeoh and her co-stars, Hiroyuki Sanada and Michael Wong (playing someone called Michael Wong, for some reason), rather than cutting away to secondary characters who mostly engage in screwball comedy. It's a pretty dark and occasionally downright vicious picture, even if it does have moments of levity in the from of Wong's attempts to start a relationship with Yeoh. It's rather tragic overall and isn't afraid to show civilians getting caught in the crossfire that occurs as a result of the villains' vendetta against the heroes (a sequence set in a gloriously neon-soaked nightclub is particularly callous in its chaos). Thanks to its mixture of different types of set-piece, strong central performances (Yeoh is a total star) and consistently well-choreographed action, the well-paced piece remains really entertaining from its first frame to its last. It's one of the more sheerly thrilling examples of its genre, and it's genuinely great. Of course, it has some of the same flaws as many of its counterparts, but they're all fairly minor and aren't really worth mentioning. It's not perfect, but - for what it is - it's fantastic.

Michelle Yeoh is very cool. That could be the review; that's enough to make Royal Warriors worth watching. It's a bit of an oddity as a film, starting out with a dance number and then becoming surprisingly dark, not to mention jarringly violent. It's that kind of hard-edged martial arts movie where the punches and collisions look genuinely painful, and some of the stunts look remarkably dangerous. There are certain parts that aren't entirely believable (an overuse of sped-up footage at the end, and a mat poorly disguised as pavement early on), but most of the action's done really well. I think it's a movie that hits the ground running to the point where it runs out of steam a little by the final act. It flounders a bit to get to the final action sequence, but once it gets there, it does work. Some of the melodramatic elements didn't always work for me either, but the core of what's needed for a Hong Kong action movie to shine is intact here, and so I mostly liked Royal Warriors. Michelle Yeoh is very good, and it's interesting seeing a young Hiroyuki Sanada here too, given both he and Yeoh have seen their popularity reach new heights (at least internationally) during the early 2010s. They're both very good here, too.

Directed by David Chung and written by Kan-Cheung Tsang, the second film in the In the Line of Duty series finds officer Michelle Yip (Michelle Yeoh) coming back to Hong Kong from a trip to Japan. Highjackers attempt to take the plane, but she stops them along with a security guard named Michael Wong (Michael Wong) and Interpol agent Peter Yamamoto (Hiroyuki Sanada). The bad news? Well, now they're being targeted by the other members of the same mob family for revenge. This movie blows away any action movie made yesterday or today, featuring an incredible nightclub assault, so much glass being broken I was wondering if it was sponsored by PPG, Michael's family being wiped out by a car bomb, chase scenes that make you retroactively worry for the safety of everyone involved and an ending where Yip drives a futuristic tank into a trap laid by the big bad with him holding the body of her boyfriend on a crane. In the Line of Duty 2 is filled with non-stop mayhem and violence, a downbeat tone and Yeoh embracing the opportunity to be the lead.

While its international title is ROYAL WARRIORS, originally this film was IN THE LINE OF DUTY, the second of a long-running series about hard-hitting kung-fu-fighting female cops in Hong Kong. Inevitably these are excellent action movies for their era which mix car chases and martial arts fights, along with detective stuff and a little comedy. They feel a lot like Jackie Chan's POLICE STORY films, albeit with a little less humour and a more ensemble team. The first four in the series are particularly excellent and helped inspire a decade of similar films from the region. ROYAL WARRIORS is a must for kung fu fans thanks to the presence of not one but two genre luminaries in the title roles. First up we get a young, agile and athletic Michelle Yeoh as the heroine; while her acting isn't as assured here as later on in her career, she certainly livens up the screen in her many fight scenes. She's given excellent support by imported Japanese star Hiroyuki Sanada (ROARING FIRE) in one of his detours into Chinese cinema. It's a worthy follow-up for him to NINJA IN THE DRAGON'S DEN, and he once again plays the same honourable, hard-assed character. A lot of people give Michael Wong (IN THE LINE OF DUTY 4) a hard time, but I don't have a problem with the actor and he does well with his annoying-but-likable character in this movie. And the action is very good indeed, as is the suspenseful plot which forever moves forward with very few slow moments; a massacre in a nightclub, inspired by a similar moment in THE TERMINATOR, is the dramatic highlight. Michael Chan Wai-Man always makes for a decent villain too. While I would have liked a few more bad guys for our heroes to go up against - that's where the later sequels have the edge - this is still above average for the genre and a thoroughly entertaining movie.

After foiling an escape and hijacking, three people are targeted for vengeance. It is a very straight forward action revenge movie in where the antagonists find a way to really do wipe out budding heroes. Teaming up are the Inspector (Yeoh), the other a retiring Japanese cop (Sanada) and a chatty sky marshal (Wong). The action scenes were great, and the back story was tight for our villains but really it was agonizing to see Wong charm his way on every scene. There were excessive glass breaking but that is normal when you watched these HK action flicks in the 80s. It could have been a grittier flick if Wong was a levelheaded character. Villains were superbly flawed but resilient. Sanada and Yeoh were about to peak and absolutely smashed their fight scenes.

The movie was made in 1986 when Japan was ascending, and it was fashionable to have Japanese element in the movie. As such, venerable Hiroyuki Sanada (Last Samurai) plays an Interpol agent that becomes friends with Michelle Yeoh, and Michael Wong. They stop a hijack of a plane that was carrying a criminal that was to be extricated from Japan to Hong Kong. In the process, they kill three of the hijacker that includes the extricated criminal. One remaining member swears revenge on them, and starts attacking Sanada, Yeoh, and Wong. It has a different feel from Michelle Yeoh's previous movie Royal Warriors, although she's in a similar role. She looks even younger in this movie, and looks rather cute. The movie has bit more serious feel to it, and as one reviewer put it is rather melodramatic which is unusual for a movie of this type. Its not a typical D&B movie style story, but they were just starting off as a movie studio, and maybe experimenting with different formulas. Production quality is high as usual for their movies. I guess I need to mention the relation between D&B's owner Dixon Poon, and Michelle Yeoh that eventually leads to their marriage. Not the great action movie like Royal Warriors, but a nice mixture of Japanese and Hong Kong actors. Movie is good, but not the stellar masterpiece like the Royal Warriors.

From the mid 80's to the early 90's, D & B Films produced some spectacular features. This is one of them. Everything here is big and loud and brutal. Michael Yeoh, credited as Michelle Kahn, plays a policewoman who prevents a major incident on a airliner, ably assisted by secret agent Henry Sanada. Kahn and Sanada's actions infuriate the mob and revenge comes quickly in the form of an explosion that kills the Japanese agent's wife and daughter. Michael Wong, another cop, assists the Chinese-Japanese duo in their quest for justice, but he only gets in the way, as does his bad acting. This has car stunts, explosions, rafts of grievous bodily harm and lots of woman-to-woman, man-on-man and man-on-woman fighting. John Chung, who directed the excellent "Web of Deception" and the delightful "I Love Maria", stages his action with tremendous energy and works hard to make us feel the pain the characters are feeling. The film has an expansive feel and, though it guns for some comedy relief now and then, never gets sidetracked by it. Kahn's character was replaced in "In the Line of Duty 3" by the aptly named Cynthia Khan, another tough cookie (but not as tough as Michelle).

This is some of Michelle Yeoh's best work, alongside Magnificent Warriors and Yes Madam (A.K.A. In The Line of Duty or Police Assassins). This movie has a mix of drama, hard-hitting action, and comedy (little less on comedy though). In my opinion, this movie could've done without Michael Wong. He tries to create a lovable character but he just seemed to get in the way of the movie. Well, I guess the movie needed some comedy. I appreciate the casting of Henry Sanada (Hiroyuki Sanada) in the film. After Ninja in the Dragon's Den, I was hoping he would continue to pursue action flicks. His martial arts skills always seems to impress me. His character in the film is portrayed as cool and slick, but if provoked, can be aggressive. Michelle Yeoh's character is very dedicated to her work as a police officer. She will enforce the law by any means. The action in this film was very excellent and brutal. The club scene was the best. I'm pretty sure the actors and actresses had to use some ointment to take care of the bruises after some of the scenes. Groundwork dominated this film. I really didn't notice wirework. Overall, this a great film. The replay value is very high. Besides the action, drama and a little comedy gave the film a good mix. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! Final Judgement: ****/****

For those who are familiar with the action side of Michelle Yeoh only from her later blockbusters like "Tomorrow Never Dies" or "Police Story 3", prepare for an eye-opening experience. She has rarely fought (or looked) better than she does in "Royal Warriors", a film made early (1986) into her career. Several of her moves will have you going "WOW!". Unfortunately, there are some problems that keep this film from being as good as it could have been. For one thing, there is too much gratuitous violence: I'm referring especially to the nightclub scene, which has at least a dozen innocent bystanders mercilessly gunned down. The nastiness of the villains comes through clearly enough through their other acts - that scene was overkill (pun not intended). For another thing, Michelle Yeoh has surprisingly few fight scenes: after her 2 in the first 10 minutes, there are no more than 3 in the rest of the film. And then there's Michael Wong, who's a pretty poorly written character: he acts as if he's in a romantic comedy, always flirting with Michelle and making jokes, when in reality he's in a grim drama, where almost no lives are spared. In fact, Michelle tells him straight to his face what is wrong with his character, which suggests that the writers knew it as well - so why did they write him to be this way? I'm still giving "Royal Warriors" a relatively high rating because of the action scenes - I just wish the rest of the movie had lived up to them. *** out of 4.

Michelle Yeoh, legend. What a great showcase for her athleticism and fluidity, which just jumps off the screen. At 24 and in her second major role, she cemented herself in the Hong Kong action films of the 80's and 90's with this performance. There are so great scenes here - fighting on the street, in an airplane, during a car chase, in a crane, in a nightclub, with an armored vehicle, and against a chainsaw. Several times it looks like the actors are in real danger of being hurt, and adding to the feeling of being on the edge is the script not being afraid of killing off innocent bystander characters, young and old. It also gives us a nice little backstory for the four villains, though on the other hand it also gives us the annoyingly repetitive romantic overtures of Michael Wong's character to Yeoh's, which was the weakest part of the film. If you think you know where that may end up, however, you might be mistaken. Aside from that, there is a lot of cheese here which may bother you, including some sappy family interaction from a Japanese colleague (Hiroyuki Sanada), the synth soundtrack, and the bad guy's cliché evil laugh, but they just added to the camp appeal for me. I loved its bits of real darkness and how it was Yeoh's character doing the rescuing at the end. A lot of fun, so much so that I rounded up my review score a bit.