She Shoots Straight

An action film set in Hong Kong. The Huangs are a police family. A mother and four sisters; all of them in the force. The one brother, Tsung, is a chief inspector. He has just married. His bride is police too. Mina is the best fighter in the unit and also an outsider. The family does not accept her. The eldest sister above all; she counts both rank and her place in the family as taken from her. From there the film runs on two lines. On one side the tension in the house, on the other a Vietnamese crime ring. The ring is hard. Armed robbery, kidnapping, and no limit at all on retaliation. An operation goes wrong. The family suffers a loss and the loss makes the matter personal. What the narrative is interested in is not crime but family: all its tension comes from two women unable to bear each other, and the final fight resolves that relationship. The fights are heavy. Stunt performers in Hong Kong cinema of this period were genuinely injured and the film does not hide it. An action structure built on a female cast was not unusual for the period, but few were this hard. The last section takes place in a warehouse and is almost entirely between two people. Joyce Godenzi had been named Miss Hong Kong in 1984; this part made her known as a fight performer. Sammo Hung is behind the production. Joyce Godenzi, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Carina Lau and Sandra Ng are in the cast. Corey Yuen directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1990s Hong Kong action and hard fight choreography. Who it is not for: anyone looking for story; the narrative moves between fights and the family drama is roughly written.