I Love Maria

Imaginative action sequences (particularly the clash of two robots, and one involving a flying motorcycle), impressive special effects (mostly just good old-fashioned mechanical stuff), and Sally Yeh's incredible beauty and solid acting make up for a less-than-engaging story in this bizarre Hong Kong action-fantasy-comedy, which I would recommend mostly to experienced HK viewers, and maybe comic book fans. The first 40 minutes or so are kind of hard to sit through, but then some of the jokes start working, the action becomes more frequent, and Sally Yeh begins to play a bigger part in the movie. Actually, she plays TWO parts: a vicious villainess, and a robot that's made by the bad guys to look just like her and eventually gets re-programmed by the good guys to help them out. It also starts developing human emotions, and it's to Sally Yeh's credit that, using only a few expressions, she manages to give this robot a human soul and make you care about her. And did I mention she is just incredibly, pause-the-DVD-to-admire-her-face beautiful? (**1/2)