Beauty Investigator

Moon Lee and another cute Chinese girl as bickering police partners, Yukari Oshima as a mysterious and highly efficient Japanese hitwoman, Sophia Crawford as the main villain's assistant / mistress. Sounds great, but it's only OK. The main problem is the jarring shift in tone, from lighthearted to grim: it's like watching parts of "The Inspector Wears Skirts" and "In The Line Of Duty" in the same film. The big plot twist near the end is equally jarring and rather nonsensical. The fight scenes are pretty good, but unfortunately some of them are poorly lit (or maybe the poor DVD transfer is more to blame). The most unexpected bonus in watching "Beauty Investigator" comes from Sophia Crawford's shower scene: this woman's body is the perfect combination of power and femininity. (**1/2)