Royal Warriors

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.

Within this HK genre of hard-hitting crime thrillers, "In The Line Of Duty" stands out for its gritty storytelling and brutal presentation of martial arts. A group of psychotic war veterans carry out a terrorist attempt which ends up being foiled by policewoman Michelle Yeoh. After their failed attempt the few remaining terrorists target Yeoh and her comrades in order to enact revenge for the death of their fellow war- hardened brothers. In a messy blood feud Michelle Yeoh struggles to stay alive while simultaneously trying to capture her terrorist foe. Things get out of hand quickly as the stakes are raised and the death toll manages to roll even higher. The side plot involving Yeoh begins to wander but luckily it's not long before you are quickly revived by another action sequence. One apparent detractor is that unlike the sequel cutesy moments don't fit within the story being told, and the comic relief serves as a distraction rather than an aid. The fast-paced flick that In The Line Of Duty tries to be is weighed down by just a bit too much filler. Regardless of this flaw the terrorist plans while ridiculous keep you genuinely interested, and you'll be curious to see where the plot goes. An action packed finale is the highlight of the movie, as the tension remains strong and the Kung-Fu is fierce. Personally this is my favorite out of the series. The entertainment value is very high if nothing else, and Yeoh fans will surely be pleased. -7/10

'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.

Fine follow up to Yes Madam. Not nearly as witty, but heavier on action (most of the scenes are very exciting with extremely tough baddies).

The last baddy is particularly good, with a silly mocking smile and grin. I loved the scene where he shoots the TV set.

The plot is by turns clever and cliched, and the "music" makes the whole thing feel much more cheesy than it otherwise would. Really, in some of these 80's Hong Kong films the DVD's should have an option of removable soundtracks. Alot of the films such as this would come across much stronger now without a synthesizer in the background banging away. Of course this would remove the campy bad guy forte chord which I know many viewers are endeared to.

Those who enjoy hard-edged action over wit might even prefer this to Yes Madam as the best of Michelle Yeoh's early action films.

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.