Quick punch: flesh and bullets...

A long time ago I saw a movie involving chicks with guns, and all I remember was the odd looking shattering glass all over the place. It wasn’t so bad as a martial arts movie or as action wise, however it was nothing above average. Nice stunts, good choreography and some fine looking women – Shu Qi, Karen Mok & Wei Zhao. Corey Yen was there as a director and I strongly suspect that he was involved in the martial arts department too. Why am I explaining this to you, and what relation has with the title reviewed here – all is revealed further down. 

As the title suggests it will feature almost naked people who particularly likes to fight in different ways and with different tools of mass destruction. The premise is simple enough, not to distract you from the action, but I have to mention it there in order to get acquainted with the main characters. The big name of legendary Sammo Hung is on the top of the list here, showing that at this age he still can pull something out of his pocket in relation to martial arts scenes. 

Sammo is cooking - Chef's knuckles

He plays police inspector who manages to capture a big shipment of any drugs, thus earning respect from his colleagues and the hatred of the criminal organization behind the shipment. As it usually happens they storm his place, killing all in sight and taking Sammo Hung’s little daughter for medical treatment, close to brainwashing, so it can later becomes a ruthless killer with nice breasts and legs. Sammo teams up with pair of Interpol investigators (Timmy Hung & Andy On) in order to bring down the criminal organization for good. Well you know the rest – the good beat the shit out of the bad and Sammo has his daughter back with full capacity of memory. Happy ending is in order. 

Beauty x3 - ok, maybe only x2

Along this family reunion a few fighting scenes emerge, so to keep our interest at certain level, however after the second view it all felt flat and boring. I didn’t saw anything out of the ordinary, the usual jumps and punches, with occasional wire work and short cuts. Corey Yen & Yuen Tak are taking care of the martial arts choreography and they tried to keep it at average level throughout the film, without presenting any out-of-the-box creativity. Guess the money were mostly spent on horrifying special effects such as broken glasses and windows, which are laughable and it should be better off without them.

Too much to drink?

 And probably some part of the budget was gone for transforming Luxia Jiang’s tan and outlook as man. At first I wasn’t able to recognize her, few minutes later I saw some bulks in front and it came to me that it was a female fighter. Poor, poor Luxia Jiang – what have you done with your personality – yes she has some rough look, but in Vampire Warriors she was pretty acceptable with her long hair and tight wear. Here she looks simply ridiculous and despite some nice leg work it has nothing else to show. 

The guy is the woman, the girl is the man - what a relationship

Jennifer Tse is the main killer here and the lost daughter of Sammo Hung, but she does not fit in the term “assassin” completely, as it obviously has her mostly on wires and all the good side of hers was smile and face – the rest is forgotten. Andy On is here as another pretty face in, but he is not fighting as I was expected, besides a brief 1on1 showdown with Sammo at the beginning. Later on he falls in love with Phoenix (Jennifer Tse) and everything is only sugar and spice and all things nice… 

My name is Wong... Anthony Wong

There is one big final fight where the quantity was more than the quality, but hey at least they thrown a good 20 minutes of wirework, average fighting and Sammo Hung vs. Anthony Wong – the finishing move was something taken out of WWF and it reminds me of Rikishi style. But it was at least funny… The rest is quickly erased from my mind, as to make room for more substantial movies to remember. 

HEADBUTT!!! In your faceeee!

If you liked So close you’d probably like this one too, but for me it has nothing above the average in the genre, hence the final judgement:

4/10 (for Sammo’s presence and some not so bad scenes)