Born to Fight

The 1989 action-comedy film "Shi jie da shai," directed by Hoi Mang, is a fast-paced, entertaining ride through Hong Kong's underworld.

The story follows Cynthia Rothrock as Cindy, an American FBI agent who goes undercover as a journalist to take down a criminal newspaper editor, Ronny Dak, played by Ronny Yu. With a runtime of 90 minutes, the film delivers a good balance of martial arts, humor, and intrigue.

The action is the film's strong suit. The fight choreography is impressive and features a variety of martial arts styles, including kung-fu and taekwondo. The film earns its "Born to Fight" moniker, with well-shot and edited action sequences that showcase the skills of the cast, particularly the leading ladies. Rothrock, a world champion martial artist, is a force to be reckoned with on screen, and Lee holds her own as well. The film also has some creative and humorous uses of everyday objects as weapons, adding a layer of inventiveness to the fights.

The standout scene involves a thrilling fight sequence, showcasing Rothrock's acrobatic and high-kicking skills as she battles a series of opponents, including some of the era's most notable "bad guy" actors. The choreography, a collaboration between Mang Hoi and Corey Yuen, fuses graceful, acrobatic moves with hard-hitting style.

While the film excels in action and has a talented cast, the plot is not its strongest point. The narrative takes a back seat to the fight scenes, and the humor, though subjectively entertaining, may fall flat for some viewers, especially with the challenges of translation from Hong Kong comedy to other audiences.

Overall, "Shi jie da shai" is an enjoyable martial arts film that showcases Cynthia Rothrock's skills and solidifies her status as one of the top action stars of her era. It's a must-watch for fans of 80s Hong Kong cinema and martial arts enthusiasts. So, if you're in the mood for some over-the-top kung-fu chaos with a side of slapstick, give Shi Jie Da Shai a go. Just don't expect a comedic masterpiece-the laughs are few and far between, but the action might just knock your socks off.

(1989) The Blonde Fury (Chinese with no English subtitles) ACTION/ COMEDY

The weakest one Cynthia had ever done out of the five films she had been in Hong Kong but it is still better than the martial art films she did do coming out of the United States. Saw this film from a recorded Japanese Laserdisc onto VHS that had no English subtitles at all making it even more harder to understand, but do know this was real life kick boxer champion Cynthia Rothrock's final film of five Hong Kong films she had done before trying out for Hollywood produced, crappy martial art movies. Some of the martial arts is still phenomenal to look at and they're others that're not memorable at all particularly the ending. Anyways, some of the more memorable fights also included the same factory Samo Hung used at the end of "Dragons Forever" and the bamboo stick fight against the baddie using a long copper pipe! And the fights are still hard hitting despite the plot being non-existent.

Cynthia Rothrock is Cindy, an FBI agent sent undercover in Hong Kong to crack a counterfeiting ring. She pretends to be a reporter to bag the bad guy, but runs afoul of a mousy rival reporter (Mang Hoi), a cop disguised as an insurance agent (Chin Siu-Ho), and various kung-fu baddies (including Billy Chow). She also incurs the ire of the local cops, and even her pal Yu (Elizabeth Lee), who thought she was just a buddy and not an undercover law enforcer. However, all manufactured conflicts are derailed when Yu's dad (Roy Chiao), the prosecuting lawyer in the counterfeiting case, gets kidnapped. Fighting and mayhem ensues.

A couple of entertaining action sequences, such as on some bamboo scaffolding, as well as a short brawl between Rothrock and Billy Chow, are the main attraction in this fairly decent HK entry, though the pace can meander halfway and it is steeped with too much talk. This is a rare moment where Cynthia Rothrock has a starring role in a HK production and she pulls it off with ease. She has some charm, a presence and a sense of energy but it's her fighting that is really a highlight. Not remarkable, but passable.

It seems that the last three movies I've watched recently - "Guardian Angel" (1996), "New Killers in Town", and this one - have followed pretty much the same pattern: they're terrible, but contain some good fight scenes that are worth seeing. "Blonde Fury", one of Cynthia Rothrock's last Hong Kong vehicles, is almost unwatchable - I struggled to get through it. But Cynthia shows some great moves and makes clever use of her surroundings in about 5 or 6 fight scenes. The highlight comes in the middle, when she takes on a guy with particularly powerful kicks, following a pretty good Chin Siu Ho vs. Billy Chow fight. Martial arts fans are advised to keep their finger on the fast-forward button; non - martial arts fans are advised to avoid this film altogether. (**)

P.S: No wonder Elizabeth Lee was runner-up of Miss Hong Kong 1987. She's freaking gorgeous!

I can't say that I was harboring much of any grand expectations to the 1989 action movie "Shi Jie Da Shai" (aka "Lady Reporter" or "Female Reporter"), as I stumbled upon it by random chance here in 2023. I had, in fact, never actually heard about the movie prior to sitting down to watch it. But then again, I never been a fan of Cynthia Rothrock.

Writers Sai-Shing Shum and Michael Swift put together a very stereotypical late 1980s action script. But hey, if you enjoy that kind of cheese, then you're in for a treat, because "Shi Jie Da Shai" is full of 1980s cheese, for better or worse. I found the movie to be semi-watchable, but it was not an outstanding movie experience. Nor is is a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

And something I don't understand about the 1980s movie's that were made in Hong Kong and then released worldwide got such terrible dubbing work done, every single time. And "Shi Jie Da Shai" was no different. The dubbing in the movie was just toe-curling bad.

There were some fair enough action and martial arts scenes throughout the course of the 90 minutes that the movie ran for. But it was overshadowed by a rather inferior script, and the movie was ultimately suffering from that fact.

I am sure that there is a fan base out there for a movie such as "Shi Jie Da Shai", especially if you enjoy the work of Cynthia Rothrock. I just happen not to be a part of that particular club.

My rating of director Hoi Mang's 1989 movie lands on a four out of ten stars.