Born to Fight

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!

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.

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.

When your film opens on shots of 80s New York playing to the tune of not quite Crockett's Theme by Jan Hammer, you know the filmmakers were cooking.

Blonde Fury aka Lady Reporter has the unique distinction of being the first and only time a Western actress has ever had lead billing in a Hong Kong film, with Cynthia Rothrock turning in a fun and charismatic performance to boot. Blending the hard-hitting style of Corey Yuen and the graceful acrobatic choreography of Mang Hoi into a movie that's tremendous fun but sloppily put together. The story is way too convoluted for its own good supported by way too many characters, although the performances from its cast are deliciously hammy in particular Roy Chiao and Ronny Yu, they just lobbied with some pretty awful dialogue. Despite its issues, Blonde Fury hits that sweet spot of the 80s and 90s Hong Kong cinema, taking the very rough with the very smooth, not all the comedic beats land but the punches certainly do.

this movie amazed me because it has nice story,good cast,good directors,very good fights and awesome soundtrack.Cynthia rothrock acts very well in this , she has a lot of charm,is very beautiful in this and fights very well.She is my favorite martial arts actress because she makes her own stunts and she is not fake.i think this movie don't deserve a 10 because i was disappointed by a fight between Cynthia fighting against a bad guy in the house of her roommate and i didn't like the ending also because i expected a brutal fight between she and the chief villain.but the fights are very well photographed and Corey yuen does its job very well as usual coordinated the fights scenes.fans of Cynthia rothrock watch this movie because she was in top form in this and because BLONDE FURY it is in the top 3 for sure in her list.