Iron Angels 3

Moon Lee plays a secret agent who joins an assassins' organization in Thailand under cover. Her boss is a lady in black with a pet crocodile. When Moon's transmitter has to be left behind, she loses contact with the Iron Angels team. They don't seem to worry much about her, though. In the middle part of the film, Moon is not on screen for 30 minutes while her colleagues attend a somewhat distracting boxing championship. Fortunately, she returns with a great fight against countless enemies, and there is a bit more ammo spent later on, so the movie doesn't forget what it is about (girls'n'guns).

"Iron Angels 3" is not the best one of the trilogy. Part 1 had the best cast (including Yukari Oshima) and part 2 the best story. Part 3, also without Elaine Lui now, brings in new guys which are rather annoying: the young man assisting Fong and an American nerd called Computer (ouch). I voted 7/7/6 for the trilogy. Note: there is a movie marketed as "Iron Angels 4" in some countries, but that one is not connected to the Iron Angels trilogy, except that Moon Lee is accidentally in it, too. You'll find it under "Jin pai shi jie"/"Princess Madam" here.

MIDNITE ANGELS 3, aka IRON ANGELS 3, is the third title in the popular girls with guns series made in Hong Kong. This one sees a returning Moon Lee teaming up with a bunch of new guys in order to tackle a terrorist threat in Thailand. It's definitely cheaper and more slapdash than the previous entries in the series, although the direction by popular Jackie Chan director Stanley Fong remains fresh and invigorating.

The film kicks off with an expertly-staged assassination scene before moving through various cheap and cheesy situations. There's a random fight on a train which is quite poorly played out and seems to have been included as a homage to FROM Russia WITH LOVE! Moon Lee goes undercover in the terrorist organisation and then the film slows down for half an hour with a bizarre interlude involving Muay Thai boxing and other, uninteresting characters.

Thankfully things pick up for a bizarre, action-focused climax which has to be seen to be believed. These guys really go in for the overkill with a blitz of violence involving a huge body count and a guy on a jet pack going around machine-gunning an army of bad guys! There are martial arts bouts too, although the badly-acting villains are undistinguished and only Lee stands out amid the performers. The two things that spoiled this film for me were the awful dubbing and the full-screen print which cuts off much of the action on either side of the screen; I can only hope that I get to see a widescreen subtitled print one day at which point I'm sure my enjoyment of the film would increase.

This rare title is very difficult to get hold off. I saw this almost 18 years ago on tape. "Iron Angels 3" belongs to the "Girls with Guns" genre. Typical HK action flicks in which women kick ass big time! Wonderful shootouts and excellent martial arts. Pay special attention to the scene in the train that obvious is a tribute to the famous fight scene in "From Russia with Love". But personally I liked this better because you have the pretty Moon Lee fighting this other beautiful(killer) woman. As with most of the movies in this genre the plot is simple and not very important. It is all about the action and which you get plenty off. "Iron Angels 3" is without a doubt one of the best titles that this genre has to offer! That's why it is very strange that they did not mass produced this on DVD. Warning: Do not confuse this movie with "Charlie's Angels". "Iron Angels 3" also consists of humor but the action scenes are definitely hardcore.

The Iron Angels (Alex Fong, Moon Lee, Kharina Sa, Fong's new male partner, and another guy called "The Computer" - no sign of Elaine Lui this time) go to Thailand to stop some terrorists. That's pretty much all the plot you need for this one. For pure fighting fans, this is probably the best film in the series. Moon Lee has more fight scenes than in the previous films and looks pretty lethal: one of her best moves is when she jumps on a guy, wraps her legs around his waist, flips backwards, lands on top of him and punches him straight on his face! And Fong has an extended Muay Thai ring match against a local fighter. But shootout fans won't be disappointed, either; a gunfight near the end has an INCREDIBLE body count that easily rivals that of most war movies. The girls-with-guns factor is brought down a little by the absence of Elaine Lui, and the fact that Kharina Sa is given nothing to do, but goes up again with the addition of several female baddies, the leader of whom is a pretty muscular blonde. There are also notable Bond references: we get the female version of the Bond vs. Red Grant train fight in "From Russia With Love" as Moon Lee takes on a Japanese killer lady (who even has shoe-knives!), the blonde villainess pets (not a cat but) a baby croc, and at the end the heroes attack the terrorists on jetpacks like the one Connery used in "Thunderball" - only these are equipped with inexhaustible machine guns! (**1/2)

It was Ok, with the humor scenes missing by a mile while the action scenes were well done.The leading man was well dubbed, but his side kick was such a relentless pain in the backside that it almost ruined the movie. Definitively an upgrade from the Godfrey Ho films coming out at that time. There are a few excellent battles and a couple of Kung Foo scenes that go on too long of course, but it is definitely worth watching with the lady's being so so at best.