Huang jia shi jie zhi III: Ci xiong da dao

The third of the In the Line of Duty films. Not as good as the first two but excellent nonetheless. Cynthia Khan takes over as the lead from Michelle Yeoh although different character completely once again. She is excellent here & I thought many of her stunts surpassed Michelle Yeoh but the script is not as strong.

Plenty of action and fight scenes that are well choreographed. The subplot of Rachel (Cynthia Khan) and her Uncle was played too much for laughs, wasn't funny at that & just a single repeated joke line.

You really watch this film for the action and not so much for the story. So if you like the Girls with Guns films, this should be on your watch list.

I have to say that this 1988 Hong Kong action movie titled "Huang Jia Shi Jie Zhi III: Ci Xiong Da Dao" (aka "In the Line of Duty III: Force of the Dragon") was a pretty generic late 1980s Hong Kong action movie. But hey, at least you know what you are getting here if you opt to sit down and watch this movie.

Writer Kiu-Ying Chan churned out a fairly generic storyline for this movie, and it felt more like a collection of random action scenes put together and then directors Arthur Wong and Brandy Yuen laced a narrative upon those action scenes. I felt like the storyline was lacking greatly in contents, and the movie felt sort of half-hearted.

The character gallery in "Huang Jia Shi Jie Zhi III: Ci Xiong Da Dao" was incredibly one-dimensional. I have to admit that I didn't invest anything into any of the characters, as they were generic, lacking depths or personalities, and essentially were all one and the same. And this was a major hindrance for the overall enjoyment of the movie.

It should be noted, however, that "Huang Jia Shi Jie Zhi III: Ci Xiong Da Dao" does have an okay cast ensemble. The leading performances were adequate, but the movie does have a treat for fans of the Hong Kong cinema, with appearances from Paul Chun, Dick Wei, Sandra Kwan Yue Ng, Eric Tsang and Richard Ng.

There is a good amount of action in the movie, and that definitely helps to make the movie bearable to sit through, along with the appearances of some very familiar faces on the cast list.

While I managed to sit through "Huang Jia Shi Jie Zhi III: Ci Xiong Da Dao", I was only mildly entertained. This is not an outstanding movie in the Hong Kong action genre, and most definitely not from the late 1980s. This is the type of movie that you watch once and never again. And believe it or not, then now in 2022 was the first time I watched this movie, much less even heard about it.

My rating of "Huang Jia Shi Jie Zhi III: Ci Xiong Da Dao" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

After the first two "In the Line Of Duty" movies, I was very pleased on how well the series was doing. It keeps getting better!!! Cynthia Khan did a fantastic job taking over for Michelle Yeoh. In my opinion, she's better than Michelle Yeoh, and executes her martial arts skills more aggressively. The casting of Dick Wei and Michiko Nishiwaki as the villains were great. You need baddies like these to give the hero more of a challenge. Look out for cameos by Melvin Wong, Robin Shou, Eric Tsang, and Richard Ng. Some of the cameos were for comedy purposes, and some actually had a purpose for the plot of the movie.

The plot of the movie was okay. It wasn't too simple or complicated. Cynthia Khan's training as a police officer justifies her entry into the "In The Line Of Duty" series. There really isn't a strong supporting cast except the Japanese cop that helped her trail the baddies. Great comedy supported the movie and her crazy overprotected uncle was stupid funny.

The action scenes for the movie were choreographed by Brandy Yuen, who is Yuen Woo Ping's sister. When I found that out, I was sure that the movie was going to have some hardcore action scenes in them. The warehouse boat fight scene was raw and gritty. The Japanese cop and the Japanese fugitive duked it out like stone cold street fighters. As the movie progresses and gets deeper, the action gets better. Cynthia Khan versus the baddies, a fight to the death!! Watch the movie and find out who inflicts devastating injuries.

Overall, great entry for Cynthia Khan into the series. In my opinion, the 2nd best in the series. I wish Cynthia would make more action movies these days, but the industry is saturated with too many fake action stars (Matrix AARGGHH!!).

Final Judgement: ****/****

A pair of stylish Japanese thieves steal some valuable gems at a fashion show, and during their escape, they kill the partner of a ruffled detective (Hiroshi Fijioka). The detective swears revenge, and the thieves played by Michiko Nishiwaki and her terminally ill partner/lover played by Stuart Ong plan on going to Hong Kong, sell the loot, and buy weapons for the Red Army. All the while Cynthia, a rookie cop in Hong Kong, tries to get in on the action of the task force she has been assigned to, but unfortunately her superior is her uncle who wants to keep her out of harms way. The Japanese thieves and the detective trailing them, all make their way to Hong Kong, and Cynthia ends up entangled in the same mess with the detective, trying to bring the cold blooded and desperate thieves to justice. People on both sides are killed, leading to crossed paths of personal revenge, everyone out for each others blood.

Cynthia Khan takes over from Michelle Yeoh in this "girls with guns" action thriller which has a mix of comedy, drama and hard-hitting action. It's a strange concoction as in one hand you have light humour between Cynthia and her uncle, who doesn't want her to be a cop, and in the other you have two cold-blooded villains who make Bonnie and Clyde seem like church-going devotees; they cold-bloodedly kill, and are part of the Red army. They are pretty dark characters. Plus you got a detective, who looks like a cross between Sonny Chiba and Columbo, who is on a mission to nab the killers. It's not as good as Royal Warriors, but it's a satisfying piece of action mayhem with a good plot, good humour and some intense and exhilarating action scenes. Plus Cynthia Khan looks cute, is likeable and kicks butt!

Hong Kong action films of the Eighties were so bloody tough and so beautifully made, especially films that had budgets (like this one).

Against the bland, CGI-driven Hollywood action flicks of the Noughties, a film like IN THE LINE OF DUTY 3 looks like an artifact from another planet.

Everything you see was done for real. Every sequence was staged by stunties who risked their lives.

There is an amazing relationship between two Japanese lovers (Michiko Nishiwaki and Stuart Ong) in this mind-blowing film. Ong is dying of leukeamia, and in one scene, they make love while Ong's hair comes off in Nishiwaki's hand. Later, after Ong is killed, Nishiwaki vows a brutal revenge that we clearly understand because we've been intimate with them.

It is this kind of attention to nuance that lifts this Arthur Wong-Brandy Yuen-directed pic to classic status.

Cynthia Khan, debuting as D & B Films' replacement for Michaelle Khan, does a terrific job as a cop assaulted at ever juncture by the murderous villains.

A sequence involving a jewellery heist is one of the best of its kind and possesses a kineticism rarely seen in any films these days.

Ditto an incredibly violent and realistic fight sequence between genre stalwart Dick Wei and Hiroshi Fujioka's hardcore cop.

Relentless, operatic and explosive.