She Shoots Straight

Corey Yuen's "She Shoots Straight" is not only a good action movie - it's above the average due to the tragic drama/character bits. There is a beautiful scene when a mother celebrates her birthday, not knowing yet that her son was killed by gangsters - some party guests witnessed it, yet nobody has the heart to tell her the sad news. Most genre movies would rather take a break from the action for for a little comedy scene in between. "She Shoots Straight" is one class above that. Anyhow, the story is basically quite simple, about the Hong Kong police fighting gangsters, and after the above mentioned guy was killed, his young widow (Joyce Godenzi), sisters and even his mom (what a great role for an old lady!) do everything they can to avenge him, while his former police colleagues are not a big help. Talking about the fights in "She Shoots Straight", particularly impressive is the violent clash of Joyce Godenzi versus Agnes Aurelio.

I've seen many action movies where the ladies rough it up. Unfortunately the action is either too short or too predictable. Sometimes its even ridiculous. I remember watching this movie where the female villian was bashing up all the male cops who tried to arrest her. The female cop came up behind her, gave her a punch & she was out cold. That sucked!

Therefore I was glad that She Shoots Straight was nothing like that. In fact the final fight scene between the 2 ladies makes this movie the best action movie ever! I am particularly impressed with Agnes Aurelio. This babe not only has a great muscular body but is able to fight well too.

This is an intense action movie from Hong Kong, featuring Joyce Godenzi as an Inspector Mina Kao, who faces a gang of dangerous Vietnamese criminal refugees.

The acting was quite good, especially those of the Godenzi, Carina Lau, Sandra Ng and Anglie Leung. They all play policewoman and, sometimes, rather furiously and dramatic. Actor Tony Leung has a touching co-starring role in the film as well. Sammo Hung also has a role, but unfortunately, he didn't do much with his character and his cameo appearances didn't contribute to the plot much. It was actually quite a distraction to the story.

The English title of the movie, Lethal Lady, pretty much describes the film to a T. The policewomen faced a family tragedy and must defeat the Vietnamese gang in the process, relying on the strengths of their colleagues and family to overcome their adversities. While a little in certain moments, the film does suffer from a lack of humor and suspense, and there is a limited amount of action, mostly sequestered toward the latter half of the plot.

Overall, it an average movie full of rage and overkill moments. There are better stuff out there but won't hurt to watch on a slow day.

Grade C

Between the copious amounts of histrionic, clichéd melodrama with scenes that go on for way too long, She Shoots Straight provides some genuinely uproarious and well-done action that wouldn't be out of place this side of Michelle Yeoh. Corey Yuen certainly brings variety to the film's kinetic style, particular standouts being a shootout shot in infrared and the storming of a ship with every manner of melee weapon imaginable, Yuen understands when to add a dramatic weight to make a true impact. Complimented by a decent if cheesy score by Lowell Lo, while the performances of Joyce Godenzi and Carina Lau balance out the deranged villainous antics of Yuen Wah. She Shoots Straight isn't bad by any means but the story doesn't make me really care about any of its soapy sap opera characters beyond a surface level while the action is too few and far between but finally delivers that explosive Hong Kong finale that you wait the whole film for, it just really needed some spicing up during the first half.

SHE SHOOTS STRAIGHT (1990) was directed by Corey Yuen and produced by Sammo Hung and turns out to be a fascinating and entertaining movie along the lines of the IN THE LINE OF DUTY series from the 1980s (one of which was also directed by Yuen), with its hyper policewomen-in-action scenes. The difference is the greater attention paid here to family drama.

The only son (Tony Leung Ka Fai) in a family of police officers marries Mina, an ambitious `half-breed' colleague (played by Joyce Godenzi), incurring the resentment of his four sisters, all policewomen, especially the eldest, Ling (Carina Lau). There is pressure on Tony to father a son, to keep the male line going, although Mina wants to delay pregnancy until she gets promoted to Superintendent. The family dynamics make the non-action scenes more interesting than usual for this type of film and add an emotional layer missing from the more action-oriented entries in this genre.

The crime-fighting plot centers around a Vietnamese criminal gang (led by the always formidable Yuen Wah) which robs a nightclub where the five policewomen are working undercover as hostesses, initiating the film's most spectacular action setpiece. The rest of the film details the various conflicts with the gang culminating in a big shipboard/shipyard battle and one-on-one hitting/kicking fight between Mina and a muscular female gang member (Agnes Aurelio). When they get their undercover assignment at the nightclub, one of the sisters, Ling, gets up at a department meeting and wonders just how far the girls are expected to go with the customers, a question I don't recall being asked in such American counterparts as the old `Police Woman' TV series or the `T.J. Hooker' episodes where Stacy went undercover as a hooker, stripper, club dancer, or anything else they dreamed up to put Heather Locklear in a bikini or miniskirt. (Not that anyone wanted Stacy to ask that question, which would have defeated the whole purpose.)

The film has far less kung fu than the LINE OF DUTY films, with its action scenes more steeped in the stunt leap/breaking glass/gunplay mode. One of several clever action sequences involves a series of Vietcong-style jungle traps laid in a public park for Mina, Tony and Ling. Lead actress Joyce Godenzi is, however, not the fighter that Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock and Cynthia Khan were in the LINE OF DUTY films, although Joyce is a far better actress than the two Cynthias and is quite watchable throughout. I've previously seen her only in the great EASTERN CONDORS and the mediocre THE RAID.

In fact, all the women in SHE SHOOTS STRAIGHT are good actresses, most notably Carina Lau and Sandra Ng, and a couple I don't recognize. The women here are all a bit harder, beefier, and tougher than the usual Hong Kong starlet type. They run the show in this film and even Sammo Hung takes a supporting role, staying out of the fighting for the most part. The final action scenes here are something of a disappointment, because only two of the main women participate. But overall, I highly recommend this disc.