Miao tan shuang long

I am a huge fan of late 80s/early 90s HK martial arts movies; some of the greatest fight flicks of all time came from this period. Unfortunately, City Cops is not one of them.

With its overly simplistic plot (an FBI agent seeks a runaway informant, who is also being hunted by nasty gangsters) and some dreadful attempts at humour (check out the truly unfunny 'sex-pest' and 'AIDS' scenes), the movie drags terribly until the final fight scene, which is admittedly great, but a very long time in coming.

Cynthia Rothrock (once again playing a character named Cindy) isn't given enough opportunity to show off her amazing martial arts skills, with too much of the film's running time spent on the lame comedy rather than delivering impressive fight scenes. Likewise, the physically impressive Michiko Nishiwaki is also underused, only getting to shine briefly towards the end, when she gets to go one-on-one with Ms. Rothrock.

The finale also features some frenetic gun-play, during which many white-overall-ed henchmen get sprayed with bullets (blood squibs look so much more impressive against white, don't you think?).

Still preferable to most of Cynthia Rothrock's US output, but nowhere near as good as the classic Police Assassins, City Cops is average at best.

Kicking off in the US, with Ken Tong Chun Yip being captured and tortured by some gangsters in a beautifully lit, abandoned warehouse at night, we get straight to the action with FBI investigator Cynthia Rothrock, busting in to save him. After a brief, but fun fight, Tong escapes and heads back to Hong Kong. Once in there, Tong falls under the protection of 2 bumbling cops in the shape of the hilarious Shing Fui On, and charming Michael Mui. This happens after they arrest him during a groping incident while Tong was in drag, and soon leads to some very non-PC, crazy comedy scenes, full of gay innuendo's, AIDS jokes, and flirting as Tong keeps up the gay man act. It isn't long though, before he escapes their company and disappears. Rothrock soon arrives on the scene and joins the cops in their search for him and the much-wanted micro-film, he happens to have!

Of course, things aren't so simple with Japanese gangsters getting involved which leads to some fantastic action scenes, plenty of hilarity, and a great finale between Rothrock and the wonderful Michiko Nishiwaki...

Released in the UK as Beyond The Law, to feed off the success of her earlier hits Above The Law (Righting Wrongs) and Above The Law 2 (The Blonde Fury), Hong Kong action-comedy City Cops is, to me, such an underrated Hong Kong film that I highly enjoy. Packed with some great comedy sequences, and a number of fun fight scenes, Beyond The Law is a lot of fun, and probably ignored by a lot of Rothrock fans, and those who love the femme-fatale sub-genre of HK cinema. I love the pairing of Mui and On as the awkward cops, the love relationship between Shing and Rothrock, and think this is probably the coolest Cynthia has ever looked in a Hong Kong film, with costumes actually complimenting for once, and her hair only changing a couple of times.

When it comes to the fight scenes of course, Cynthia does not disappoint. Director and star in his own right, the great Lau Kar Wing, leads the team with Ridley Tsui supporting as choreographer, and the likes of Hung Yan Yan and Dion Lam behind them on stunts. And while its not bursting with action every 5 minutes, there's still plenty going on, with some great choreography and moves on show. The cast is pretty sweet too with the aforementioned stars joined by a host of gwailo baddies such as Mark Houghton from any number of Girls-With-Guns flicks, John Ladalski from Armour Of God and Ninja The Protector, Wayne Archer also from Armour, and Ken Goodman from the Catman movies. Hong Kong regular Wu Fung stars as the commanding officer to the cops, with Shikamura Yasuyoshi from God Of Gamblers and Killers Romance as the gangster boss, and the great Michiko Nishiwaki as his main weapon. Its definitely not a boring cast.

As with most Hong Kong films of this period, Beyond The Law certainly has its flaws, but totally entertains in many respects. The classic English dub does add to this I have to admit, with some cracker lines that have me howling every time. From its comedy to fight scenes, stunt-work to memorable theme tune, this was a film I loved to watch over and over again when I first got it in my early teens. Its also great to see the late, great Shing Fui On in a good guy role rather than the extreme, angry gangster he usually plays. His relationship with Rothrock is also hilarious!

The only downside for me is that Nishiwaki only appears for the last 20 minutes or so, but in doing so, allows for a fantastic end battle with Rothrock in a warehouse, which does the job and highly entertains, with some of her more acrobatic moves artfully doubled by Hong Kong's finest. Its a fight from the genre that is often overlooked, unfortunately, and while shorter than expected, should be seen more as one of Cindy's great Hong Kong finales...

Overall: It'll never go down as one of the best, but Beyond The Law is a lot of fun with some great fights and plenty of laughs!

This is one of those reviews where I find myself asking "Isn't there anything good you can say about this movie?" Answer = no. The plot is random scene or setting where the actors have a random misunderstanding. There are many attempts at humor and they not only fail but become insufferable. It is hard to believe that AIDS was once comedy material. "You got AIDS!" and everyone laughs.

The end final fight was a warehouse set and Cynthia and Michiko were primed to have at it. It was too little and too late.

I watched it once to write this review and I will never watch it again.

Three detectives, two from Hong Kong (Kiu-Wai Miu, Fui-On Shing), and one from FBI (Cynthia Rothrock) goes after a diamond smuggler (Ken Tong) in Hong Kong. They capture the Japanese ring leader who's buying the diamonds, but his sister (Michiko NIshiwaki) comes in to take revenge on the smuggler who sold her brother to the police.

The movie is well made. Each of the scenes are shot with beautiful background, and lighting. Hong Kong movie really had their act together by the late '80s. They had good actors, and quality production.

The movie has good humor, and action. It's funny and exciting at the same time.

The highlight are the fight scenes where Rothrock kicks her way through the bad guys. This is one of the best movie she's starred in. If you're a fan of Cynthia Rothrock, or Michiko Nishiwaki, you wouldn't want to miss this movie.

I'm a big fan of Richard Lo's score, which often sounds like a slightly more diverse, sophisticated take on the music we got in the 1987 'Teenage mutant ninja turtles' cartoon, or the live-action movies from the early 90s. I'm less of a fan of the English dubbing in the version of 'City cops' ('Miao tan shuang long') I was able to watch, inauthentic and questionably synced - I far prefer subtitles, any day - but so it goes. I like how the feature launches us quickly into an opening scene of action, and as is broadly true with most of star Cynthia Rothrock's films (at least those from the 80s and 90s), the fight choreography and sequencing is very well done. On the other hand, that the scene is so fast-pace, and defined by low lighting, makes one stop and rewind to get a better sense of who these characters are as we glimpsed them so quickly. From there the picture is characterized by light humor and levity as the plot gradually develops, which I've come to learn is not atypical for Hong Kong action flicks. How successful that attempted flavor is will vary wildly from one viewer to the next, and I say this in no small part because within minutes after that reasonably strong opening scene, we're greeted with prominent transphobia, homophobia, sexism, and - incredibly - infuriating, brazen serophobic remarks. How much the blame lies with prolific screenwriter Barry Wong for these ugly, unnecessary flourishes, versus how much can be chalked up to imperfect or deliberately rough translation in dubbing, is up for debate, but the viewing experience is immediately put on thin ice.

The broad strokes of the narrative are quite fine, and when they're not marred by unseemly prejudices, there's some sharp cleverness in the dialogue and scene writing - though also some tropes and action flick convention. Characters are mostly unremarkable, but serve their purpose well. I think the writing would have greatly benefited from a more trim, tight approach; the precise course of events isn't always entirely clear, especially in the more dramatic moments, and some small inclusions feel arbitrary. Still, more so than not - unwelcome indelicacies aside - I think Wong's contribution is capable.

Acting is at most a secondary concern in a film where martial arts action takes precedence, but the performances are suitable for the tenor here. And with that - again, importantly, the fight scenes are very well done, the one aspect we can dependably rely on. Some instances carry tones more playful or dire, and there's enough variety in the scene writing and orchestration of action sequences that they never feel overdone or repetitive. This component of 'City cops' is consistently exciting and entertaining, not least of all at the climax, to the point that it's unquestionably the film's top highlight.

From a technical standpoint I think the feature's construction is competent, comparable to like titles from the same timeframe. In general I think the picture is a good bit of fun. I simply wish more care were put into the writing; it is what lays the foundation for all that is well done, but also bears enough flaws and shortcomings as to dampen the entertainment. The first twenty minutes or so needed to be rebuilt from scratch, excising tawdry, inappropriate dialogue, and just a tad more mindfulness and succinct clarity would have gone a long way towards strengthening the plot and its development. Ultimately I like 'City cops,' and I think it's fairly solid - but it could and should have been better than it is, and its completely extraneous faults sadly detract from delicious, ripe action.

Anyone who has difficulties with the more jocular nature of 80s Hong Kong martial arts won't find anything to change their mind, but those who appreciate the style should feel right at home. Once more, emphatically, the fight choreography is terrific, and all by itself constitutes value that makes 'City cops' worth a look. That the title is brought low by imperfect writing, and specifically by seedy garnishes early on, is deeply unfortunate. If you have a chance to watch this, I do think it's deserving, with the forewarning that it pointlessly and pointedly crosses a line almost right out of the gate.

Sigh.