Tin si hang dung III: Moh lui mut yat

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.

In this third installment of Teresa Woo's seminal Girls with Guns franchise, only Moon Lee, Alex Fong and Kharina Sa return from the previous film (with only the former two having starred in all three films) as the titular 'Angels', an elite task force that rids the world of assassins, dictators and terrorists. This time, Moon has to infiltrate a terrorist organization bent on starting a war between Thailand and Vietnam. She succeeds but has to leave her tracking device behind, so that Alex & Kharina, assisted by Thai agent Kwai (Ralph Chen) and a bony gweilo nicknamed Computer, are left running across Bangkok trying to locate her.

Moon Lee is oddly sidelined in this sequel, but with whatever scenes there are of her, she lays waste to countless machete or fan-dab sword-wielding opponents with her bare hands or a nunchaku. She's a particularly fast-mover, and Alex Fong is no slouch in that score - there's an arresting yet protracted Muay Thai fight in the ring. The plot itself is simple, a little weak, and it's not too engaging, but it's still passable enough. Check out the finale, it's really OTT with so much carnage and the heroes coming down via jet pack indicates it's oddness.

Well choreographed fighting is the only real highlight here, as the story is a pastiche of cliches. Worth a look if you're a hardcore fan of the genre, otherwise avoid.

'Iron Angels III: The Return of the Iron Angels' (1989) - Teresa Woo.

The indomitable iron-fisted trio of Kung Fu fabulous crime fighters once again display their pugilistic prowess in exotic Thailand, forcefully tackling yet another bloodthirsty despot. These preternaturally agile screen heroes are uncommonly likable characters, with Moon Lee being a personal favourite. She is a devilishly cute, fiendishly gifted screen-fighter, a charismatic,incredibly versatile actor who is never less than a delight to behold! Moon Lee fans can rejoice as Iron Angels 3's thrilling opening act gives the luminous Moon plenty of room to shine as she infiltrates said terrorist cabal, assuming the covert identity of a notorious Japanese assassin! The gorgeously sun-dappled Thai locations are quite lovely, our super-athletic agents prove more than a match for the boggle-eyed villainy, and Moon Lee's dazzlingly quicksilver fights are spectacular! This is another top notch installment of the hugely entertaining HK action franchise, highlights include Alex Fong's hard-won battle with ferocious Thai Kick-boxing legend (Panna Rittikrai), and the kinetic, wildly OTT,motocross riding, jet-pack jetting, bullet-shredded climax is sublimely hectic!

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)