Today we take a look at the peculiar mix between Police Academy and a Hong Kong Policewomen movie. The Inspector Wears Skirts, produced by Jackie Chan and directed by Wellson Chin Sing-Wai (Prince of the Sun, Super Lady Cop, Inspector Wears Skirts sequels), the film starred Sibelle Hu (Dreaming the Reality, Lethal Panther, China Heat, Fatal Mission), Kara Ying Hung Wai (My Young Auntie, Clan of Amazons), Regina Kent (Club Girls), Ellen Chan (Naked Soldier), Ann Bridgewater (Thunder Cops II) and Sandra Kwan Yue Ng (She Shoots Straight, Peking Opera Blues).
Cynthia Rothrock is also in this film, but she only has a brief appearance at the beginning of the movie and before the third act (even though she gets top billing), but she is such a highlight you honestly don't mind she is absent for a big chunk of the film.
As it's the case with most other Hong Kong exploitation films, the film has a few alternate titles like Top Squad and Lady Enforcers.
Madam Wu is in charge of creating a new squad team completely made of women, previously unseen because of discrimination but now needed to aid in special missions. The girls recruited will have to prove themselves and face the harassment of the local Tiger Squad as well as Officer Wu's tough training in order to become the best commando around.
As thrilling and silly as any other Hong Kong martial arts action flick but not as solid as the best. The difference being that it lacks the interesting narrative with more noteworthy subjects and themes movies like Yes, Madam! (1985) have, it's also not as deliriously joyful as a Godfrey Ho film like Angel Enforcers (1989), which actually had a better story and more dazzling fights. Most of its plot is very generic and routine, a typical plotline about a first all female commando, troop or army in the modern world. The comedy isn't a strong point (a lot of repetitive and overdone gags) and the logic is sometimes not very believable.
Certain elements are also somewhat dated, sometimes delivering some rather misogynistic, homophobic and sexist moments, not to mention the stereotypes and badly written girl talk, while other times it goes fairly deep into the feminist aspects. It may come off as very obsolete and probably naive nowadays because of its less progressive aspects. Although, to be fair, the sexist ideas aren't portrayed to be correct, quite the contrary, and there´s nothing truly hurtful or awful about it´s representation in a general sense but details on top of details ruin it.
Bottom line, you can tell a man wrote it, but it's not a horrible entry in the microgenre of action movies consisting only of a women's commando, even if it's flawed and very confused. Weirdly enough, in this regard I think the Americans had the upper hand with some surprisingly more feminist films like The Doll Squad (1973) and Corman's women in prison movies. I still think Yes Madam! is the champion in this field and the best movie we have reviewed here coming from Hong Kong (aside from Come Drink With Me maybe).
The action sequences are as good as ever, but they are not a complete focus this time around. The training sequences make up for it by being just as gripping with all the clever tests and activities the girls do. There´s some very competent and diligent direction work here.
The romance subplots, the musical numbers, the dumb jokes and the lack of action really bring down the movie a few pegs. Some might argue that the bad parts are entertainingly bad, but I still say they are unnecessary and too long to be funny. It sometimes comes close to delivering an interesting and poignant thought that could make it great satire (the karate encounters, the nightclub scenes, the goofy and horny military men), but it's so clumsy at the execution that the idea gets lost in the silliness.
It's no secret that the script is probably one of the weakest parts of the film, with the dialogue and the plot being faulty at times, but it's not surprising considering the lack of credits in screenwriter Kam Fu Cheng's career, so it's sort of good he didn't write the following sequels.
While it doesn't work well for some of the runtime and while one could say it wastes the potential hidden in this good concept, it's entertaining enough and delivers the pieces of action you wanna see if you like this type of flick. So ultimately I gotta say that it's not one that would completely disappoint fans of the genre. So it is mildly recommended if you can look past its defects.
The film was a hit in Hong Kong and worldwide because of it's premise, it spawned three more sequels and kickstarted some careers as well.
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