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Saturday, December 14, 2024

City Cops (1989) Movie Review

City Cops (also known as Fight to win, Beyond the Law and Free Fighter) is a 1989 action comedy film direct by Chia-Yung Liu (credited as Lau Kar-Wing), who was a very prolific stuntman and choreographer in the Kong Kong film industry, working in a variety of martial arts classics. His directorial output mostly consisted of action mixed with goofy humor, something very palpable in this flick. 


The film starts Rothrock in her usual character of Cindy, but we also have another female action star, Michiko Nishiwaki, a martial artist and bodybuilder seen in films like Charlie's Angels (2000), My Lucky Stars (1985), In the Line of Duty 3 (1988), Angel Terminators (1992), Outlaw Brothers (1990), Princess Madam (1989) and several more in the genre. She plays Michiko, a henchwoman who mostly appears near the end of the film but her role is very memorable.




FBI agent Cindy (Rothrock) is sent to Hong Kong in order to find a mafia boss and bring him to justice. However, she has to team up with a pair of questionable Hong Kong officers. Together they face the yakuza and the mafia.



Right out of the gate one has to mention the effective and well done fight choreographies, they are lively and fun. Actually, the fights and the rest of the movie inhabit the same zone, everything has the same tone and rhythm. The action is so casual and blends so much with it´s comedy that it's hard to figure out what's supposed to be a set-piece or a throwaway joke that involves fighting (the bar scene is a good example). This is sometimes the case with Hong Kong films, as they incorporate the stunts to the stories in such an organic manner.



The comedy is hit or miss, but the main flaw is that when it misses it tends to drag for a bit too much (even when it hits sometimes as well), so if you don't have the stomach for a lot of the silly humor in these Hong Kong flicks then I suggest you watch only the fight scenes because this one overdoes it a few times.


Visually, I think City Cops stands out slightly more than the average outing. There's some good cinematography, inventive use of color, shadows and light that give the movie a pretty look but this is only noticeable occasionally as the rest isn't very special in that department.



Rothrock shines here once more, with a lot of amusing moves, and her dialogue scenes are just as entertaining thanks to a relatively decent script by Barry Wong (Yes, Madam!, Righting Wrongs, She Shoots Straight), a script that unfortunately (and despite its better moments) falls into cliche territory when Rothrock isn't present. She isnt in a lot of the movie, so don't expect her to carry the overall film like in Lady Reporter (1989), although, we can still consider her one of the main leads.



Cynthia's final fight with Nishiwaki is probably the best part, the entire climax (as expected) is a great peak and pretty much makes every flaw worthwhile. I think it's a pretty unmissable moment in action women cinema, if anything just because it puts two icons together in a fantastic fight. 


I recommend it mostly for the final stretch, but the rest of the film (while a bit trite) isn't awful, there´s enough creativity and funny moments to say that it's a decent picture overall.


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