Robotrix (1991) Movie Review

Robotrix (Woman Robot) is an action/sci-fi film from Hong Kong and directed by Jamie Luk Kin-ming for the prolific production company Golden Harvest. It stars Amy Yip Chi-Mei (She Shoots Straight, Erotic Ghost Story, Inspectors Wear Skirts 2 and 3), Chikako Aoyama, Hui Hiu-Daan and David Wu (In the Line of Duty 5). It's a very typical Robocop rip off with a female android working for the police force and hunting down criminals.

Evil inventor Ryuichi Yamamoto is turned into a psychotic cyborg killer and kidnaps a middle eastern prince. On his way out, he shoots down policewoman Selina Lam, whose brain is put in the body of a female android in order to catch the villain. Yamamoto begins a streak of murders and has to be stopped by two mechanical heroines, created by scientist Dr. Sara.

This delirious and sexy trash flick features a lot of the typical Hong Kong exploitation tropes like sleazy characters, deranged sequences, comedic relief, graphic violence and sexuality that's borderline insensitive and an extravagant scifi (sometimes fantasy) aspect to it. When it's all said and done, I can say that it's somewhat routine.

The fights are hyperbolic and exaggerated to the max, there’s also some nice choreographies with wires and good special effects when it comes to both gore and cyborg prosthetics. There is explicit sexual violence in this movie, it´s mostly crude and shown without subtlety, so be warned because it could clash with the campy tone of the rest of the film. The scifi angle is played quite straight but with some humor regarding the side-characters, the silly cops who are after the killer. 

Aside from some nice art direction, good sets, neat stunts and technically impressive feats here and there, it's not one that's mandatory. I think it's often dumb and dated with its mishandling of this strange mix of harsh subjects and lighthearted science fiction/action tropes. Like Robocop without the consistent tone and more focused on being exploitation.

Recommended for Hong Kong action cinema fans and perhaps those who seek a weirder flick than average.