Action starlet Cynthia Khan teams with Anthony Wong to take on a vicious gang and a femme fatale played by kung fu beauty Kara Hui in this brainless urban actioner with moderate doses of equally brainless humor from producer and action master Yuen Wo-ping and A CHINESE ODYSSEY co-director Johnnie Kong.

[minislides]
[rating:2.5]

HOME VIDEO
• Image Entertainment
• World Video
AKA
• Cheng shi nu lie ren
• Madame City Hunter
• 城市女獵人
GENRE
• Modern Action
• Girls with Guns
• Comedy
ORIGIN
• Hong Kong
LENGTH
• 88 minutes
FIGHT TIME
• 21 minutes
STUDIO
• Art Sea Films Co.
RELEASE DATE
• 1993.09.16 (HK)
RATING
• II (HK)
DIRECTOR
• Johnnie Kong
ACTION DIRECTOR
• Yuen Cheung-yan
WRITER
• na
PRODUCER
• Yuen Wo-ping
CINEMATOGRAPHER
• Kwan Chi-kan
MUSIC
• Lui Pooi-yin
CAST
• Cynthia Khan (Ching)
• Anthony Wong (Charlie Chan)
• Sheila Chan (Blackie)
• Tommy Wong
• Kara Hui
• Woo Fung
• Chiu Jian-guo
• Dang Wai-ho
• Sima Wah-lung
• Tse Wai-kit

Although unrelated in most respects, MADAM CITY HUNTER takes its name from Wong Jing’s CITY HUNTER, a live-action screen adaptation of a popular manga title. It is among a long line of “girls with guns” flicks, a sub-genre of Hong Kong action cinema initially made popular by Corey Yuen’s depiction of fighting police heroines in the action hit YES, MADAM (1985), the film that also made stars of fellow “girls with guns” veterans Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rockrock. MADAM CITY HUNTER does borrow a few of the goofball comic conventions of Wong Jing. In one scene Anthony Wong mistakenly consumes the Chinese version of Viagra and ends up bleeding out the nose like an anime character as he struggles to resist the desire to pounce on Cynthia Khan. I have the understanding that this type of low-brow humor plays well with local Hong Kong audiences. It’s something American viewers typically only tolerate while waiting for the next bit of mindless violence to begin. We all have our guilty pleasures and as long as it stays on screen I’m all for it.

There isn’t much of an engaging story to speak of and its likely most of the movie was shot without a script, especially since a screenwriter isn’t even credited. There are two separate plots thinly strung together. One of the Five Fingers, all brothers given nicknames representing each finger on the hand, is killed off by officer Ching (Khan) during a shootout with police. While they plot their revenge, Ching is put on suspension after she is knocked out and her gun used to murder a roomful of junkies. While investigators wait for a recovering witness to corroborate her story, Ching hires a private investigator when she begins to suspect her father’s sultry new girlfriend of plotting foul play.

The film starts off strong with a completely ridiculous yet entertaining firefight that introduces Khan’s character as a complete badass. Khan is one of Hong Kong action cinema’s most talented female stars from the era when the women were more than simply pampered pop star creations of mass media enterprises like Emperor Motion Pictures. Like Yeoh, she had model looks but the moves to back up her action roles and MADAM CITY HUNTER presents a great opportunity for her to show off her physical abilities, if not her acting. She kicks her male co-stars around with seeming ease and handles plenty of heavy weapons hardware with the assurance of Sylvester Stallone as Rambo. On several occasions Khan gets into some fierce non-ballistic weapons combat involving poles, pipes, swords, and other objects. With Yuen Wo-ping’s brother Cheung-yan coordinating action with a veteran Hong Kong stunt crew, the fighting mechanics won’t disappoint Hong Kong action fans. The rest of the movie is another story.

Anthony Wong (THE MEDALLION) co-stars with Khan as private investigator Charlie Chan, in reference to the fictional Chinese-American detective created by mystery author Earl Biggers. With a mullet and casual attitude, he’s sort of a Mel Gibson wannabe. Wong is a talented actor who gets to show more of his rarely seen screen-fighting skills than usual. He has a background in kung fu and performs reasonably well, although he’s heavily doubled during one particular fight near a dam where his character performs a lot of acrobatic moves. Unfortunately, his character gets dumped into the idiotic plot involving Khan’s onscreen father, played by prolific actor Woo Fung. Since there is basically no depth to Khan’s battle with the Five Finger killers, the majority of the film focuses on Khan’s attempts to ferret out Kara Hui’s real reasons for seducing her father by working with Wong and his obnoxious roommate (Sheila Chan). It’s mostly played for laughs but there is nothing amusing about this poorly developed situation.

Some aspects of the film are amusing but unintentionally so. If the opening where gunmen repeatedly pop their heads out like syncopated prairie dogs doesn’t make one laugh than a scene where junkies get high by sniffing whole bags of cocaine will. It’s worth tracking down a print with the original embedded subtitles to enjoy the literal English translations.

Production values are modest. Like a lot of the modern action films produced in Hong Kong at the time, MADAM CITY HUNTER has no real art direction and looks bland. However, cinematographer Kwan Chi-kan and presumably Yuen Cheung-yan or an associate performing dynamic handheld camera work during action sequences both contributes quality photography. A fight sequence near the end on bamboo scaffolding looks especially good.

A cheap synth soundtrack by Lui Pooi-yin may make your ears bleed when it’s not being drowned out by the blistering roar of gunfire and body blows. It’s truly awful, especially when something that sounds like a computer game soundtrack from the early ’90s is meant to stand in for jazz performers in a nightclub.

Aside from fast-paced gun and martial arts battles seen largely in the first and third acts and Khan’s role in it all, the only other redeeming factor of MADAM CITY HUNTER is Kara Hui’s sexy performance that will undoubtedly set many a classic kung fu movie enthusiast’s heart a flutter. It’s difficult not to take notice when the athletic actress performs a striptease and later shows up in a French maid’s outfit. It may be quite an eye-opener for viewers accustomed to her more conventional roles in films such as MARTIAL CLUB and MAD MONKEY KUNG FU. Hui always has been one of the more daring ladies of kung fu cinema when one considers her fight in a form-fitting slit dress in MY YOUNG AUNTIE and her once scandalous appearance within the pages of Hong Kong’s “Playboy” magazine sans clothing. Most of Hui’s scenes are non-action related but she gets in a few fighting moves towards the end. It’s a shame she doesn’t do more considering her level of screen fighting skill. Another disappointment is that Hui and Khan never square off, unless you count a sexy car wash scene where Hui dumps water on Khan. Sort of makes you wonder what director Johnnie Kong really had on his mind while shooting this movie.

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