REVIEW: ‘Blonde Fury’ (1989)

Meng Hoi and Corey Yuen direct Cynthia Rothrock’s last leading role in Hong Kong with THE BLONDE FURY. You get loads of hand-to-hand combat and a couple of crazy stunts as only Hong Kong stuntmen do. The fights really stand out and it’s surely an underrated film.

Rothrock and Chin lead this late ’80s fight-fest. Chin would later go on to star opposite Jet Li in Yuen Woo-ping’s THE TAI CHI MASTER, but this film helped place him on a firm footing. While the film wasn’t initially destined to be directed by Corey Yuen, his involvement makes it feel like a sequel to the Yuen Biao actioner RIGHTING WRONGS (1986).

Cindy (Rothrock) is a tough detective new to Hong Kong who does things pretty much as she likes. The local police force are not very supportive, but she doesn’t let that stand in her way. An organization is busy making counterfeit money and the leader is facing criminal charges. This man is Cindy’s target. Joining her on her quest is a local cop played by Chin Siu-ho. At first Chin pretends to be an insurance agent but after he is discovered they form a stronger bond.

Meng Hoi also joins the heroes for a bit of comic relief as a pesky photographer. He acted as the fight choreographer, but decided to keep his own fights to a minimum. Wu Ma plays Meng’s dad, the owner of a small-time newspaper.

You can expect a lot of action right from the start. Meng meets Rothrock’s character as she jumps out of a burning building with a baby in her arms. One of few pictures Meng actually manages to take. He takes an interest in this lady and follows her until he finds himself with some information that is helpful to her case. After nearly being driven over by a prosecutor (Roy Chiao), Meng takes a couple of pictures as the prosecutor is being kidnapped. From the license plates in the shots, the trio is led to the counterfeiters.

Finally, the trio finds out what they need to and they go and rescue their friend Judy from the clutches of the evil boss. This fight takes place on a big net, between cargo containers and finally ends on a big truck. It’s worth seeing if you like a good set of kicking. Rothrock gets to show that she’s a worthy adversary in the final battle against Vincent Lyn.

All is not serious and viewers will likely be amused by a couple of the situations the characters find themselves in. After the newspaper gets attacked by a couple of henchmen, the reporters and Wu Ma land in the hospital. Since this is all due to Meng meddling they blame him. As soon he walks into their room they fake all kinds of pains and a nurse starts reprimanding him.

Rothrock does a great job as undercover cop Cindy. She looks better than ever and can kick ass as a bonus! Her kicks are the highlight of this film and her fight with Billy Chow is excellent. I cannot talk about the fight scenes without mentioning Chin. Brother of Chin Ka-lok, he is a perfect addition to the cast. Rothrock and Chin both get about the same screen time and every minute is a joy to watch. The fights are long, hard and the moves are great.

Near the end of the film the troupe enters the counterfeit organization and that leads to three excellent fights, certainly the best in the film. I want to mention that the very end fight takes place between cargo containers and I got the feeling that this scene was the inspiration for the fight in Corey Yuen’s TRANSPORTER (2002).

Another scene worth mentioning is a fight on a construction site, high up on a building. Climbing among the scaffolding, Rothrock beats up a whole gang single-handedly. This scene also contains a funny moment where she kicks a very obvious puppet so hard that she literally breaks his back. Unfortunately the puppet only has a head and an empty suit; maybe they should have put something inside the clothes!

This is quite an enjoyable Hong Kong action film. The fights are excellent and rugged. It’s a fast ride and features one of Cynthia Rothrock best screen performances. The dubbing does get funny at times and contains quite a bit of profanity