Righting Wrongs

Although threaded with slop skits and broad, slapstick intrusions that are painfully at odds with the stakes in play, when the credits roll on Righting Wrongs it's clear that Corey Yuen's film was premised on real bitterness. Like the director's earlier girls-with-guns film Yes, Madam!, Wrongs compartmentalises its most exciting elements - in this case Cynthia Rothrock's Senior Inspector Cindy and Yuen Biao's murderous criminal prosecutor Ha Ling-Ching - only allowing them scenes that detail their crimefighting methodology or their ability to physically (spectacularly) fend off assassins. It's clear then that Wrongs either doesn't want or doesn't expect us to relate to these characters - the former notion borne out by an alternative ending screened for Chinese mainland audiences that actively attempted to undermine the despondent mood generated by the Hong Kong edit's conclusion. 

Instead, significant passages of Righting Wrongs revolve around director Yuen's on-screen performance as Bad Egg, a slacker detective who refuses to wear socks and snoozes on stake-outs after gorging himself on fast food. Rothrock and Yuen Biao's characters exist in a separate, superheroic realm, only called upon to enliven the film when the central investigation has gotten slack. Bad Egg does end up serving a dramatic purpose though: he lulls the audience into a false sense of security. The gentle comedy of his subplot fosters an expectation that he will survive as a human albatross around Cindy's neck, generating an extra layer of difficulty for the Inspector when she is navigating the film's concluding chapter. This notion does not pan out. Neither does an assumption that Rothrock and Yuen Biao's characters will work together to take down the corrupt policeman orchestrating the film's mayhem. Their arrivals to the finale are staggered, their strength halved. Cathartic headshots give way to a crisp one-on-one fight - allegedly devised by action supremo Sammo Hung - then a sequence of stunt work so unexpectedly hair-raising that Jackie Chan could be proud of it. 

Yes, Madam!

Starting at a hundred miles an hour, Corey Yuen's Yes, Madam! immediately impresses with a heist sequence that ends with Michelle Yeoh shotgunning a perp's hand off - a twist on a similar scene from Don Siegel's slightly more sedate Dirty Harry. Graduating from a bit player in Sammo Hung comedies, Yeoh instantly establishes herself as an energetic, credible martial arts actress - the perfect compliment to Yuen's punchy direction. Yeoh sprints alongside speeding cars then poses with a series of firearms, all the while dressed in roomy pastels with slicked back hair.

Disappointingly, Yes, Madam! isn't centered around this character. Despite an equally convincing action performance from Cynthia Rothrock, playing a bussed-in brute looking to crack heads after her mentor is murdered, both women are sidelined to spend more and more time in the cartoonish company of John Shum and Mang Hoi's petty criminals. What begins as a series of colourful asides soon balloons completely out of proportion with the entertainment they offer, distorting the film's shape and pulling us further and further away from Yeoh and Rothrock.

Initially at odds, the Senior Inspectors' détente occurs off-screen. Our only clue that their minds have met is the pronounced change in Rothrock's outfits - her clothes evolve from buttoned-up power dressing to the same flared, sports casual collars that Yeoh wears. That both women are kept at arm's length throughout does have one positive effect on Yes Madam! though: you're always happy to see them. Their presence signals an uptick in excitement, allowing the film's energy levels to finally meet the crackle implied by editor Peter Cheung's exemplary fight assembly. Cheung - the unsung hero of many Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung films - creates a exhilarating sense of rhythm out of bold, pirouetting flourishes and their blunt trauma responses.