Rating: **
Review Date: 5/30/06
Director: Frankie Chan
Cast: Frankie Chan, Eric Tsang, Jeffrey Falcon, Mark Houghton, Kim Maree Penn
Another formulaic Frankie Chan action comedy that's redeemed only by its exciting fight scenes. Power Chan (Frankie Chan) is a hot-headed cop whose girlfriend has just become a porn star. He has trouble dealing with that fact, so he channels his rage into beating up a group of foreign gun runners, including such familiar faces as Jeffrey Falcon, Mark Houghton, and Kim Maree Penn. To get back at Chan for busting their latest shipment, the villains hire an assassin to impersonate him and kill all of the key witnesses. Framed for murder and wanted by the police, Chan enlists the aid of a bitchy Taoist sorceress (Eric Tsang in drag) and together they manage to track down the real killer and beat him up in spectacular fashion.
Like Frankie Chan's other action comedies of the same period, the dichotomy of comedy and action is jarring, and the make-it-up-as-you-go plot exists only to string together the various set pieces. Like many Hong Kong comedies, the humor is dark, violent, sexist, misogynistic, absurd, and almost completely inaccessible to Western audiences. The action, on the other hand, translates extremely well and Chan's direction, choreography, and execution are stunning as always. He and his stunt performers are all in top form, and their movements are fast, fluid, and hard hitting. While the majority of the film is tedious and annoying, the pay-off of such high precision stuntwork is what makes the journey worthwhile.