Yes, Madam 5 (HK 1996)

Rating: *
Director: Philip Ko
Cast: Cynthia Khan, Chin Siu Ho, Billy Chow, Philip Ko, cameo by Sharon Yeung (Yeung Pan Pan)

Non-stop B-movie cheeziness from Philip Ko that has nothing to do with the "Yes, Madam!" series. Ho Chan (Chin Siu Ho) is the slick and kind-hearted son of a Hong Kong crime lord, who just so happens to be dating the beautiful Inspector Yeung of the Hong Kong Royal Police (Cynthia Khan). Talk about a "don't ask, don't tell" relationship! Not surprisingly, they end up on opposite sides of the same case when an undercover police officer gets killed trying to steal incriminating evidence from Ho's father. In a race to recover the stolen data, Ho, Yeung, Philip Ko, and Billy Chow end up confronting each other in Malaysia, and then again in Singapore. Will love triumph over duty?

A disappointing outing from Cynthia Khan, who doesn't even make an appearance until 21 minutes into the show, but it's good to see her working again. Naturally, she looks a little older, but she does have a wide range of cute outfits to wear. Unfortunately, her three or four brief fight scenes are unremarkable, and made worse by bad slow-mo photography and horrible editing. Even veteran heavy hitters Chin Siu Ho and Billy Chow don't have anything to work with here - it's a shame to see such talent wasted. It's worth mentioning that the production quality of this film is much higher than many of Ko's other low budget Filipino efforts, but the sparse and poorly realized action scenes make it a chore to watch.