Madam City Hunter (1993) [Film Review]

Madam City Hunter; or, This is not a sequel to Jackie Chan's film

      Don't be angry. This is for you. Tofu flower. Isn't it special?

While researching information on the original City Hunter (1993), I stumbled upon this inconspicuous film with a very informative title and my beloved Cynthia Khan in the leading role. Thinking that it’s a sort of rip-off/spin off flick I decided to give it a go and the movie turned out to be completely something else.

Release Info

Directed by: Johnnie Kong Starring: Cynthia Khan, Anthony Wong, Kara Hui, Sheila Chan

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 城市女獵人 Runtime: 98 min

 

Synopsis

Cynthia Khan (most notably known for Yes, Madam!/In the Line of Duty series) plays Officer Ching who accidentally disrupts a gun smuggling operation. Head of the deadly Five Fingers gang in turn frames Ching for killing a group of teenagers. As a result, her superior, Officer Kwong (Tommy Wong), suspends her for the time of the investigation. Ching with the help of a goofy private detective Charlie Chan (Anthony Wong) start the hunt for the gang and the very first lead they find is connected with Ching’s father (Wu Fung) who has recently married the mysterious Siu-Hung (Kara Hui).

Madam Strikes Again

As previously stated, Madam City Hunter has absolutely no connection with Jackie Chan’s City Hunter, however, it has a similar light-hearted tone. On the one hand it is very entertaining in terms of action, but on the other, it fails miserably at humour and plotline development.

What is awesome is that the movie starts right off the bat with an explosive introduction in which Cynthia “scythes” down some random bad guys with guns and grenades. You’d expect the film to slow down after such a great prologue but it doesn’t. What we get is even more kung fu fighting and great action stunts. It is only when Ching gets suspended that the film loses its momentum and relentlessly drags throughout the middle section, only to go out with a bang with an epic final showdown at the bamboo scaffolding (similarity to an action set piece from Rush Hour 2 is purely coincidental).

With regard to the disadvantages, the filmmakers seemed not to have paid much attention to the story at all and treated breaks between action as an opportunity to try out some experimental shooting techniques (like a teenage shootout on acid or Kara Hui’s striptease with lots of rapid zoom-ins) or throw in a bit of comedic relief. In consequence, you have to really focus on the dialogue in order to know what is going on, because otherwise, things may get confusing towards the end. In addition, Sheila Chan (Anthony Wong's sidekick in the film) provides a test of endurance for the viewers with her highly irritable performance that was supposed to be funny. I have nothing against Sheila herself, but unfortunately, screaming like a maniac in front of a camera does not equal comedy by default.

Aside from these disadvantages, the movie is more than watchable. Anthony Wong deserves an honourable mention as a crazy private eye, because he is too cool for school in this role. Not only does he manage to deliver a few laughs, but also has a great deal of fighting scenes which are a pleasure to watch. Kara Hui sadly doesn’t do a lot of combat, but at least we can admire her sex appeal as a deadly femme fatale.

 

Recommendations

On the whole, I enjoyed this movie a little more than Jackie’s City Hunter. If the moments of embarrassing goofiness from the second act had been done away with, Madam City Hunter would have been a classic girls with guns flick. If you’re not patient enough to sit through the silliness to get to the proper stuff, then don’t watch it. Otherwise, I safely recommend this film to anyone who likes good old HK action. Plus, there’s Cynthia Khan and Anthony Wong at the height of their careers.

Overall score: 6/10