His Fatal Ways (1991) [Film Review]

His Fatal Ways; or, Sucking more money out of a successful series

Alfred Cheung, most probably in pursuit of a bigger income, returns in this spin-off movie of Her Fatal Ways as absent-minded Inspector Sheng. This time he is on his own mission in Hong Kong.

Release Info 

Directed by: Alexander Chan Starring: Alfred Cheung, Teresa Mo, Do-Siu Chun

Language: Cantonese Original Title: Lao biao ni hao ye! Movie Industry: Hong Kong Runtime: 90 min

Plot

At the beginning of the movie, Sheng, along with fellow mainland police officers, performs a raid on a secret warehouse of imported weaponry. Unfortunately, during the shoot-out, two criminals flee from the crime scene. As it turns out, they have travelled to Hong Kong in order to make a bank robbery. Inspector Sheng is sent into the wilderness of capitalist HK in order to find the culprits and stop their robbery attempt in time.

Huuuuuuge disappointment

This movie was directed by a guy called Alexander Chan, but let’s be clear, Alfred Cheung was behind it all, along with writing and starring in the leading role... This guy’s fandom (if such exists somewhere in this universe) couldn’t have been more hyped. I, on the other hand, expected at least the same standard of humour as in Her Fatal Ways movies, but this film failed to deliver anything that can be even remotely considered as entertainment.

Alfred Cheung clearly made this movie in order to start-off another franchise of comedies, but this time with him as the main hero. This attempt is understandable (especially in the view of Hollywood’s modern reboots and remakes) and I even approve that, as long as the final product can be at least watchable. In the case of His Fatal Ways, everything seems not to work, starting from the screenplay and finishing on the acting. It looks as if Cheung decided to swallow the successful accomplishment of Her Fatal Ways and label the digested outcome with the series’ name.

It’s not even worth delving into the details of the film, because there’s no logic to it. Throughout the majority of the picture, Sheng doesn’t do anything related to the search for the bad guys. We mainly see him goofing around and awkwardly interacting with the HK officer (assigned to help him on the case) and his family. The subplot with the criminals returns somewhere towards the end of the movie, showing them after the successful robbery of jewellery from a bank and on the lookout to sell it. That’s where Sheng steps in, dressed up as... Rocky Balboa in the final showdown, but not fighting at all with the baddies... The supporting characters do the fighting for him! 

Additionally, we are served with some dry jokes, meaningless slapstick, and toilet humour (literally toilet, considering the scene in which one of the characters tries to shit out the stolen diamonds!). What’s more, Sheng is thrown into a really awkward romantic relationship with his partner’s sister, Hung Ba Mui (Teresa Mo), who is an antisocial, noisy, and emotionally-challenged street chicken-seller... 

All in all, there is nothing more to add about this waste of film reel. To be honest, I am surprised that His Fatal Ways didn’t ruin Cheung’s career in the movie industry. The guy is an experienced director (who apart from Her Fatal Ways also made such interesting pictures as The Banquet (1991), Queen’s Bench III (1990), and Paper Marriage (1988)), but his performance as an actor is, especially in comedies, really average (as in Summer Lovers (1992) or The Yuppie Fantasia (1989)). However, I’ve got to admit that he is awesome in hardcore drama (like In Between Loves (1989), which is a subject for another review). On the whole, His Fatal Ways seems to be a huge mistake.

Recommendations

I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes the taste of sand in their mouths, because that’s how I felt watching it. It’s just an empty picture, with nothing funny but also nothing vividly outrageous. It’s completely harmless and unentertaining. However, it would be mildly diverting as background noise whilst doing laundry.

Overall score: 3/10

Her Fatal Ways IV (1994) [Film Review]

Her Fatal Ways IV; or, A Sequel Too Far

Shih-Nan Cheng is back again in the fourth instalment of “Her Fatal Ways”. Unfortunately this part marks the end of this hilarious comedy series in every possible aspect, including one of quality.

Release Info 

Directed by: Alfred Cheung Starring: Carol Dodo Cheng, Gregory Charles Rivers, Alfred Cheung 

Language: Cantonese Original Title: Biao jie, ni hao ye! 4 zhi qing bu zi jin

Movie Industry: Hong Kong Runtime: 90 min

Plot

It’s been a year after the infamous events of the previous movie. Shih-Nan (Dodo Cheng) and always accompanying her Sheng (Alfred Cheung) were rewarded by the PRC authorities and allowed to settle in Hong Kong for good. Shih-Nan, now not so devoted to the ideology of the communist party, decides to become a real Hongkie and assume the capitalist way of life. However, things get complicated when she befriends a recently acquainted neighbour from upstairs. Soon afterwards, our fearless Inspector has to act again in the name of law enforcement when it turns out that her cousin is kidnapped in HK. Has Shih-Nan finally met the love of her life or is it all some sort of a highly complicated scam?

Not really the definite chapter you expected

Prior to watching Her Fatal Ways IV all of the preceding parts were in one word: hilarious; thus, my personal expectations for this part were, obviously, high. The introductory sequence with Shih-Nan and Sheng trying to make a living for themselves and constantly being on the lookout for a job left me laughing all the way through it; however, as the movie went on, it became weaker and weaker.

First of all. we’ve got Shih-Nan in charge of a security company and having an involuntary romance with a British police officer called John (George Charles Rivers). Shih-Nan doesn’t seem any more to be the same fierce and over-confident police officer we got used to over the span of three films, but rather... a damsel in distress; hell, even her appearance looks more feminine. Because of such a transformation, her character becomes, in fact, devoid of comedic qualities. Such changes could be passable if the movie was made 10 years after the previous part, as a sort of a nostalgic nod to the whole series, but it was made only a year later! What was Alfred Cheung thinking when departing from such a successful model of comedy he himself created!? Apart from that issue, the complicated action made up for this film is a real piece of screenwriting crap:

There is this guy John who subtly hits on Shih-Nan but he doesn’t really love her. He works for his British superiors who have ordered him to seduce Shih-Nan so they could get a piece of information about how much land the Anglo Chinese Liaison Group was going to take from the Hong Kong authorities after the 1997 handover of power, and as a result, the British could make some financial profit out of it. Later they decide to dump the whole action with Shih-Nan and focus on her cousin whose father will be responsible for setting the amount of PRC’s troops stationed in HK (which in some weird, unexplainable way can also influence the stock market). Hence, they bring in another cop to do the honey-trap again. They even stage a kidnapping in order to show how awesome they are in rescuing the official’s daughter, but the scam goes wrong and some real thugs kidnap the girl for ransom. That’s where Shih-Nan and her team (made up of Sheng and fellow security guards) has to step in to save the day.

I literally had to re-watch some scenes a couple of times in order to make sense out of this idiocy. This was supposed to be a comedy not an adaptation of John le Carre! The worst thing is that 70% of the movie is centred on what is described above, so if you don’t pay much attention to the subtitles (and I can bet that this old HK translation is not fully accurate) you may end up not knowing who some of the characters are and what’s their purpose in the story.

What’s more, the ending is not satisfactory either. There is a bombastic climax with a Triad shootout where all the character join forces and rescue the imprisoned cousin, but after that...it’s the end! The daughter comes back to her father, the protagonists mutually hug each other and the end credits scroll up. It’s a shame that in the view of such an elaborate plot the following things weren't even explained: Did John really love Shih-Nan? Did the British succeed in their scam and get away with it? We’ll never know.

Redeeming features

However, in spite of all this absurdity, the movie has in fact some positive aspects, which distract from the prevalence of numerous disadvantages. When there’s humour, it’s funny, but not as hilarious as in Her Fatal Ways I-III. This part is like a light light-comedy with strong romantic undertones and it works on that level of genre. I’ve got to admit that the character of John was well played and there was a strong feeling of chemistry between him and Shih-Nan. Moreover, Shih-Nan has only two fighting scenes in the whole picture, but she totally rocks in both of these. On the whole, the movie is made watchable mostly due to Dodo Cheng’s comedic abilities.

Recommendation

If you want to watch this movie, don’t have any expectations for it. As I already said, it is watchable. It is not a high-standard comedy but also not a tragic flop. It serves as a good follow-up on Inspector Cheng’s story, but this film could have been made a lot better. In spite of the fact that it’s been 20 years since its release, I’m still hopelessly hoping for Her Fatal Ways V: A Good Day to Laugh Hard.

Overall score: 5/10

Her Fatal Ways III (1992) [Film Review]

Her Fatal Ways 3- A Follow-up with(out) a vengeance

Inspector Shih-Nan is sent on a mission to Hong Kong once more. Can we expect also this time another string of over-the-top situations that will make us laugh so hard till our bellies get swollen? The answer to this question is, obviously, yes!

Release Info

Directed by: Alfred Cheung Starring: Carol Dodo Cheng, Anthony Wong, Alfred Cheung 
Language: Cantonese Original Title: Biao jie, ni hao ye! III zhi da ren jia dao 

Movie Industry: Hong Kong Runtime: 92 min

Plot

In this instalment, our female version of Inspector Closeau is ordered to protect a high-rank chairman from the PRC called Chien during his stay in Hong Kong. At first, the task doesn’t seem so challenging; yet, Shih-Nan (Carol Cheng) along with her nephew Sheng (Alfred Cheung) end up arriving in Taiwan instead of Hong Kong just at the beginning of their journey! But to make matters worse, bad luck for our heroes doesn’t end when they finally get to HK, because the news come about a possible assassin on the loose who is planning to kill the visiting politician. The team, with the aid of a cheerful but extremely emotional Taiwanese police officer called Chiang (Chan Chung-Yung) and a strongly overconfident HK Inspector Lu (Anthony Wong) prepares for the visit. Will Shih-Nan be able to stop the potential threat just in time, or will things get fouled up as usual?

A Blaze of Glory

I’ve got to admit that before watching this entry of “Her Fatal Ways” series I was in a lot of doubt. All in all, the level of humour has to decline somewhere in a string of comedy movies (like in case of Police Academy, for instance), but thankfully this sequel lives up to the standards set by the two previous parts and the makers did not run out of ideas.

Her Fatal Ways III is wild entertainment from the beginning to the end. Shih-Nan is as crazy as ever, still trying to prove that she knows better than others (as in her attempts of “blending in” on the locations secured for the visit or getting involved in an argument with kung-fu stuntmen on a movie set). In addition, still being a faithful follower of Mao Tse-Tung and the principles of communism leads to disastrous consequences when she has to face the Taiwanese officials. Nephew Sheng still struggles to master his ESP abilities, which again triggers off some hilarious action (like hypnotising the wrong people). Also, other characters like Chiang and Lu are downright funny and, on the whole, all of the protagonists constitute an explosive mix.

Drawbacks

Some may probably be put off by the noticeable reinvention of some of the old jokes from the last two films (Shih-Nan’s overlong speeches, Sheng’s dumbness, and sometimes confusing action) but these are still fun to watch and are, in a way, trademarks of the series; especially, karaoke singing, which in this part is without a question the best one in the whole series.

The only major disappointment I had was a rushed ending. It has to be mentioned that there was a better build up to the plot’s finale than in part 2, but the resolution of the climax failed miserably. Not only we were given an extremely quick and slightly unimpressive fight sequence with Shih-Nan, but also the moment when the grandmother of “the assassin” rushed to save the man she hated the most in her life (chairman Chien) made no sense whatsoever. Are we to think that she loved him? A pretty stupid explanation since she devoted herself to train her overweight, handicapped grandson to kill the guy. (Pardon the spoiler but the middle of the movie outwardly presents these characters as the baddies, so there’s no mystery to it at the end).

Recommendations

I recommend this movie both to the people who watched the other two parts and ones new to the series (or even new to HK movies!). The movie does not fail to entertain and I’m sure that even dead-serious viewers will be at least chuckling. All in all, this is a good comedy and a well-made sequel.

Overall score: 7/10