Director: Meng Hoi
Cast: Cynthia Rothrock, Chin Siu Ho, Meng Hoi, Elizabeth Lee Mei Fung, Roy Chiao, Billy Chow, Ronny Yu Yan Tai, Jeff Falcon, Vincent Lyn, Chung Fat, Tai Bo, Melvin Wong Gam San, Wu Ma, Hsiao Ho, Kwan Yung, James Tien Chun
Running Time: 90 min.
By Martin Sandison
In 1995, when I was 13, I visited my local video shop. Ah, those were the days. How I loved perusing the weird and wonderful titles. I still have dreams about it. A couple of weeks before I had rented Project A, an experience that changed my life forever. I was eager for more, and saw a title whose box delighted my eyes: Above the Law, aka Righting Wrongs. It became the first Hong Kong movie I ever owned, and I watched that video to death. I still have it, and it still works despite some tracking lines in the fight scenes. The film is still a firm favourite of mine, and many others. Containing all of the things that made Golden Age Hong Kong cinema so exciting and enrapturing, it also was a showcase for the one and only Cynthia Rothrock. As a kid seeing her kick, punch and sass her way through the movie meant she became my dream woman. I cannot wait for the forthcoming Blu-ray releases of that classic. I’ll be double-dipping, oh yes.
Righting Wrongs is a martial arts action-thriller, one that doesn’t have a lot of room for humour. For the semi-sequel The Blonde Fury, the film-makers decided to spice things up with a healthy dose of Hong Kong style laughs. An approach at turns mildly offensive and at others, due to choice subtitles, hilariously silly. The movie has the distinction of being the only effort in which Rothrock takes lead billing. In Hong Kong film history a Western female taking a lead role hadn’t happened before, and is unlikely to happen again. A wonderful achievement for this legend of action cinema. Continue reading
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