Yes, Madam! (18) |Home Ents Review
Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock, John Sham, Tsui Hark, Hoi Mang
Review by Colin Dibben
Inspector Ng (Yeoh) partners up with Scotland Yard’s finest, Inspector Carrie Morris (Rothrock) after a British trade agent is murdered in his Hong Kong hotel room. Two small-time thieves and a counterfeiter are also involved in the case, finding themselves chased both by the cops and a hitman who has the support of a ruthless crime syndicate.
There are several great fight sequences here, all delivered in that frenetic, semi-serious manner which is a Hong Kong (HK) movie signature. The finale fight in the crime boss’ house took a month to film, as Rothrock explains in one of the extras, which sheds an intriguing light on HK film production processes.
Although Yes, Madam! pretty much invented the ‘girls n guns’ genre, it looks like the producers weren’t convinced the ladies would succeed on their own. What other explanation can there be for the screen time allocated to the comedic-heroic subplot featuring three male twits?
It is interesting to see producer-director Tsui Hark act, and his sequences are anarchic and lively, but Sham and Mang’s characters are disappointing slapstick substitutes for displays of Yeoh and Rothrock’s athleticism and kick-arseability.
The two stars don’t really have the on-screen super-buddy chemistry you might expect – high fiving is as close as they get – but fans will relish the first outing for Rothrock’s signature scorpion kick and the general mayhem is pretty cool. Yeoh shows herself equally impressive and athletic in the urban location chases as well as the studio-based action.
More, more, more … of Yeoh and Rothrock, that’s what the world needs right now.
Trailer:
