She Shoots Straight
directed by Corey Yuen
starring Joyce Godenzi, Carina Lau, Agnes Aurelio
88 Films
So many of the ’80s and ’90s “girls with guns” trend movies made in Hong Kong were basically crude comedies with a few action scenes sprinkled in. They are quite entertaining, but sometimes the laughs dilute the violence and mayhem. Corey Yuen’s 1990 cop movie She Shoots Straight dials back the humor and layers the action beats with some melodrama ripped straight from Hong Kong TV dramas and just enough comic relief to keep the mood light.
She Shoots Straight mixes terrific action sequences with familial melodrama in a delightful mix of styles for a modern reworking of the Women Generals of the Yang Family legends. The Women Generals refers to a group of Song dynasty widows who took up arms to defend the nation and avenge their fallen husbands. The parallels are going to be lost on most western audiences, but it scarcely matters, as cultural references cease to matter when women are kicking this much ass on-screen.
Mina (Joyce Godenzi) is a policewoman who marries into a cop family. Her new husband, Inspector Huang Tsung-Pao (Tony Leung), and his four sisters are all on the force. Mina and the entire Haung sisterhood get a mission to protect a foreign princess at a glitzy fashion show. Obviously this simple detail gets complicated by a daring raid and kidnap attempt, ultimately foiled by Mina. The fallout from the mission just ratchets up the tension between Mina and her sister-in-law Chia Ling (Carina Lau). When Huang Tsung-Pao is killed by a ruthless Vietnamese gang, Mina and Chia must put their differences aside and come together as family to exact revenge.
The climactic battle on board a small ship where the former rivals, Mina and Chia, work their way through the gang is an amazing set piece. The sisters fight with and against machetes, axes, a sledgehammer, and even giant Stillson wrenches — and that’s all before dawn — when they still have to get a final measure of payback from the gang’s leader and his muscle bound girlfriend, played with aplomb by Agnes Aurelio. An American-Filipino bodybuilder, Aurelio nearly steals the film in her impressive, but all-too-brief screen time.
When a film is produced by Sammo Hung’s production company, Bo Ho Film, you can expect some action punctuated by stellar stunt work along with a few good laughs. She Shoots Straight delivers on all fronts, with much of the comic relief coming from Sammo himself as well as the delightful Pik-Wan Tang, who made a career out of playing beloved matriarchs on Hong Kong TV dramas.
Although it is less well-known in the west, She Shoots Straight stands out within the Hong Kong “girls with guns” cycle, offering intense action and violence while avoiding the excesses of broad comedy that so often weigh down the genre.
