Angel Terminators (1990)

Angel Terminators was a dark entry in the Girls with Guns genre. With the exception of Kenneth Tsang's Big Bad, the predominant cast members were all women---Sharon Yeung, Kara Hui, Carrie Ng, Nishiwaki Michiko, and Cheng Yuen Man. There was plenty of action and misogyny to go around. Not as coherent as Michelle Yeoh's 'Yes Madam' it still had enough kung fu and gun play to satisfy people who enjoy the genre.

The film started out clumsily with a car chase and gun fire. Ida and Hon seem to always be in the neighborhood when super cops are needed to bring down bad guys, including a kindergarten being held hostage by jewelry thieves. As Hon is leaving on a plane for Scotland to further her training, Sawada is landing. Sawada has been in Thailand for seven years to avoid being arrested. He has come to town to reclaim his drug and criminal territory. Ida's snitch, a prostitute named May, feeds her intel about Sawada's huge drug deal going down. The cops arrive and a ferocious shootout ensues. Sawada has a mole in the police department who helps him set up an ambush for Ida in retaliation for her interfering in his business. The mole is a gambler who happens to be married to Carrie, Sawada's former lover. Before long Ida and Carrie are in dire trouble when they find themselves in the frightening clutches of Nishiwaki.

Firearm acuity was not the movie's strong point. The opening shootout showed shooters trying to push the bullets out of their guns or closing their eyes when shooting. Another time when the police had the high ground and the bad guys surrounded they still managed to miss most of the baddies. Sharon could hold her own in the fists and kicks fight department and make the moves believable even when they defied gravity. Ida could have beaten the Olympic pole vault record by about twenty feet. With kung fu veterans like Alan Chui Chung San and Dick Wei, Sharon always had an accomplished opponent to spar with. Jacky Chen designed several creative fights though I don't envy the stuntmen who took some hard falls. The Hong Kong police department in the movie was going to need a hiring push after a significant portion of its police officers were mowed down.

This film would have been more entertaining if they'd left the Very Special Episode about Drug Abuse out of the middle section. I also deducted points for a scene where Sawada urinated all over Carrie, the woman he supposedly loved. It was disgusting and unnecessary. When the film focused on Sharon and Kara, either their friendship or when they fought the baddies together it was at its strongest. The two women had nice chemistry together and I fail to understand why they split them up for much of the movie. Angel Terminators kept the action and adrenaline pumped up, never slowing down to let the writer put together a more coherent plotline. The ending was bonkers and baffling. Only for Girls with Guns fans or old kung fu addicts.

9/27/23

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