We first meet Erica (before she is renamed Black Cat) washing dishes at a
secluded truck stop in upstate New York. When she is rudely propositioned by a
trucker, she decides to take matters into her own hands. After a series of
brutal scenes, the trucker and diner owner both end up dead, along with a few
cops that show up to investigate the scene. This shoves Erica into a downward
spiral of police brutality and hardship, until she is rescued by a secret
organization that trains assassins. Brian (Simon Yam) takes Erica under his
wing and she becomes Black Cat, a new type of assassin who has had a microchip
implanted in her brain in order to make her a more efficient killing machine.
Although at first she detests her new life, Black Cat eventually accepts her
role and begins to relish her opportunities to wreak havoc on assorted
criminals. However, when love rears its ugly head, she has to decide which road
to take, even if that decision could lead to her own termination.

It s tough watching Black Cat after seeing the far superior La Femme Nikita,
but one has to take the Hong Kong version for what it is, a souped-up,
adrenaline-pumped film that doesn t really try to explore the psychology behind
the runaway girl turned assassin, but instead turns to brutal action to portray
her feelings. Black Cat is a fun movie to sit back and watch Jade Leung go
ballistic against cops, gangsters and such, but in the long run it becomes
tiresome and contrived. The attempted romance between Leung and a local park
officer (Thomas Lam) develops too quickly and struggles to show any chemistry
between the two actors. Subsequently, situations that should be heart-wrenching
in the finale of the movie just become another plot point, with no
distinguishing moments. As with most Hong Kong films, the acting is second rate
(especially by the Australian actors in this movie) and the action in the movie
is extremely entertaining. Leung, a former model, decided to do all her own
stunts for the film, and to see her jumping off bridges, recklessly driving
cars and firing off guns as big as her arm is quite entertaining, if simply for
the visceral thrills.

6/10