In From Beijing With Love, brief reference is made to a famous ancestor of the Bond-type character played by Stephen Chow. I'm pretty sure this movie picks up on that by showing us more of this ancestor, a secret agent operating in the Forbidden City under the service of the emporer. Chow plays Ling Ling Fat (which kind of sounds like 008, or so I am told by Cantonese-speaking friends), who makes up for his incompetence in Martial Arts with intelligence and some wacky inventions.

Right from the opening credits (imagine a Bond-like sequence with all the requisite elements such as psychedelic colors and dancing girls, but the girls all dressed in period costumes with the elaborate hairdos and all - has to be seen...), this movie is a no-holds barred attack on your laughing muscles.

If you like wuxia films, this parody will have you in stitches. It sags a little in the middle portion, but picks up steam again towards the end. Carina Lau plays Chow's wife, and the gorgeous Carmen Lee plays a mysterious beauty Chow is investigating.

This movie ranks right up there with Stephen Chow's best work for me. Highly recommended.