Even including her first movie, IN THE LINE OF DUTY 3, Cynthia Khan hasn't been known for playing multifaceted characters. In the majority of her films she would play the one-dimensional good cop reacting to bad situations and responding by kicking butt. No complaints there, but for whatever the reason (for which you'd have to ask HK filmmakers), Cynthia's natural ability -- in acting and martial arts -- were strangely underutilized. If you want proof of that and see what she could have been capable of if she was allowed to go all-out like fellow GWG travelers Yukari Oshima and Moon Lee, see FORBIDDEN ARSENAL, SEA WOLVES, ZEN OF SWORD, BLADE OF FURY...and this movie!

MADAM CITY HUNTER may be an action-comedy, but like many HK films it falls under that "all things to all people" rule where sometimes genres mix and match...and sometimes the mood swings faster than Tiger Woods with a golf club! The story is easy to follow if you pay attention: after a gun-blazing opening where Cynthia as a HK police madam shows us her credentials by blasting away a house full of bad guys, she has a chance encounter with the Five Fingers Gang. She kills one of them, they get mad, and frame her for the mass murder of a gang of glue-sniffing youths. (Yes, this is a comedy!) Other plot threads converge in the form of her supervisor (Tommy Wong), who has a crush on her but keeps giving her the wrong flowers...her problematic relationship with her dad and her new stepmother (Kara Hui Ying-Hung) who (Coincidence Alert!) isn't just known as a black widow in Brazil but had a prior relationship with the leader of the Five Fingers (I'm not kidding!)...and in the funniest plot thread, she finds herself in a scrappy relationship with a wolfish P.I. (the great Anthony Wong) whose name is, believe it or not, Charlie Chan! Bonded to that last plot thread is Charlie's love-hate relationship with his tomboy assistant (Sheila Chan). Like I said, it's easy to follow! :P

Seriously, the plot turns (fantastic and logical) will make you giddy trying to follow it. This is a movie you're not supposed to take seriously...there are a lot of genuinely-funny moments between the principals when there isn't any action (which there is a lot of!) going on. Kara Hui's dizzying striptease out of male drag, Anthony Wong's goofy martial moments, and Sheila Chan by turns cute and acerbic give this movie plenty of punch.

But the most pleasant surprise is not only Cynthia Khan's multifaceted role as a supercop (she ain't just reacting and looking stoic this time), but the fact that Cynthia and "Auntie" Kara Hui are given free reign to show off their sex appeal! Hey, don't sit so close to the TV...aw, you fogged the screen up! French maid outfits and mini-dresses never looked better!

I was lucky enough to get this film after I heard about it from World Video, and Tai Seng has it in an English Dubbed version under the shortened title of LADY HUNTER(?!?). I recommend getting the subtitled version from World Video, but I don't know if they still have it for sale, dagnabbit! And yes, one can draw the correct conclusion that this film was made in response to Jackie Chan's goofy actioner CITY HUNTER...but after seeing the two, I strongly recommend this one!