Midnight Angel (1990)
Reviewed by: hokazak on 1999-12-09
His three adopted (grand)daughters end up - at different times -taking up the mantle discarded 30 years prior by "Grandpa" (Shih Kien, who played the evil Mister Han in "Enter the Dragon"), as the "Scarlet Pimpernel"-like masked hero/vigilante, "Cotton Flower," who takes vengeance on those who prey upon the weak. A good premise is ruined by a bad script, which never really gets the tension/suspense/drama going, and mixes fairly uninteresting humor into the standard situations that it comes up with. To succeed by my standards, it would have had to be either darker / grimmer, or more outrageous and energetic, bringing out the comic-book elements more. (Cf. the much more successful "Heroic Trio," which manages to accomplish *both* of those tasks.) Most noteworthy are the performances of the very attractive actress who plays the youngest daughter, "Rabbit" (May Law, who reminds me a bit of Emily Chu), and, of course, Yukari Oshima - playing the eldest daughter, "Ying." The fight scenes are competently produced, but somehow I couldn't really get "engrossed" in this one.