Jin pai shi jie (1989) Online

Director and writer Godfrey Ho who also created another classic girls with guns flick, Lethal Panther 1990 and another classic flick, Laboratory of the Devil 1992, has created another gem in Princess Madam.

Starring Moon Lee has has also been in other classic girls with guns flicks, Iron Angels 2 1988, Dreaming the Reality 1991, Iron Angels 1987, Angel Force 1991, Killer Angels 1989 and Iron Angels 3 1989.

Also starring Michiko Nishiwaki.

Also starring Mike Abbott.

Also starring Sharon Yeung who has also been in another classic girls with guns flick, Angel Terminators 1992.

I enjoyed the violence.

If you enjoyed this as much as I did then check out other classic girls with guns flicks, Lethal Lady 1990, Thunder Cops II 1989, Haywire 2011, Everly 2014, Salt 2010, Juncture 2007, Momentum 2015, Naked Killer 1992, Naked Weapon 2002, The Brave One 2007, Atomic Blonde 2017, The Villainess 2017, Unlocked 2017 and Cheetah on Fire 1992.

Absolutely one of the best Moon Lee-films out there. I'm a big fan of her films, but this one (called PRINCESS MADAM on my UK-VHS) is a film that focus much more on Moon and her action capabilities than most of her other films.

The film itself, story wise, is good, and the ending works very well. Acting is a bit varied over the film, and sometimes even the action-editing lack professionalism. We can clearly see that this film, technically, has been rushed.

However, Moon Lee seriously takes on the part as Mona, the good cop, when she fights with and against her partner Lisa. Moon Lee's scenes are the best, and it is very nice to see this girl (she was 25 at the time but looks like 17) kick such ass! Sadly, Moon went on from movies back in 1994, to ballet and today she runs a very famous dance school in Hong Kong.

Moon! Please come back to the movies!

Directed by the king of cut-and-paste Godfrey Ho, 'girls and guns' flick Princess Madam is actually one of the director's better efforts. When a secretary agrees to testify in court against a semi-retired Triad boss, two cops, Moon (Moon Lee) and Lisa (Sharon Yeung), are ordered to protect her from being assassinated. When Moon kills a would-be assassin, his girlfriend (played by Michiko Nishiwaki) vows revenge. Matters are complicated further when Lisa's stepfather, an accomplice of the Triad boss under investigation, is ordered to sever all ties with his stepdaughter. Add in a plot twist and you have a decent narrative which unfortunately becomes muddled due to shoddy editing.

The problem, it seems, is that Godfrey Ho couldn't decide which plot line to focus on, and as such, Princess Madam meanders between numerous sub-plots before dropping most of them almost all-together. The film eventually finds its focus about half-way through and concentrates on Sharon Yeung's character, Lisa, who is torn between upholding the law and honouring her stepfather. Yeung brings some surprising depth to her character and, along with Moon Lee, provides some decent, if slightly generic action sequences. With the presence of Moon Lee, Michiko Nishiwaki and Sharon Yeung, one would have expected the action scenes to have been better than they are. Whilst they are entertaining they certainly don't break new ground, and the film has a tendency to rely a little too heavily on poorly choreographed shootouts.

Although the film appears to have been made very cheaply and, judging by the muddled editing, very quickly, Princess Madam is a fun flick which keeps a steady pace and never becomes boring. It's just a shame that Godfrey Ho didn't hire a better editor.

Although Moon Lee and Michiko Nishiwaki are the (relatively) more famous names involved in "Princess Madam", it's their underrated co-star Sharon Yeung who really owns this film. She has more screen time than both, and let's face it, she is a more credible tough chick than the sweet and cuddly Moon Lee. Michiko is effective as a villainess, but she is written off the picture halfway through. The film is rather shoddily made, with at least two instances of laughably poor night-to-day continuity. But the script does take a shocking turn near the end (after teasing us about it first), which makes it more interesting than the typical cops vs. gangsters story. Unfortunately, my VHS version is atrociously subtitled, to the point where about half the dialogue is impossible to read, and the only DVD currently out there seems to be one in Chinese with NO subtitles at all. So, there's no way to see this film in a proper form right now for anyone who doesn't speak Chinese. (**)

Two female police officers named Mona and Lisa (got it?) protect a witness against a gangster - until Lisa (Sharon Young) needs to kill the witness herself in order to save her father's honour. Lisa quits the police, but will she really fight her best friend Mona (Moon Lee)? Another violent action flick made in Hong Kong, hundreds of bullets fired, but with a storyline that makes sense. Comparatively. Voted 5/10.