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俏探女嬌娃 (1977)
Deadly Angels


Reviewed by: ewaffle
Date: 12/22/2009
Summary: Dreadful

"Deadly Angels" is an occasionally coherent mess, a combination of rank misogyny, horrible production values and badly choreographed fight scenes that, at least in the 1:24 Bonzai Media Corporation release we watched, offers no reason to watch it. While there may be some value in the six minutes or so that were cut it would be difficult to imagine based on what was on screen.

A gang that operates in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong steals diamonds and smuggles them from one country to the othe, selling them on the black market. The female couriers are murdered after the gems are delivered. During a jewelry store robbery the gang gun down guards and managers and uses clubbed rifle butts on female customers. Since the forces of law and order are unable to deal with this gang, a multi-national, multi-ethnic group of policewomen is formed to infiltrate the gang, posing as potential gem smugglers. The group is treated to a slide show of naked young women who have been butchered and left for dead, all of them former smugglers. They are led by a new colleague from Scotland Yard, none other than Evelyn Kraft. Since the all the smugglers have been recruited from the ranks of showgirls, it is time for skimpy costumes with lots of feathers.

The three officers, one each from Hong Kong, Korea and Japan, are expert combat marksmen and extraordinarily skilled in unarmed combat. Each of them also has a small, secret weapon. One has a crossbow that fires small darts, another keeps, a spiked ball at the end of a chain in her purse and Dana has a high heeled shoe which converts to a slingshot. She uses it to throw high-explosive pellets which she always has nearby since they are molded into her earrings.

The middle of the picture simply drags along--the undercover cops are hired but none of them is trusted. This makes no sense because one of the constantly repeated issues is that the gem smugglers, the role the infiltrators are playing, are disposable and unimportant. If that is the case the gang leaders wouldn't hire anyone they couldn't be sure would carry out the only mission they get.

“Deadly Angels” is not convincing on any level. As a “girls with guns” (or in this case girls with a crossbow, a mace and an explosive slingshot) entry it fails because of the obvious deficiencies the female leads show in handling weapons. To show how evil she is the gang boss’s girlfriend keeps a deadly lizard in her office which is all too obviously a stuffed toy, particularly when she throws it at someone and it just spins through the air. A brick wall that was breached with a bomb wobbles when a bad guy walks past it. The battle to the death at the end of the movie between the gang and the police ends when Evelyn Kraft finally arrives with a firearm, something that no one had thought of using until then.

Future directors and actions directors abound among the extras, an embarrassment of riches: Corey Yuen Kwai, Yuen Biao, Wong Pau-Gei, Tang Tak-Cheung and many others. This could have been a real feast for action fans

Reviewer Score: 2

Reviewed by: pjshimmer
Date: 11/17/2002

Yet another totally disappointing movie due to my high expectations from reading rave reviews. I don't think this movie was any more ahead of its time than the 007 movies. On the other hand, I can't think of any HK movies from this time that was much better. The rapidly improving technology is making The Deadly Angels (and movies from this time) look very antique.

[6/10]


Reviewed by: Buckeyez
Date: 06/09/2001
Summary: What a classic!

Gosh this was such an enjoying film! There had been so many films in my young days but perhaps this really stood out possibly because it was ahead of its time, the script was so creative! Kinda like a marriage of James Bond and Charlie's Angels in the US, I always wanted to see but gutsier.


Reviewed by: student
Date: 01/11/2000

Deadly Angels was a good movie. Actress Shaw Yin-Yin was by far the best and sexiest of the angels. The director was wise to chose her as the strongest and most feminine of the angels. The training scene where the angels prove their ferocity to their supervisors is great. The clumsy male attackers who fight the angels are clearly no match for the leggy babes who show their superior fighting skills. Shaw Yin-Yin's character (Liu Ping) is the best. She easily bests two male attackers in hand-to-hand combat. The director does a nice close-up of Liu Ping's leg as she kicks one man in the chest and procedes to deliver a punch to the gut. The close-up of her hands fighting off her other male attacker was also a great touch. The best part, though, is when she defeats her two attackers (armed with knives) by using one of her sexy shoes. She delivers two swift blows to one attacker. One blow to his calf and another crushing blow to his back. She procedes to simultaneously fence off both guys then punch them (simultaneously over the edge of the figthing plane) With one man she uses her fist, and with the other, she uses her shoe. (Nice touch!) After defeating her opponents, Liu ping turns her lethal shoe into a sling-shot weapon using explosive earings. The director gives a nice close-up of her face (Nice touch!) while she slings a couple of explosive eaings past her opponents who (luckily for them) dodge the explosives as they blow up a shed behind them.