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Righting Wrongs

"You must be ok to have a Porsche."
Starring: Yuen Biao, Cynthia Rothrock, James Tien, Wu Ma
Rating: 5.5/10
Directed By: Cory Yuen
Runtime: 96 minutes

Ah, kung-fu. Admittedly an old love of mine and one I will take every opportunity to enjoy, especially free kung-fu. Which leads us to the dvd Righting Wrongs, though on this new edition it's called Above the Law which is bound to confuse legions of Steven Seagal fans wondering why he looks like Yuen Biao. Despite the bizarre name change, Righting Wrongs is a fun look at the genesis period of the 1980s Hong Kong film explosion replete with gunfights, running about and fisticuffs galore. The film was produced "with a foreign style. The theme was modeled heavily on Western films," according to producer/actor Biao which begs the question good cybermonkey Nate Hamilton asked me the other night, "why is it the Asians take every good idea we have and make it better?" If you have ever watched Seagal's Above the Law, Righting Wrongs makes a decent argument.

Biao says "it was about a public prosecutor who took matters into his own hands when he couldn't solve his case. There are lots of stories like this. So we had this theme but there was too much dialog so I said, 'why not add some action, some fighting?'" I say there's some plot about drug-dealing killers going free and Yuen feels human dignity is at stake so he goes all Frank Castle to make sure righteousness is upheld. Of course this involves major-league violence, which is what this film's really about. I could bore you with a Falling Down (1993) analogy regarding a man's violated sense of justice or a Dostoevskian parallel about reaping what one sews but this is made obvious by the "overabundance of exposition." What you wanna know is "how much of this 97 minutes is boring?" Not a lot. Yuen sums it up pretty good. He's either expounding or sneaking or detecting or leaping out a window or dangling 4000' from a plane (he did too) or whuppin' on somebody, all the while emanating moral indignation.

Cynthia Rothrock is a British cop, all bad-ass attitude. Anyone who doesn't think she kicks ass is sadly mistaken. She's an undefeated World Karate Champion in Forms and Weapons from 1980-1985 and almost every time she's on-screen she's grunting like Monica Seles and teaching people respect. Her job is to figure out Yuen Biao's the Punisher and bring him in. She's quite the detective as well when she isn't introducing someone's elbow to their asshole. "As a foreign female action artist, Rothrock is irreplaceable, " quotes Biao, "the intention was purely to sell this film back to the foreign markets" and with Rothrock and Grand Champion of U.S. Open Karate Karen Sheperd on the roster this feat was assured. She gets a lot of good comedic dialog with her junior partner, Bad Egg (Corey Yuen), a rarity for Rothrock.

The film opens with a flaming car which explodes and an assassination where the Bad Guys pull up three feet from a dude and empty a full Uzi clip into him - to make sure, I guess. Too bad it was in front of Yuen Biao. Yuen's fight in the parking garage is everything that made Hong Kong film great back in the day; crazy stunts, more flipping cars, Biao jumping through a windshield, grabbing a bat and fucking some guys up. The Bad Guys immediately show more ruthlessness by killing a whole family in front of their four kids, then blowing the kids up. Then, to prove exactly how bad they are, stab some guy in the head on camera! Of course, in the mighty Marvel Team-Up tradition, Rothrock catches Biao whuppin' some people vigilante-style and attempts to arrest him utilizing prop-fu to it's finest. Confusion, then conflict, then a truce to combat the greater threat.

The Bad Guys really don't rest on their laurels and are reminiscent of those in Invasion USA (1985) in that idle hands are the devil's workshop. If offscreen for a moment you can be sure they're up to no good. Case in point; a dirty cop strangles a kid's grandpa with an old rope and tries to choke the kid out! He is disturbed by Bad Egg, whose ass he beats and kills! This serves to bring Rothrock (law and order) to Biao's side (truth and justice). Even Danny Lee ended up seeing it Chow Yun Fat's way in The Killer (1989); no less Rothrock and Biao. After the partnership is solidified, Biao heads off home and is ambushed by Karate Champ Peter Cunningham! The fight is in apartment so environment is key. Very kick-heavy, playing to Cunningham's strength. He's an assassin so Biao makes short work of him with a swift knee to the head (C.M. Punk and KENTA's Go To Sleep). I put this positive in because the film is really about how bad the Bad Guys are and Rothrock and Biao just react. Karen Sheperd shanks a teen then hits the jugular right in front of Rothrock, who is powerless to stop it. She'll react, though. No gun? No problem. Rothrock will chase you down and beat your ass to death. If their fights in tournaments were this good, Sheperd and Rothrock should have their own "best of" DVDs. The best part is the fight is full of Rothrock's trademark "I'm ready" head whip. Given a gun, however, and Rothrock will kill you, flat out. The fight in the hanger is awesome! Bring 'em all! More really bad things happen by the remaining Bad Guys and the movie could only end with a knock-down, drag-out battle in the sky as Biao makes one last ditch effort for justice!

Yeah, I skip a lot but really watching the action unfold is the joy of Righting Wrongs. It provides not only decent entertainment but opens a window to the beginnings of Modern Hong Kong Cinema which would so influence American films of the late 90s and today. The action is top notch and the international cast does a passable job at acting and a superior job at crazy kung-fu badness. The villains are ruthless to a level rarely seen in action cinema and the title doesn't lie - wrongs get made and then righted so no false advertising. The extras feature a 13 min. Rothrock interview; a 17 min. Yuen Biao interview; and 18 min. Peter Cunningham interview, commentary and 22 min. of extra endings. Not bad for free if you buy the stellar Flashpoint (2007) at Best Buy.



Rothrock vs Sheperd!