2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Cynthia Rothrock- American kung fu movie fighting queen, June 22, 2007
This review is from: The Blonde Fury (DVD)
Cynthia Rothrock is a policewoman who goes undercover as a newspaper reporter to find out information on the boss of a newspaper station. The boss is suspected of using the newspaper station to counterfeit money. Hoi Meng (the co-director) stars as a sleazy newspaper photographer who can never quite capture his pictures in time. He and Chin Siu Hou help Rothrock bust the counterfeit operation. Chin Siu Hou was magnificent in
Fist of Legend , and looks just as good in his fight in this movie. He goes up against Billy Chow who also starred in
Fist of Legend. I would go over the story more if it was better, but it was unbearable at times, especially at the end. Luckily there are a few good fights.
One thing I found very interesting is that Cynthia Rothrock and Hoi Meng have at least a few scenes together, and they were actually going out in real life at the time. It gives the movie a bit of a unique touch and allows Cynthia to really let loose and play around with her character.
The end is a bit odd. It involves all Americans. Rothrock takes on Vincent Lynn and Jeff Falcon. Don't expect anything too spectacular, just a good action scene. This movie is inferior in every way to
Above the Law, except for the hard hitting action in the middle of the film with Chin Siu Hou, Rothrock, Billy Chow and a Thai boxer. This is not Rothrock's very best performance, but this is the toughest I have ever seen her look. I was a bit diasppointed with Billy Chow's fights, but he is still one of the toughest looking dudes to ever hit the movie screen. Rothrock and Chow only have 1 fight. It is only average, but at the very start of the fight Rothrock throws a couple of full force kicks that Billy Chow blocks with the slightest of ease. Just watch this movie for the action, cause the story is hard to sit through. Luckily it is only 83 minutes long. The music is the only thing besides the fights that helped get me through the movie.
2.5/5
The Deltamac DVD has good picture and sound, and you will have to retranslate a lot of the subtitles yourself.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Chinatown Mojo", November 9, 2010
This review is from: The Blonde Fury (DVD)
For all the renown she's received for being the first legitimate Caucasian superstar in Hong Kong, Cynthia Rothrock really didn't get a lot of solo outings. Even in her biggest films, she'd most likely be playing a complimentary costarring role to folks like Yuen Biao or Michelle Yeoh. While films like
Yes, Madam! and
Above the Law remain synonymous with her name, they were movies in which she wasn't the main attraction of. With the exception of a few misguided Godfrey Ho flicks, "The Blonde Fury" is the only film from Rothrock's initial Hong Kong career to cater to her as a leading actress, and I'm happy to say that it ended up being one of her best.
The story: FBI agent Cindy (Rothrock) is sent to Hong Kong while undercover as a journalist to expose a money forging ring run by a devious gangster (Ronny Yu, director of
Jet Li's Fearless) beating the justice system through kidnap and hired muscle.
In a 2008 online interview, Rothrock cited this movie as containing her favorite and most impressive action scenes of her career; I'll admit that this statement set my hopes unreachably high, but the stuff you see here still impresses. After four well-placed fights and some awesome moves on a scaffolding, the stunts peak as Cindy engages a dozen thugs while climbing on a 40-foot hanging net: doubling was obviously necessary for the bigger moves, but it doesn't detract from the action in which performers had to literally fling themselves across the near-vertical surface of the net while delivering kicks. Back on the ground, she engages Jeffrey Falcon (
Six-String Samurai) and Vincent Lyn (
Operation Condor) as her final opponents; Lyn is disappointingly disposed of early on, but the ever-adamant Jeffrey engages her in a nifty stickfight that counts as one of the best fights of his career as well. Surprisingly enough, the all-around best one-on-one fight of the movie doesn't belong to Cynthia but to kickboxer Billy Chow (
Fist of Legend) and Jackie Chan follower Tai Po (
Project A); Rothrock is afforded an earlier fight with Chow but it just doesn't live up to the ferocity of the later one, which is initially disappointing but at least proves that she isn't insistent on being the only star in her movies.
As is the case with most Hong Kong movies of this type, a great deal of time is given over to comedy scenes, and I'm happy to report that this time, the humor is easily accessible to non-Hong Kong audiences. The biggest sigh of relief is breathed for Cynthia herself, who finally sheds the role of the uptight buzzkill and gets to have some fun, whether by resolving a burglar & rat invasion of her home or by nursing an afflicted Roy Chiao (
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) in the mental hospital, getting food spit in her face in the process. There's a slightly uncomfortable bit involving abuse of the mentally handicapped (again, see Chiao), but it's resolved before too long. A bit of annoying exposition slows the film down in areas, but it generally flows smoothly and the characters are memorable, including co-director Mang Hoi as a shenanigan-prone reporter and Wu Ma (
Chinese Ghost Story) as his rather abusive father.
It's a shame that this one doesn't have any nominations or even a wider release to legitimize all of its positive points, but real Rothrock fans ought to be glad that they have unrecognized gems to brag about. While it's probably not worth paying the $40+ Amazon sellers are currently charging for it, it's worth your time to search the internet for better deals. In the long run, it's a must-have for fans and a good way to introduce newbies to the Lady Dragon.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
