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.
