# 45 — Righting Wrongs
This is part of an ongoing, illustrated countdown of my 49 1/2 most essential action movies. Last week, I talked about a melon farmer trying to leave a violent past behind the fruits of his new labor.
Also known as “Above the Law” (as it’s labeled on my Dragon Dynasty DVD), this is perhaps my favorite feature for both Yuen Biao and Cynthia Rothrock. This is quintessential Action Cop juice. Action Cops use action methods to solve action problems. Sometimes you have to go above the law to right a few wrongs (I think this is generally bad practice in real life, in case any young impressionable minds are reading), occasionally causing collateral damage, putting civilian lives at risk, and giving the police chief a few heart attacks, just to keep him on his toes. I would love to live in a world where Love Cops resonate with audiences, but the truth is that we’re stuck in this pit where judges inspire dread, McClanes die hard, and Samurai Cops make sushi out of their oath to protect and serve. One of the only things we’ve got to make sense of our own madness and cope with the chaos is action cinema. Forgive me, I got lost in a hazy rumination over the corrupted nature of man and his connection to violent media. We were talking about Action Cops.
Both Biao and Rothrock get great character introductions, the former being a prosecutor that blows up vehicles by shooting them with his gun at the end of a big car chase. During the opener, he literally throws “the book” (The Book of Law, or maybe Lawyers For Dummies) at an assailant to stop a bullet. The targeted judge is killed anyways, and the book is shown being trampled by frightened pedestrians. I worry that this guy is going to take the wrong lessons from this metaphor. Rothrock, playing police inspector Cindy Si, shows up at a Mahjong parlor where she beats up some goons while wearing a bright yellow top and special skirt, designed not to impede her movement. It’s fun to watch what looks like an elementary school teacher breaking up a crime ring, and I think more casual stunt clothing should be utilized in movies these days beyond the tactical & practical. I know they sort of do this, I just want more unassuming outfits in action movies. She starts flipping around on tables, and pulls her skirt back to reveal handcuffs holstered to her leg. Then it starts turning into Jackie Chan style prop fighting until she’s cuffed four guys to a chair. It’s a great scene.
So we have a boom vs bust approach to law enforcement, and many wrongs to be written. You get the feeling these two are going to butt heads with each other, and maybe have one of those classic confrontations where they debate each others approach to violence and vigilante justice using a model train set to illustrate the dangers of leaving the tracks. Both of them get to showcase their abilities in a great collection of action scenes, too. Just about every outburst of fisticuffs rises above the usual standards. Rothrock gets to have a classic showdown in a mall against Karen Sheperd, and I didn’t understand the significance of that until I read that she was a Karate World Champion in forms, a pioneer for women in martial arts and an offscreen rival of Rothrock. The fight lives up to the lore.
Meanwhile, Biao dodges cars in a parking garage before kicking the drivers through their windows, reminiscent of Jackie Chan’s work in Police Story. He’s incredibly nimble, and I love choreography designed around fending off attacks, treating the environment like a playground for tight maneuvers. His martial arts and athletic ability is amazing (please seek out “The Prodigal Son” if you have a chance), and the movie really showcases his ability to navigate all manner of space, from buildings to moving vehicles.
The finale features a tremendous escalation of action, but also of consequence. One thing I really like about Hong Kong action and crime films is their affinity for melodrama. It can sometimes be overwrought, but I think action cinema thrives in being operatic. The dance-like nature of fight choreography can be used as a crescendo for morality plays, and in this movie, the action seems to gradually escalate until the very end. The good guys (I guess we can call them that) are very likable, while the baddies contain an extra dose of evil. This makes it a lot easier to root for *ahem* alternative forms of law enforcement, in spite of the repercussions. I won’t say what happens, but there are multiple endings to this film. The cut that I’ve seen has what I assumed was the bad ending. But then I looked up what the other ending is, and it might be more thematically appropriate, while remaining almost as downbeat. I don’t think you can go wrong either way. Classic, essential Action Copping.
