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TOUGH
BEAUTY AND THE SLOPPY SLOP (1995)
Reviewed
by Phil Mills
Mainland
Officer Yiang (Khan) is on the tale of Wai (Lee), a high
profile leader of a money counterfeiting scheme.
Annoyingly, he persistently evades the long arm of the law due
to his men's unfathomable loyalty to the cause but the Police
are handed a loophole when it turns out that his wife is
currently in prison in the Philippines. Yiang goes
undercover to befriend her in the hope that it will lead her
to Wai and during her time inside she is given a contact by
the name of Li (Biao), a Hong Kong policeman who poses as her
husband to keep up the facade. When Li helps to free the
two friends all goes according to plan and the undercovers
become members of Wai's gang, running various errands for him
whilst supposedly hiding from the police. When it
becomes apparent that there is a man behind the man, the two
officers must use all their wits to avoid revealing their
identities and try to bring the entire ring down.
The
first thing that is instantly noticeable about this bizarrely
titled 'Police
Story 3' imitation is that this is low budget film making
of the highest order. Film quality is poor and scripting
is minimal, providing a springboard for a set of action
sequences that will hopefully allow the film to capitalise on
current box office successes. Established talent in the
form of Biao and Khan (albeit stars that are down on their
luck) are drafted in to bring recognisable faces to the
charade but even their combined talent cannot help to make the
story rise into the realms of rational thought. This is
not to say it is completely unwatchable, just in a sort of
P.S.3 through very clouded glasses type of way.
Never
let it be said that a lack of script can mean the film is a
total disaster though as the combination of classic action and
quality cameos make this a film not to be overlooked.
Yuen Biao can never have too much screen time when it comes to
kung fu as far as I'm concerned and although he is not exactly
tested to the full extent of his ability here, he does provide
some noteworthy action moments for this performance. If
anything, it's the choreography that lets the production down
as the main dosage is simplistic to say the least with very
little room for the extravagant. There is however an
attempt to mix it up a little with a few acrobatic tricks
thrown in along with slow motion gunplay that pops up now and
again to impressive effect. Billy Chow is most likely
the cream of the crop as he gets an extended appearance as the
final opponent and it's worth the wait as he unleashes his
powerful bootwork that compliments a satisfactory amount of
martial artistry.
'Tough
Beauty And The Sloppy Slop' has it roots firmly set in the
Hong Kong style of film making that emerged from the 1980's.
Who needs a huge budget or a masterful script when you can put
together a fun action movie with some over-the-top fights
accompanied by a little slap stick comedy. Despite the
cash-in elements taken from other movies of this kind, it
still provides enough entertainment to make it stand out and
with a little more money and thought it could have
become a classic of the genre.
Rating:
 
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