Lethal Angels

Year:2006
Director:Steve Cheng Wai-Man
Cast:Tin Sum, Andy On Chi-Kit, Jordan Chan Siu-Chun, Cherrie Ying Choi-Yi, Jewel Li Fei, Meme Tian, Viva Wei Hua, Tony Ho Wah-Chiu, Samuel Pang King-Chi, Gao Yuan-Ping, Yuan Yuan, Fung Hak-On, Nic Yan, Chan Yee-Ting
Description:
Red-blooded
males take note. Director Steve Cheng's Lethal
Angels cribs liberally
from Wong Jing's ultra-successful Naked Killer
formula, meaning this movie has babes, bullets, and
even some skin. However, unlike Naked Killer,
Lethal Angels is only a low-budget knockoff
of Hong Kong's erotic action thriller genre, and suffers
greatly for it. The production design is less lurid,
the action less exciting, and the eroticism strictly
low rent. The stars aren't much to write home about
either. Lethal Angels has Jordan Chan, but
he's only in a supporting role that requires the fallen
star to do little besides deliver occasionally horny
dialogue. Former Black Mask Andy On is the male lead
here, but all he does is look handsome and act inert.
That leaves it to the babes: buxom Taiwanese model
Tin Sum and the always welcome Cherrie Ying. Plus,
this film has a Category III rating. Red-blooded males
must really be paying attention now.
Sadly, if that attention
is coming from the understandable desire to see either
Tin Sum or Cherrie Ying get their groove on, then
the viewer will be disappointed, because neither turns
in a revealing or sexy performance. Audiences may
also be disappointed because Lethal Angels
is not good movie, and is only tolerable because it's
a recent attempt at a once-popular Hong Kong Cinema
genre. Tin Sum stars as Yoyo, who joined a quartet
of killer babes led by Winnie after her
family was offed by evil triads led by a gloriously
overacting Tony Ho Wah-Chiu. Winnie now works with
Emma , Dora , and Macy to take out horny evil bastards, but their man-killing
exploits draw the attentions of cops Jet
and Darren . Jet is especially intrigued
because Yoyo happens to be his college sweetheart,
who disappeared after her family got killed. At the
time, Jet was at the movie theater, waiting in the
rain for Yoyo to show up for their date. She never
did because she went off to be an assassin, leaving
Jet bitter and thoroughly wet.
Jet is eager to reconnect
with Yoyo, but she's now undercover in a new mission,
to kill mob boss Bowen . Yoyo is posing
as a nurse to Bowen's daughter Sandy, with an eye
on offing him, his wife, his second-in-command Bowell,
and everyone else who may be around when it's time
to do the deed. However, this is a personal vendetta
for Winnie, who was once viciously rejected by Bowen,
so she wants Bowen's daughter dead too. Yoyo shows
expected hesitation over murdering completely innocent
youngsters, and Emma shares that feeling. Dora and
Macy do not, however, leading to the possibility of
a two-on-two grudge match between hot babes that could
justify the cost of a Lethal Angels DVD purchase.
However, that battle would probably occur in a film
with a larger budget, and Lethal Angels simply
doesn't have it. The action occurs only sporadically,
and is only average stuff, with some obvious wirework
and quick-cut doubling. Also, the gunplay is fake
to the point of distraction; the filmmakers opt for
CGI instead of dummy rounds, using obvious post-production
work to create muzzle flashes. Not surprisingly, it
looks terrible. With the shrinking of the film industry,
it's understandable that they cut some costs. However,
this sort of cheapness is inexcusable.
Lethal Angels isn't
so bad that it's offensive, ala Wong Jing's
exceptionally tasteless Naked Weapon. Lethal
Angels is simply average and unspectacular, like
one of those late nineties thrillers starring either
Angie Cheung Wai-Yee or Pinky Cheung Man-Chi. Those
jonesing for this sort of cheap exploitation thriller
may be amused, and the filmmakers at least keep the
lame filler to a minimum. However, the meat of the
film hardy compensates. The revenge plot is pure boredom,
the story development lazy and full of holes, the
content rather tame for its rating, and the star pairings
generate as much heat as a raw hunk
of lead. Also, the sex and titillation are practically
nonexistent; there's a naked striptease by Viva Wei
in the first ten minutes, but after that nada. This
is a film where nothing surprising or remotely buzzworthy
occurs; the whole could probably be considered laughable,
but laughing may require more effort than the film
is really worth. Basically, Lethal Angels rates
a solid "ehhh" on the entertainment meter,
and will probably never have the words, "It was
great," or even "I thought it was good,"
attached to it. Phrases that could be heard include,
"It was okay," or "I didn't hate it,"
or "I got what I expected." Truthfully,
I got what I expected too, so I shouldn't be complaining.
Regardless, I feel the urge to continue griping.