Magnificent Warriors (1987)

aka Yes, Madam 3 (though there are other movies going by that title as well, because what Zombis are to Italy, the Yes, Madam films are to Hongkong)

Original title: 中華戰士

During the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. Chinese secret agent/whip-wielding adventurer and pilot Ming (Michelle Yeoh) is sent to a town in Bhutan to make contact with one Secret Agent 001 (Derek Yee Tung-Sing) who has been stationed there running the local “town lord” (that’s what the subtitles call him) named Youda (Lowell Lo Koon-Ting). Youda is trying to stem the tide of Japanese activity there by the power of cringing and delays, also cringing delays. Up until a couple of days ago, this has worked out well enough but now the Japanese commander General Toga (Matsui Tetsuya) is putting on a bit of a reign of terror to soften up the population for the building of a poison gas factory. Ming’s job is it to evacuate 001 and Youda. Obviously, various complications ensue, just starting with the fact that our heroine’s aircraft lost all its fuel during an unlucky hit in an air battle just before she landed.

It takes a bit of time for Ming to actually make contact with Secret Agent 001, for a pigeon related incident means she believes a Wandering Conman (Richard Ng Yiu-Hon) to be him, at least for two or three scenes. The Conman, if he starts following the better nature he repeatedly seems to have, might come in handy as an additional partner, at least. 001 for his part doesn’t actually want to be evacuated but plans sabotaging the Japanese factory for good; the more pliable Youda only wants to bring his girlfriend, the particularly dubiously named Chin Chin (Lau Chin-Dai).

Of course, this is not going to be a movie about a group of people running away, but one about a group of very different people coming together (One China-style, because, well…) kicking the invaders’ ass. And getting a lot of people killed in the process, but that’s par for the patriotic course, whatever patria it is you’re sending people to their deaths for.

In its final third, David Chung Chi-Man’s Magnificent Warriors does lay its patriotism on a bit thick for my taste, though it has to be said that Imperial Japan’s as good an enemy as you get when you want to get patriotic without turning unpleasantly nationalistic, particularly from a Chinese perspective. Thematically, the patriotism is also well connected with some unexpected character growth, where cowardly as well as courageous Youda grows thanks to his patriotism, and the Conman connects it to his unexpected to himself growing wish of making the lives of people in general better. Which is more complex character work than you usually get or expect from these films. I certainly appreciated it.

At the very least, Chung doesn’t really let that patriotism get in the way of the typical maximalist joys of this phase of Hong Kong action cinema. There are quotes and little nods towards Hong Kong and Western cinema aplenty here, but every borrowed bit is twisted and turned in ways you only get from this particular part of cinema, at this specific time. So there’s some joyful hinting and nodding towards Indiana Jones in Michelle Yeoh’s character, but she’s wielding her whip a lot more artistically, keeping off a whole horde of men; while also kicking them in the face, of course. And as anyone going into a Michelle Yeoh movie from this phase of her career knows, there’s little more joyful than watching her kick guys in their faces.

Joyfulness is the watch word for Yeoh’s work this early in her movie career as a whole. While she’s sometimes still a little rough around the edges when she’s emoting melodramatically, she is such a joyful presence throughout, always looking as if she were born to kick faces, shoot machineguns (grinning gleefully), save orphans and fly planes. Like a woman doing exactly what she wants to do in a way nobody else could, and loving every second of it.

And even though Chung isn’t one of the great stylists of his era and place, his straightforward filmmaking style never gets in the way of letting his actors and stunt people do what they do best. He seems to interpret his job as a responsibility to not let a moment of insane stunt work – just look at the prologue, the dogfight, the climax or every damn minute of the film – or joyful abandon they deliver go to waste, and he fulfils this responsibility perfectly.