Remembering Corey Yuen #2 – Yes, Madam! 皇家師姐 (1985) Review

Corey Yuen’s follow-up to Ninja in the Dragon’s Den marks the first time the girls-with-guns subgenre is introduced in Hong Kong cinema, showcasing the female protagonist(s) with impressive technical skills in martial arts, gunfights and performing daring stunts. The result is Yes, Madam!, an action comedy starring then-respective rising star and newcomer Michelle Yeoh (she was known as Michelle Khan at the time) and Cynthia Rothrock.

The former already made her film debut in The Owl vs Bombo and appeared as a cameo in Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars before finally landing her chance to play the lead role in Yes, Madam! Yeoh may have been synonymous with action and martial arts movies during her Hong Kong movie era but it’s hard to believe that she had no formal martial arts training when she was originally cast in Yes, Madam! And yet, she proved to be a quick learner as she trained rigorously for the movie and it shows. Right from the opening scene, Yeoh impresses with her agility as a tough police madam, Senior Inspector Ng where she single-handedly stops the criminals after robbing an armoured car.

The story focuses primarily on Ng investigating the case of her former mentor and love interest, Richard Nornen (Michael Harry) who is murdered in his hotel room. His murder apparently has to do with the microfilm that corrupt businessman Henry Tin (James Tien) wants badly. He sends in his assassin (Dick Wei) to get the microfilm and kill the man.

But an unlikely setback happens when Aspirin (Mang Hoi), one of the thieves alongside Strepsil (John Sham) disguised as hotel employees sneak into the rooms to steal whatever valuable things they can get. One of them turns out to be Richard’s room, where Aspirin steals his passport. The passport is useful for their childhood friend, Panadol (Tsui Hark), a forger who makes fake passports and identification cards. Unbeknownst to him, the microfilm is actually in his possession.

Meanwhile, Carrie Morris (Cynthia Rothrock, making an entrance with her introduction of stopping a criminal played by Eddie Maher in the airport) from Scotland Yard arrives in Hong Kong to assist with the investigation. Ng and Carrie don’t see eye to eye at first, given their ways of questioning a suspect but they eventually work well together as a team, notably in the climactic third act in Henry’s mansion facing his men including two of his best fighters played by Dick Wei and Chung Fat. The latter’s funny-looking big moustache looks awkwardly out of place and his overacting doesn’t help either.

Speaking of overacting, James Tien hams it up with his scenery-chewing antagonist turn as Henry Tin. The heavy emphasis on the comedy side with Mang Hoi, John Sham and Tsui Hark showing up as comic relief is the weakest part of the movie. Some of their goofy sides are funny but otherwise, they tend to feel like unnecessary fillers for the sake of cushioning the otherwise violent action thriller.

Back to the third act, credits go to Corey Yuen, who also handles the martial arts direction alongside Mang Hoi in staging some of the best fight sequences ever seen in Hong Kong action cinema. The action showcases Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock’s respective physical prowess in their martial arts moves. The former’s ballet background does help her a lot with her flexibility in performing some of her nifty moves. Rothrock is no slouch either with her extensive martial arts background put to good use during her fight against Dick Wei in the end. Every punches and kicks are all thrillingly staged with its elaborate and visceral fight choreography. It sure looks painful seeing Henry’s men land on the floor below from the indoor balcony or Yeoh’s Ng get kicked onto the glass table.

The success of Yes, Madam! propels the girls-with-guns subgenre at the time from the ’80s through the mid-’90s era, spawning In the Line of Duty film series and others like Angel starring Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima. Corey Yuen revisits his same subgenre five years later in She Shoots Straight and of course, So Close in 2002.