Remembering Corey Yuen #3 – Righting Wrongs 執法先鋒 (1986) Review
Yuen Biao goes dark — figuratively speaking, that is — in Corey Yuen’s bleak action thriller Righting Wrongs, marking the latter’s return to Hong Kong cinema after venturing into his first English-language film No Retreat, No Surrender. That movie, of course, was better known for introducing Jean-Claude Van Damme, who plays the Soviet martial artist antagonist, Ivan Kraschinsky. The rest of the movie is unfortunately more of a Karate Kid ripoff, complete with amateurish acting and some bizarre directorial choices (remember the ghost of Bruce Lee played by Kim Tai-Chung shows up in Jason Stillwell’s (Kurt McKinney) front door to train him better in martial arts techniques?).
Fortunately, Righting Wrongs is Yuen’s significant return-to-form direction with his penchant for goofy comedy moments toned down in favour of a more gritty action-movie approach. The comedy here in question has Corey Yuen himself playing the comic relief as an incompetent cop who partnered with Senior Inspector Sandy Jones (Cynthia Rothrock). The former’s father played by Wu Ma (who earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination in the Hong Kong Film Awards) is a uniformed police officer veteran, where the hilarious and even poignant father-son relationship is surprisingly one of the highlights in this movie.
Yuen Biao, who leads the movie as Ha Ling Ching, plays the prosecutor who moonlights as a vigilante who takes matters into his own hands whenever a criminal gets off scot-free. His latest case involves two crooked criminals (James Tien and Paul Chang Chung), who both end up dead and the murder has to do with Superintendent Wong (Melvin Wong). Complicating matters is Sandy, who’s in charge of investigating Ha and determines to arrest him for vigilante justice.
The story — credited to Szeto Cheuk-Hon (Roy Szeto) and Barry Wong — combines the morally grey act of vigilantism populated by Charles Bronson-starred Death Wish in 1974 into the movie’s themes of injustice and corruption. Just don’t expect the story to delve deep into the subject matter but Corey Yuen’s unusually grim approach remains a rarity in his illustrious action-movie filmography. He doesn’t shy away from the pessimistic nature of the movie with one of them being a shocking moment that I didn’t see it coming. Then, there are the action scenes and the movie doesn’t disappoint in this area.
Yuen Biao, who is also in charge of the martial arts direction alongside Corey Yuen with Mang Hoi and Hsu Hsia, the fight scenes are some of the best I’ve ever seen. Case in point, Yuen Biao’s fights against Cynthia Rothrock in the mansion and later, a showdown against Melvin Wong in the hangar are worth mentioning here. The movie also features some impressively staged daring stunts, one of which has Yuen Biao stuck in between the two screeching cars underneath while being dragged along the ground in the parking lot. Let’s not forget about Cynthia Rothrock, whose high-kicking martial arts skills are put to good use, notably her encounter with Wong’s assassin, Connie (Karen Sheperd). Despite earning a well-deserved Best Action Choreography nomination in the Hong Kong Film Awards, the movie lost to Ching Siu-Tung’s Witch from Nepal in this category.
As for the actors, Yuen Biao plays one of his rare dramatic performances as Ha Ling Ching, proving his acting prowess apart from his agility and acrobatic skills in martial arts. Cynthia Rothrock delivers strong support as the no-nonsense Sandy Jones while Melvin Wong equally deserves mention playing the sneaky antagonist role as Superintendent Wong.
Righting Wrongs has three different endings released for the original Hong Kong, Taiwan and international versions. If possible, look for the Hong Kong version — easily the best one out there since it culminates in a nihilistic manner that fits the overall downbeat tone of the movie. Also, look out for then-13-year-old Fan Siu-Wong, who plays the boy witnessing the murder.
