Joyce Godenzi stars as Mina, a tough cop who's hot on the trail of a gang of Vietnamese terrorists led by Yuen Wah. Complicating matters a bit are her sisters-in-law, who also happen to work for her. They never liked the "half-breed" marrying into the family, and as such, refuse to fully co-operate with her until a tragedy pulls the family together.

The plot here is really nothing special and the script is a bit flat. However, most of the actors here give performances that give their characters some credibility. There are some scenes in this movie that -- while still fairly melodramatic -- are actually touching. Don't get me wrong, even though this is a female-dominated movie and I just used the word "touching," this is no soap-opera cop drama. At its' heart, She Shoots Straight is an action movie and it delivers in spades. From a chase where Godenzi goes after the villains by leaping on top of various moving cars to a shootout seen thorough infrared lenses, there's inventive action and plenty of it throughout the film. The movie's real showstopper is the finale, where Godenzi takes on a female bodybuilder in a scene that's both brutal and beautiful at the same time.

Note: Joyce Godenzi (sometimes credited as Joyce Mina Godenzi or simply Mina Godenzi) is Sammo Hung's wife. Before their marriage in 1995, Sammo (through his powers as a producer) custom-made several roles for her, even going as far as teaching her a bit of martial arts himself, since she had no training at all beforehand. Despite roles in several big movies, Godenzi never caught on with HK audiences, even though (as evidenced in this movie) she was quite competent in both the action and acting arenas. Some people have surmised it was Godenzi's mixed heritage, rather than a lack of talent, that caused HK audiences to react badly to her.

A review of the DVD for this movie can be found here

Back to Movie Review index