Lady Reporter (1989) A Showcase for Cynthia Rothrock’s Abilities (Review)

The pseudonyms of Lady Reporter, Eureka’s latest turn in bringing Hong Kong action into the Blu-ray age for UK fans, are funny and emblematic of why these films can be so hard to find away from the guidance of boutique labels. This Cynthia Rothrock vehicle is known as The Blonde Fury, Righting Wrongs II and Above The Law II. How it can be a sequel in two series is puzzling, but anything and everything was fair game back in the halycon years of the Hong Kong industry

In an interview with co-star & director, Mang Hoi, he highlights the genesis of Lady Reporter (let’s stick with that name). A common trait in the 1980s Hong Kong action industry was to have a star prepped and ready to start filming a new movie before any part of the movie even existed, or the director had ideas for central action scenes (as was the case in Jackie Chan’s Police Story). The story was secondary – the writers’ job was effectively to move the movie from one action scene to the next. I am not facetiously talking down to the quality of the storytelling; that happened literally and regularly, especially at Golden Harvest. The studio had Rothrock on the books after Righting Wrongs and wanted her in a new project in the leading role. Rothrock (in her on-disc interview) furthers this by stating the script came into being very late into the production cycle.

While discussing extras, Blu-Ray is rarely kind to these films. Having them showcased with a visual fidelity better than they ever received reveals things not meant to be seen. I counted half a dozen occasions when I saw thin black wires. The illusion is not destroyed – still, being unable to see stunt wires is always the better option.

Let’s take a stab at that story.

There’s a fake money operation in Hong Kong floating money into San Francisco, so the American police send someone in despite the Hong Kong police being against international intervention. That person is Cynthia Rothrock. We meet her with her friend Judy (Elizabeth Lee), a friendship that is the most deliciously camp ultra-1980s thing I’ve seen this side of the Goldbergs. That operation instantly fails, the Hong Kong police remove her legal protection, but Rothrock continues her job undeterred. Judy’s judge father is kidnapped by the criminal operation and poisoned with something that makes him lose his mental faculties to the extent he becomes mad keen on He-Man. There’s also a newspaper owned by Ronny Yu and staffed by Mang Hoi that gets involved for reasons beyond mere convolution. There’s also a police officer who gets involved under-cover as an insurance investigator (Siu-Ho Chin). Yeah, the story is super secondary to what matters in Lady Reporter to the point that it makes no sense by credits end.

Mang Hoi says in his interview – “you don’t get Rothrock to make Hamlet” – you get the black belt in 7 different martial arts for exciting action. The first action blow-out is somewhat different than the other more fight-based scenes, with Rothrock first running away from her pursuers before fighting them on bamboo scaffolding on the side of the building – which ends up falling off the building in typically overwrought Hong-Kong-style-slow-mo. A scene, while strong, feels better suited to someone with strengths in line with her Righting Wrongs co-star Yuen Biao or, the aforementioned, Jackie Chan. 

Jackie Chan is a fitting comparison. In many movies, he faced better fighters than him, meaning he had to outthink them or hit them with ladders – you know, either/or. In Lady Reporter, Rockroth faces Billy Chow, Jeff Falcon, and Vincent Lyn. Officially credited as producer, Corey Yen (Ninja in the Dragon’s Den & The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk) also co-directed and that is at its most apparent in the fights. Fights where Rothrock uses her superior mobility, smarts and even her heels to prevail. The moment where she kicks Billy Chow in the knee and her heel stays is wince-worthy in all the best ways. She uses her smarts against the Falcon and Lyn combo, separating them in the small alleys between shipping containers to take them on with her agility, best exemplified by one of the best spin-kicks this fan of martial arts cinema has ever seen. Once it gets going, Lady Reporter is up there with the finest late 80s Hong Kong action – even if it ends abruptly by blowing up a semi-truck in a quarry. It is Hong Kong, after all, it wouldn’t be true if there weren’t at least a few ridiculous set pieces. 

As strong as Lady Reporter or Blonde Fury (depending on whether you watch the Cantonese or international cut) can be, its always the same story. No female martial arts star – whether it’s Rothrock, Yeoh, Etsuko Shihomi (Sister Street Fighter) or Angela Mao (Hapkido) – ever received the A-projects comparable to their male peers, despite having the ability and more. Meaning, Lady Reporter is a solid movie, albeit one that does little to stick out from the crowd. One for all us completists, I feel.  

Rob’s Archive: Lady Reporter (1989)