Michelle Yeoh has been wowing cinemas this year with the excellent Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, but she has been kicking butt for years. 1985 action vehicle Yes Madam! was one of the first that highlighted her athleticism, pairing her with the equally lithe American martial artist Cynthia Rothrock. They play police inspectors investigating the murder of a British agent, leading them on a fisticuff and footicuff series of action sequences before butting heads with a nasty crimelord.
An important and rather groundbreaking action film that showed women were equally adept at ass-kickery, this launched a subgenre of ‘girls with guns’ movies and introduced both Asian and Western audiences to Yeoh and Rothrock. Rothrock went on to dominate straight-to-video female action throughout the late 80s and 90s; Yeoh, now in her 60s, is still a major force to be reckoned with, as this year has shown.
While some of the dialogue and plotting may be a bit shonky, the action still holds up – and this new Blu-ray edition of Yes Madam! from Eureka is packed with extras, new Rothrock interviews, extensive and indepth commentaries and archival material. If you’re a fan of Hong Kong action film and want to see the dawn of Yeoh and Rothrock, Yes Madam! is an essential purchase.
Dir: Corey Yuen (18, 93 mins)
Yes Madam! is released on Mon 12 Dec via Eureka Entertainment
words KEIRON SELF
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