User Reviews

Following pretty much the same structure as the highly popular at the time "Lucky Stars" films, "The Inspector Wears Skirts" has action mostly in the first and last 10 minutes, and comedy, romance and a bit of drama in the middle. This causes the film to lag at times, but still, the action sequences are awesome and there ARE some legitimately funny moments as well, courtesy mostly of Sandra Ng. The cast offers a mind-boggling collection of beautiful women, but if I had to pick just one as my favorite, it would probably be the STUNNINGLY GORGEOUS Ellen Chan. However, it should be noted that the girls weren't picked just for their looks, but for their skills as well: they don't seem to be intimidated at all by any physicality required, they throw themselves into their roles with abandon and take quite a few "ouch" bumps (the action was choreographed by Jackie Chan's Stunt Team; IMDb says that Jackie also directed the film, but I'm not so sure this info is accurate). Overall, "The Inspector Wears Skirts" is uneven, but a definite must-see for Girls With Guns fans. (**1/2)

This was a typical Hong Kong police movie with girls being trained to be super cop. It is worth watching because of Ellen Chan (known as Jean) in the movie. She acted as the most pretty and outstanding, and smart girl in the lady cadet. All the lady cadets like her and the guy cadets keep on going after her. Other cast like Sandra Ng Kwan Yue and Alex Toh were unknown at that time. This movie was the masterpiece that makes Ellen Chan one of the most popular actresses in the late 80s and early 90s. When you watch this movie, expect your jaw to drop when you see Ellen.

Tough commando Madam Hu (Sibelle Hu, My Lucky Stars) is recruited to train a hand-picked squad of policewomen to become specialists in diffusing hostage situations. Faced with the task of turning a group of pretty girls, narcissists, and nervous nellies into ideal law enforcers, she enlists the help of her comrade Madam Law (Rothrock, Above the Law) to teach the giggling girls the ropes of apprehending terrorists; it will take their combined efforts to prepare them to take on a pack of deadly jewel thieves looking to steal one of Hong Kong's most precious diamonds.

An enjoyable HK Kung-fu film, though don't expect wall-to-wall action. There's one in the beginning featuring Cynthia Rothrock, and where Sibelle and Cynthia thwart a suicide bomber with a flagpole, a three-on-one weapons encounter involving a staff, sword, and three-section nunchaku, and a daredevil stunt featuring dropkick delivered from 15 feet off the ground. Phew! In the middle of the mayhem is a typical undisciplined girls joining a Commando academy, then through trials and tribulations they become disciplined. It's quite fun with some good comic moments.

Actress Sibelle Hu stars as Madam Wu, a character that is spun-off from the "Five Lucky Stars" movie series. Here, she is in charge of training a group of female Banshee Squad Members of the Hong Kong Police Force. Next door to their academy is the male Tiger Squad Members, led by Inspector Kan (Shui-Fan Fung).

What started out as some rigorous training action quickly was reduced to a prolonged scene set at a roller-skating rink towards the middle of the movie, where the Tiger Squad members try to court the Banshee Squad members. This scene really dragged with unnecessary slapstick humor that distracts from the movie's main plot. The subplots of the members courting one another and the rivalry of Madam Wu and Inspector Kan are not interwoven into the story well, making you wonder what the main objective of this movie's story is. Some butt-kicking and gut-totting action do not take place until the end of the film.

So, if you are a fan of slapstick comedy, give this film a watch. If you are a fan of action movies only, watch the beginning, than forward to the end.

Grade C-

If you're looking for HK-style girl action thrills you won't find very much here. Practically all of it is confined to the beginning and the end of the movie with lots of light comic filler in between. There is a goofy musical production number in a roller rink and Cynthia Rothrock is great but there's very little of what most viewers want from a movie like this..namely watching Chinese girls fight and shoot better than any guy can.

This film is more than great.I love it.the scenario is equally good for a comedy and for an action.The jokes are original and really funny, the fight is an art.The actors fit their roles perfectly.Cynthia Rothrock's presence improves the quality , the adventure that she created on the abandoned ship was a professional performance, its ashame that she didn't take place in the other 3 parts of the movie.Sibelle Hu amazed me...she combines charm , character , fighting skills she is sexy and tough ,elegant and disciplined , she got sens of humor and she is sever when needed.I love her :) And May ,Amy , Aylene they are so much fun :)) , the love stories - Karen and Peter that showed us what an angry women can do , and also Jean and her lover ...but Amy oh this Amy , it is only worthy to watch the movie because of her she always gets into the biggest messes and always turns them into a huge fun well i can tell you more and more and more but why let me when you can see with your eyes this treasure , do not hesitate ,you will not sorry ...

The movie makes you think that it's a police action movie like "In the line of Duty". It's actually not. It's about women police academy students and their misadventures.

Almost third of the movie is spent on the stupid skate rink scene. The other third is spent on boring training scene. There's hardly any story to this movie.

The movie says it's produced by Jackie Chan. If it's true, this is the worst movie he's ever made.

There's a teaser action scene involving Sibelle Hu and Cynthia Rothrock in the beginning. If the movie went on in entirety with this kind of action, it would have been a pretty good action movie. Instead it's mostly acted by novice female actors that are less than a comic relief.

This is the first movie I see Sandra Ng in.

The movie has no focus, and jumps from one topic to another. It's one of the worst movie I've ever seen, from Hong Kong or otherwise.

First, I feel I should mention that I LOVE Hong Kong films. I like Hong Kong action movies, and I've found funny Hong Kong comedies. This movie mixes action and comedy together, but this mix doesn't work this time around. Pretty much all of the female characters in the movie are wimpy whiners and act in other ways that are pretty stereotypical. (Maybe Hong Kong audiences might find this funny, but I didn't.) The men are a bunch of sexist pigs for the most part. Again, this behavior may be funny to a foreign audience, but I don't think it will go well for many westerners. Another big weakness of the movie is that there is really no plot, just a bunch of vignettes stitched together with the flimsiest of excuses. On the plus side, the opening and closing parts of the movie do have some acceptable action. And while this movie may be flawed, it is certainly better than all the awful movies Cynthia Rothrock has made in the U.S.

I had the opportunity to sit down and watch the 1988 Hong Kong action comedy "Ba Wong Fa" (aka "The Inspector Wears Skirts") for the first time here in 2023. Oddly enough, with my interest and fascination with the Hong Kong cinema, then I had actually never heard about the movie prior to getting to watch it.

Writer Kam Fu Cheng put together a fair enough script and storyline here. However, while the movie certainly was watchable, then it was also at the same time not a particularly outstanding movie. So I hadn't really been missing out on a gem in the Hong Kong cinema.

There were a few moments here and there throughout the course of the movie that brought a smile to my lips. But for a comedy, then "Ba Wong Fa" wasn't really all that funny. I wasn't brought to laughter once throughout the course of the movie.

They had a good cast ensemble in the movie, and it was definitely nice to see Sandra Kwan Yue Ng on the screen. And the movie also had Dennis Chan, Ken Lo and Fui-On Shing on the cast list, though in smaller roles. So there were some familiar faces. Oh, and the movie also had Cynthia Rothrock on the cast list, though it wasn't something I found a particular joy in, as I have never been a fan of hers.

I can check this movie off the 'watched-movies-list' now. But I doubt I will ever return to watch director Wellson Chin's movie a second time.

My rating of "Ba Wong Fa" lands on a very bland five out of ten stars.

I've spent so many years looking for a copy of this film on DVD but still, there's nothing. I had it on video, years ago and watched it constantly.. absolutely love this film! Love the action, the sense of humour... It's just a brilliant film! And I'd absolutely LOVE to be able to watch it again!

I'll grant that I may be a bit overly generous, yet in all honestly, there's no aspect of this that stands out to me as being so severely flawed as to detract from the viewing experience. It's not especially clear what's happening in the opening scene, and I could do with more clarity as such. While the final sequence is very well done, it somewhat breaks with the tone established in the rest of the film, and the ending comes rather abruptly. But to my absolute delight, these are the only criticisms that particularly come to mind about 'The inspector wears skirts,' and they're quite minor at that. I think this is outstanding fun, and I'm tempted to immediately rewatch it!

This is a title that should feel very familiar to anyone who has watched (Hollywood) comedies from the 1980s, and more specifically, comedies like 'Stripes' or 'Police Academy' that focus on the shenanigans of trainees in a strictly regimented setting like the military, or ... well, police. An indisputable through-line can be drawn - yet rather than feel derivative, the combination of action and humor is so very well done here that it feels fresh and inviting. Focusing primarily on women instead of men offers another slight variation. Add a tertiary romantic subplot to taste, stir well, and presto! - this is a blast! For all the silliness, the comedy is genuinely funny. Not all the jokes translate (literally), and the English subtitles are imperfect, but the humor is less linguistic than it is situational, and physical. I laughed more than a few times while watching, and that's not always easy to do.

While the comedic element is more prominent for much of the duration, the action is even stronger. Every fight scene and stunt we see is utterly terrific, with superb choreography and orchestration of each instance. There's a lot of intelligence and imagination that went into both elements of 'The inspector wears skirts,' and of course this particularly comes out during the climactic sequence, where the most vibrant displays of martial arts and otherwise action are allowed to flourish. All due commendations to director Wellson Chin, and all the hard-working stunt performers and crew who made even training sequences so unexpectedly exciting, let alone the even more robust moments!

Even putting aside these crucial two facets, however, I really think everything in this movie was done very well. Frankly everything in the production demonstrates a level of care and attentiveness I didn't anticipate, from costume design to props and weapons; from music and lighting, to effects. Though not exactly world class, I think the acting is actually pretty swell; the cast embody their roles with just enough nuance and personality to really help both action and comedy shine. And naturally none of this would be possible without the sharp writing of Kam Fu Cheng, whose screenplay illustrates noteworthy, welcome wit in every regard. I began watching with middling assumptions about the quality of the feature, yet I'm so wonderfully pleased at just how entertaining and well-made this turned out to be!

Sure, there's a lot of sexism in the writing - but only as a major component of the narrative that the female commandos must overcome. Necessarily noting this, otherwise I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't recommend 'The inspector wears skirts' to just about anyone. It's a surprisingly dexterous swirl of action and comedy that's highly enjoyable from start to finish, and whether you specifically like 80s comedies - or martial arts - or are just looking for a good time, I can think of few other pictures I'd so unreservedly suggest!

Two thumbs up from me!