The recent DVD release of "China Heat" features one of the slickest-looking transfers I've seen so far for a Hong Kong film with a medium budget. But the packaging is kind of misleading: it promotes Sibelle Hu as the female lead, when in fact she largely stays in the background, letting Sherry Han and Cindy Mong handle most of the action. Which is probably not a bad thing, as Sherry and Cindy both outclass Sibelle here and this movie belongs to them (according to IMDb they never made another one, which is a shame). The male lead is Michael Depasquale, playing an American cop helping the three policewomen capture a drug kingpin who escaped while he was being transferred from the US back to China. It's rather awkward to hear ALL the characters, many of whom are American, speaking perfect Chinese, but I guess it's the reverse side of the usual English dubbing of HK movies. Another awkward moment occurs when one of the girls is attacked in her hotel room by one of the villain's thugs....she defends herself and seems to get the upper hand, the action cuts to elsewhere, and when we see her again she has been captured and taken to a warehouse. After a slow middle section, the last part of the movie is pretty much all shooting and fighting, so even though "China Heat" is generic and unmemorable, at least it delivers enough action for fans of the genre. (**)
4 Reviews
Dramatized for the first half, while the second half was untold
zzmale8 April 2004
The literal translation of the title of this movie is: Chinese Police Flowers
In Chinese, flowers also represents beautiful women, hence, police flowers means female cops.
This movie is based on the true story of one of the joint China-USA counter-narcotic operations in the 1980's, and it is a dramatized version of one counter narcotic trafficking operation.
What was not told is what happened in the real life after the bad guys were caught: USA refused to repatriate the convicted criminal back to China because he claimed that if he were sent back, he would be persecuted in Chinese jail, but he was not jailed for long in USA either because he was paroled. As soon as he gained his freedom, he went back to the old business but before USA authorities could arrest him again, he was killed by local Chinese gangsters in Chinatown of New York City.
This part was willfully ignored, and the idea of making a sequel on this second half was also killed because exposing this second part would mean the efforts the cops spent was wasted and the final justice was done by criminals, not the law enforcements.
In Chinese, flowers also represents beautiful women, hence, police flowers means female cops.
This movie is based on the true story of one of the joint China-USA counter-narcotic operations in the 1980's, and it is a dramatized version of one counter narcotic trafficking operation.
What was not told is what happened in the real life after the bad guys were caught: USA refused to repatriate the convicted criminal back to China because he claimed that if he were sent back, he would be persecuted in Chinese jail, but he was not jailed for long in USA either because he was paroled. As soon as he gained his freedom, he went back to the old business but before USA authorities could arrest him again, he was killed by local Chinese gangsters in Chinatown of New York City.
This part was willfully ignored, and the idea of making a sequel on this second half was also killed because exposing this second part would mean the efforts the cops spent was wasted and the final justice was done by criminals, not the law enforcements.
China Heat (1992)
gorthu19 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I was warned not to get this movie by a few people, and I should have listened. Just about every scene is painful to watch. The story is about a cop played by Sibelle Hu (from Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars), 2 other female cops, and Michael Depasquale Jr (King of the Kickboxers) looking for a killer. The story is not worth going over, so I may as well talk about the fight scenes. To my surprise, there is some good fighting in this train wreck of a movie.
The first major fight has the villain taking on a few people. I have never seen this guy before, but I thought he looked good. Some good moves, and overall an above average fight scene. I did some research on hkcinemagic and the villain's name is Allen Lan Lai Han. It turns out he was the director of a great fighting movie called Death Games (starring Fan Siu Wong, Collin Chou and Billy Chow), an assistant action director on Kung Fu Hustle, and he directed the action in China Heat.
Next fight has one of the female cops taking on about 10 guys. Great choreography and a very nice fight scene. This woman blew me away with her skills. If there were a couple more scenes like this, the movie probably would have gotten a much better rating.
Next major fight has Mark Houghton (Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon) vs Michael Depasquale Jr. At the same time Sibelle Hu and the other female cop fight Sophia Crawford (US SEALS 2). There is some good kickboxing choreography with Mark Houghton and Michael Depasquale Jr, but the Sophia Crawford fight is only average at best. Sibelle Hu is doubled for almost every move she makes and Sophia Crawford doesn't really get to show off. Too bad, because Crawford has good skills.
The final fight is Michael Depasquale Jr vs the villain Allen Lan. Sadly, they barely fight, and it is mostly a bad chase scene. Horrible way to finish the movie.
There are a lot of other little fights, but I only went over the ones I felt were worth talking about.
The picture quality on the Image Entertainment DVD has been remastered and it looks great.
The first major fight has the villain taking on a few people. I have never seen this guy before, but I thought he looked good. Some good moves, and overall an above average fight scene. I did some research on hkcinemagic and the villain's name is Allen Lan Lai Han. It turns out he was the director of a great fighting movie called Death Games (starring Fan Siu Wong, Collin Chou and Billy Chow), an assistant action director on Kung Fu Hustle, and he directed the action in China Heat.
Next fight has one of the female cops taking on about 10 guys. Great choreography and a very nice fight scene. This woman blew me away with her skills. If there were a couple more scenes like this, the movie probably would have gotten a much better rating.
Next major fight has Mark Houghton (Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon) vs Michael Depasquale Jr. At the same time Sibelle Hu and the other female cop fight Sophia Crawford (US SEALS 2). There is some good kickboxing choreography with Mark Houghton and Michael Depasquale Jr, but the Sophia Crawford fight is only average at best. Sibelle Hu is doubled for almost every move she makes and Sophia Crawford doesn't really get to show off. Too bad, because Crawford has good skills.
The final fight is Michael Depasquale Jr vs the villain Allen Lan. Sadly, they barely fight, and it is mostly a bad chase scene. Horrible way to finish the movie.
There are a lot of other little fights, but I only went over the ones I felt were worth talking about.
The picture quality on the Image Entertainment DVD has been remastered and it looks great.
DARK SOULS ROLLING MEME FITS PERFECTLY FOR THIS MOVIE CAW CAW
AngryCrow199110 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
YOU WILL SEE A MAN DODGE A ROCKET LAUNCHER BY JUST JUMPING OUT OF THE SMOKE CAW CAW
YOU WILL SEE DARK SOULS ROLLING CAW CAW
YOU WILL SEE PRETTY LADIES GET CAPTURED CAW CAW (NOTHING TO SEXY SADLY CAW CAW)
YOU WILL SEE A BAD RAINBOW SIX SIEGE PLAYER IN A HOSTAGE SITUATION CAW CAW
WELL WORTH A WATCH CAW CAW, THE EDITING IS HILARIOUS CAW CAW
YOU WILL SEE DARK SOULS ROLLING CAW CAW
YOU WILL SEE PRETTY LADIES GET CAPTURED CAW CAW (NOTHING TO SEXY SADLY CAW CAW)
YOU WILL SEE A BAD RAINBOW SIX SIEGE PLAYER IN A HOSTAGE SITUATION CAW CAW
WELL WORTH A WATCH CAW CAW, THE EDITING IS HILARIOUS CAW CAW
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