Huang jia shi jie zhi: Zhong jian ren (1990)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Directors:

Chuen-Yee Cha
Chris Lee

Release Date:

30 August 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action

Plot:

Michelle is a triad leader whose wedding is interrupted when a rival gang tires to kill her but manages to kill the groom instead. The bride subsequently takes revenge.

Plot Keywords:

Sequel

Cast

Cynthia Khan	...	Yang Lei-Ching
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chuen-Yee Cha
Billy Chow	...	The General
Bruce Fontaine	...	Hit Man
Ricky Hung
Mark King	...	CIA unit Chief
Alvina Kong	...	May
Kong Lau	...	Officer Wong
Chris Lee	...	Kiler in Shades
Lieh Lo	...	Alan's Godfather
Vincent Lyn
Kim Penn	...	The General's Secretary
Wai Shum	...	Chau
Adrian Tang
Steve Tartalia	...	Killer in shades
Kenneth Tsang	...	Fan Yau-Tim
David Wu	...	David Ng
Simon Yam	...	Chung

Also Known As:

Middle Man (Hong Kong: English title) (video title)
In the Line of Duty 5: Middle Man (International: English title)
In the Line of Fire 3
Key Witness
Police Assassins 2
Supercops
Wong ga si je ji: Jung gaan yan (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

Germany:100 min | Australia:90 min | Hong Kong:94 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Germany:18

Company:

D & B Films Co. Ltd.

Movie Connections:

Follows Wong ga jin si (1986)

A definite step down from parts III & IV, though not without its virtues

This film opens with a bang: Cynthia Khan chases a car driver on foot in a garage, jumps and kicks him through the windshield (!), they start fighting, he runs, she chases him, they continue fighting in a very narrow alley, and they conclude their fight on not one but TWO moving vehicles, with a third one coming into play at the end. It's a sequence that lesser movies might have used as the climax, but here it's just the opener. The action and fight scenes are generally first-rate, and the notable stunts include a man crashing onto a car from a certain height (if the stuntman wasn't injured during that one, an angel must have been protecting him!), and Cynthia dangling from the edge of a skyscraper's roof (you can see the streets far below her). However, good as the action is, there is nothing in "ITLOD V" that can fully match the Dick Wei & Michiko Nishiwaki vs. Cynthia Khan or the Donnie Yen vs. Michael Woods climactic fights of parts "III" and "IV", respectively. And the plot is unnecessarily convoluted with multiple characters and never quite grabs you the way it should. Still, Cynthia in action is always worth seeing. Michelle Yeoh was largely unknown to Western audiences until her role in Jackie Chan's "Police Story III" - I wonder what might have happened if Jackie had picked Cynthia as his partner in one film. She's just as good and quick in action as Michelle, and prettier too (IMO). (**1/2)

(Note: as the other reviewer said, THIS is the fifth part of the ITLOD series, though if you search the title on IMDb it will lead you on a wrong page - just check the plot summary - with the right cover! Quite a mix-up)