Black Cat in Jail (2000) User Reviews

Not an action movie, but a tearjerker; quite effective on those terms

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 8 November 2008]

The original "Black Cat" (1991) was essentially the Hong Kong version of the French hit "Nikita", and it gave Jade Leung her first and still most famous screen role to date. "Black Cat In Jail" is the third film in the series, and if you're expecting an action film like the previous two, or even a typical Women-In-Prison film, forget it. It does open with Jade Leung killing people - but when she accidentally endangers a young boy in the process, she stalls to save him, giving enough time to the police to arrest her and send her to jail. There, the focus is not exclusively on her; she shares it with 3 other prisoners that she slowly befriends, and each of them is given her own story and flashback on how she got there. There is no real "plot" to the movie, it's mostly a series of incidents. And there is very little violence or sleaziness. The movie is basically a soap opera, but thanks to good, believable performances all around, it manages to be quite moving at times. Just take it for what it is, and not for what you expect it to be. (**1/2)