I Love Maria

Imaginative action sequences (particularly the clash of two robots, and one involving a flying motorcycle), impressive special effects (mostly just good old-fashioned mechanical stuff), and Sally Yeh's incredible beauty and solid acting make up for a less-than-engaging story in this bizarre Hong Kong action-fantasy-comedy, which I would recommend mostly to experienced HK viewers, and maybe comic book fans. The first 40 minutes or so are kind of hard to sit through, but then some of the jokes start working, the action becomes more frequent, and Sally Yeh begins to play a bigger part in the movie. Actually, she plays TWO parts: a vicious villainess, and a robot that's made by the bad guys to look just like her and eventually gets re-programmed by the good guys to help them out. It also starts developing human emotions, and it's to Sally Yeh's credit that, using only a few expressions, she manages to give this robot a human soul and make you care about her. And did I mention she is just incredibly, pause-the-DVD-to-admire-her-face beautiful? (**1/2)

Never having heard about this 1988 Hong Kong action sci-fi comedy titled "I Love Maria", and stumbling upon it by random chance here in 2022, of course I had to sit down and watch it, given my love for the Hong Kong cinema.

I have to say that this movie is corny. Sure, it was watchable, but it was a rather cheesy movie actually. Not the greatest moment in Hong Kong cinema, nor was it a particularly great sci-fi feature.

And I was very surprised to see that the movie had Sally Yeh, Paul Chun and Tony Chiu-Wai Leung on the cast list.

The special effects in the movie are adequate enough for a movie such as this, and taking into consideration the years since it was made.

This is a movie that is watchable once, but it hardly has enough contents to its storyline to warrant or support a second viewing. And I know that I am not returning to this movie a second time, because it just was a bit too mundane and bland for my liking.

My rating of this movie lands on a four out of ten stars.

A sci-fi action film and gag filled comedy is about an improbable love triangle between washed out gangster Whiskey, put upon police scientist Curly, and a robot named Maria. The Hero gang has been terrorizing Hong Kong at will with their giant robot, Pioneer One. Bumbling reporter Ching attempts to track down the story, only to have his efforts thwarted at every turn by the police. Meanwhile Whiskey and Curly fall under suspicion from both their employers when they befriend each other during a bar fight. They flee, only to be hunted down by the Hero Gang's latest robot, Pioneer Two. Modeled after the gang's beautiful second in command, Maria (and intentionally resembling the Maria robot from Metropolis)the robot becomes damaged during it's pursuit. Curly rebuilds her to aid him and his friends to clear their names, and spends the rest of the film battling Whiskey for her affections. (In order to issue her a command one must begin with "I love Curly", much to Whiskeys annoyance.) This fun film epitomizes the "can do" attitude of 1980's Hong Kong film making. The special effects may seem clumsy, but the earnest effort and shear joy of film making shows through. The eventual triumph of the three friends (four if you count Maria) should put a smile on anyone who's ever felt like an outcast.

Martial arts action with robots. It's like a live action anime from Hong Kong. Strong plot, strong story, cool robots.

ON A SCALE OF 1-10 (10 BEING BEST)

I GIVE "I LOVE MARIA"

9 1/2 STARS

ON THE POSITIVE SIDE (+ SIDE)

1) COOL STORY (It never wavered)

2) COOL ROBOTS (Perfect designed)

3) LIKEABLE HUMAN CHARACTERS (The lead characters are very funny and likeable)

ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE (- SIDE)

1) NO DUBBED VERSION (It only has subtitles and that gets in the way of watching the story)

Not everyone's cup of tea, but not since Inframan have I see so many tricks pulled out of a bag and thrown up on the screen.

STUPID but FUN. The movie is a little slow in the middle with some pretty childish "humor" but then picks up to keep things up right to the end.

WHERE ARE THE DISTRIBUTORS??? Netflix / Prime would GLADLY put this on the streaming list!

Being an ignorant American I'd like to see them put out a dubbed version - but subtitles are better than nothing.

If this were more popular I wouldn't give it an 8, but like the Oscars, I'm overrating it a point to boost it as I think it's a movie many people "should" see compared to so MANY well promoted titles that won't leave you as entertained as this one.

I LOVE MARIA!