Rosa (1986) User Reviews

Not a Yuen Biao classic

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 30 July 2008]

With two of the most underrated - and most capable - action stars of Hong Kong cinema (Yuen Biao, Kara Hui), Lowell Lo handling most of the mugging and busty Siu-Fan Luk providing the sex appeal, "Rosa" had the potential to be a much better movie than it is. Although the comedy did make me laugh at a couple of points, pretty soon I realized that the film is a nearly plot-free collection of overlong comic bits, some of which don't translate so well (there is a 4-minute mahjong sequence that will be completely meaningless to most non-Chinese viewers). And even the big warehouse fighting climax pales in comparison to the big warehouse fighting climaxes of other Hong Kong movies (just to mention one I saw recently: "Naughty Boys", also featuring Kara Hui and also made in 1986). The film is still worth seeing if you're a fan of any of the stars, but it's by no means a HK classic. (**)

Lesser Known Dragon

[hrkepler · 6/10 · 23 May 2018]

Yuen Biao, being the lesser known from the 'Three Dragons' (Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao) hasn't starred in many classics that doesn't include his more famous friends. 'Rosa' is one of them non-classics. Yuen Biao is equally capable martial artist and actor as his internationally known compatriots, so is Kara Hui, but both of their abilities weren't fully used in this quite trivial action comedy. The film is quite entertaining, and there are some fine fight scenes, but some of the slapstick bits are drawn too long and start to get annoying by the end.

This movie is only worth to see if you are a huge fan of Yuen Biao and/or Kara Hui (they both have done some more amazing movies), but in every other sense 'Rosa' is barely above average time filler.

The actors, some deep belly laughs, kung fu scenes and fast pace keep this one afloat.

[vonvegas · 6/10 · 5 March 2000]

Not much of a story. More character development and situational comedy scenes. Several inducing load laughter from this viewer. For example when Yuen is fighting one of the drug dealers and they end up in a deep freeze storage locker. The Kung Fu slows and instead of injuring the opponent....acquiring clothing becomes the focus.

Yuen plays a hand in his superiors demotion and meets future partner Lo by putting his sister in the hospital during a pursuit. Lo meets his girl, an informers ex, when the new partners are assigned the duty of locating him. Both are now working for the newly demoted Inspector.

A cute movie that may be lacking in areas, but not in fun.

Effective comedy/action hybrid

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 25 May 2019]

ROSA is another very nice action/comedy from Hong Kong in the 1980s. Yuen Biao is the big action star name here, but most of the screen time is given over to his partnership with the usually little-utilised Lowell Lo, who stands out as a CID cop on the trail of various nefarious bad guys. The plot is simplistic indeed, but the emphasis is very much on the knockabout comedy that you find in Hong Kong films of the era. I liked it, but your mileage may vary. The film has an exemplary supporting cast, with the stand-out being the game Lu Hsien-Fen, who often appears as the butt of the jokes (not to mention other prominent body parts). The supporting cast is exemplary and gives Kara Hui the chance to kick her customary backside, while the reliable James Tien shows up on villain duties. Things pick up for the lavish warehouse fight climax, in which veteran henchman Dick Wei and Fat Chung do their bit, the fights are vivid and exciting, the stunts electrifying, the humour spot-on.

Too much 'comedy' not enough action for a Western audience

[bwaaatch · 2/10 · 7 May 2006]

It's easy to love Yuen Biao. He's got that cheeky face and I find him a decent comedy actor. And of course he's a great martial artist and acrobat.

But the material here is weak, especially as a lot of the comedy seems to be verbal and does't translate well into English. One whole scene is full of MaH Jong jokes. If you don;t play and can't read Chinese, the whole scene is a waste. Most of the other jokes involves '2 guys coming up with wheezes to impress girls'. It's a staple of the HK scene, but I've scene it done much, much better ('Pantyhose Hero', anyone?).

The action scenes are fine, but nothing special. The big fight at the end is Yuenb Biao vs Dick Wei in a meat packing factory. It's decent, but too short and too often interrupted by the other 'comedy' characters.

For a non-Chinese speaker, this really isn't worth the 6/10 score it's getting on IMDb at the time of writing. Go get a proper Yuen Biao movie instead ('Dreadnought', 'Eastern Condors', 'Kid from Tibet'). I give this one a 2.