Street Angels (1996)

I'll tell you why so serious

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Victimized women in Hong Kong's (Red Light) Portland Street neighborhood strike back at a nasty criminal (played by Simon Yam in another of his patented crazy-eyed roles), but find that revenge comes at a high price.From the director of Run and Kill (see my review) comes another of those luridly violent Category III movies that proliferated in the late 80s and early 90s, featuring psycho gangsters and weak, ordinary people locked in some bitter struggle to the end. The whole sub-genre is not for the faint of heart, as each movie pushed the boundaries of audience endurance ever further with brutality and mass slayings frequently punctuating the drama.The movie itself is well enough constructed, with logical story development, plausible characters and good performances from a mostly female cast of B-movie regulars like Chingmy Yau and Qi Shu. The shiny on the outside / grimy underneath world of Portland Street's bars is well visualized despite the low budget thanks to some very professional lighting and good use of actual local settings.As slice of low-life dramas go, this one is certainly watchable, but needs to be approached with caution. The violence is not stylized and choreographed as in a Jet Li action flick. It is brutal, sudden and ugly.

Shu Qi - the face of a goddess, with the body to match! She arguably steals the show even from the cute and feisty as usual Chingmy Yau, and that is no small accomplishment.The first hour of this movie deals mostly with the rivalry between two night clubs operating in the same Hong Kong area - not exactly the stuff that compelling drama is made of. Then Simon Yam re-appears (he had left the picture after the first 5 minutes), and his forceful performance makes the film more involving - he plays a scumbag that you really want to see knocked down.Fans of either of the three stars won't be disappointed, and fans of "Category III" Hong Kong sleaze may "enjoy" (if that's the word) the final half-hour, but pure action fans need not bother with this film. It's basically a drama, sprinkled with broad, raunchy comedy and nasty, unpleasant violence. (**)

STREET ANGELS is a decent film overall - but those that enjoy the sleazier CATIII fare may be disappointed by the lack of sex and violence in this one...Walkie Pi is a bad-ass who gets in some trouble and high-tails it to Holland until the heat blows over. His girlfriend, Tung Yen, does some time for him for her assistance in his escape. When she gets out, she hooks up with club owner, Playboy Man, and ends up running the girls at his club. Feuds develop between Playboy man and another club owner that wants to squash PB Man's business. When Walkie comes back to town crazier than ever, and finds that Tung Yen is now working for PB Man, more troubles ignite...There's a noticeable lack of the typical sleazy sex, rape, and hard-core violence in STREET ANGELS that is typically found in many of the CATIII films - but the film itself is well-done and held my interest. You also get to see the hot Asian chick from THE TRANSPORTER's tits - so I guess that counts for something as well. By far, not the best of the genre - but a solid "action" film nonetheless. Worth a look - 7/10

Interesting view of HK's underworld of unsavory characters is marred by mass-slayings, violence, graphic brutality/ torture, and R-rated dialogue. Walkie Pi, a hoodlum striving to be the most feared man in the Red Light District of Portland Street, commits a murder and flees to Holland. Beautiful/ bright Tung Yen, girlfriend of Walkie since she was 15, impresses wealthy Yi Sen Man ("Playboy"), owner of Number One Nightclub. She displaces Karen as Playboy's favorite and becomes the club's manager. Ming Ming is Tung Yen's close friend. Min is Yen's mother; Robert is Min's boyfriend as well as her pimp. Walkie's inevitable return creates a dilemma for Tung Yen. Faint white subtitles in Mandarin as well as in English.