Yes Madam 5 (1996)

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

A disc with the names of Triad members is taken away, and when the gangsters try and find about where it is, they kill the only person who knows the hiding-place. So, what can be done now to retrieve the disc? The Hong Kong police are looking for the murderer and the disc, but Inspector Yeung (Cynthia Khan) has to realize her fiancée Ho Chan (Chin Siu-Ho) is one of the gangsters! The trace of the disappeared disc leads to Malaysia, where the victim's girlfriend lives...An action movie a bit above the average which may not have as many spectacular fights as some others of the genre, but with the cast, characters and story it hasn't got any real disappointments. Yeung is going through a well scripted conflict: should she put some trust in Chan, or did he become an enemy? The three most memorable scenes: First, a gangster runs away, turns around for a second - and Yeung recognizes Chan. The photographer didn't hesitate to use slow motion to enhance the effect. Second, Yeung follows a killer who escapes by helicopter after driving a motorbike over the edge of a roof. Third, a fight by three guys against each other, everyone careful not to be the loser against the other two, that was really well coordinated by action director Philip Ko.

Cynthia Khan plays Police Inspector Yeung (the same character of her "In The Line Of Duty" films?), who travels to Malaysia looking for the girlfriend of a recently killed Triad member, who might have passed on to her a revealing computer disk just before his death. The organization that is exposed on that disk also sends a man to Malaysia for the same purpose. The catch? He's Inspector Yeung's fiancé! Also on the trail of the same girl are professional killers Phillip Ko and Billy Chow. Not a bad medium-budget Hong Kong actioner. Cynthia Khan has rarely looked more beautiful (great hair too!), and her action scenes are energetic and aggressive. The bad news is that there aren't too many of them. In fact, after a short prologue in Mainland China, there is no action in the film until the 43rd minute. Some spectacular car crashes after that point, but a little too much slow-motion in the fight scenes. The most inspired moment: Cynthia's fiancé, Billy Chow, and a Malaysian cop in a three-way, everyone-for-himself fight, with each one trying repeatedly to pick up the computer disk from the ground, only to get kicked back by the other two. (**)

This movie is sold on DVD in Germany under the title Red Force 5, in which only the "5" allow the association with the English title Yes Madam 5. I was not aware of any content that could be called Red Force, if not the PRC police shown in the Shenzhen scene very early.Also, contrary to the packaging of "Red Force 5", the alternate soundtrack available is not Cantonese but Mandarin.The story itself plays briefly in Shenzhen, then in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and finally Singapur. Police Officer Cynthia Khan is sure a joy to behold... and an interesting conflict builds up, as her boyfriend is on the very other side of the law. Who is fighting whom? In any case, kung-fu scenes don't take an overly large share of this film.A more complete cast list is available at http://www.hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=8147&display_set=eng