April 2024 – DVD & Blu Ray REVIEWS

DVD & BLU RAY REVIEWS

Reviews by JAIME PINA

The Inspector Wears Skirts

88 Films/MVD

This is one of the more oddball releases from 88 Films. Produced by Jackie Chan, the film  is an attempt at a comedy with action but falls a little short of the finish line. It starts out  with a bang. Sibelle Hu and the amazing Cynthia Rothrock star as Interpol agents working  to thwart an assassination attempt. The sequence is awesome with Rothrock blowing the  shit out of everything with a ridiculously large handgun. From there the film moves to Hu  being assigned to train a ragtag group of women into a crack team of agents. This is where  the supposed comedy is supposed to kick in but the humor is dated and not especially  engaging. 

Rothrock soon joins Hu to assist in the training and there is an interesting sequence  involving sprinting on a track soaked with gasoline and set on fire as the trainees start  running. The film then builds to the lady’s first assignment where they are to join male  trainees in stopping a diamond heist. This bit of the film is exciting with some great action and Hong Kong bad guy Shing Fui-On (A Better Tomorrow 1 & 2, The Killer) plays one of the  villains. 

What hurts the film most are the dated jokes about relationships between men and women  and the cracks about gay people and AIDS. If you can dismiss these bits then the film will  thrill you with the outstanding action scenes. And like the Jackie Chan films there are  outtakes during the end credits. 

Like the previous 88 Films releases this comes in an attractive slipcase with a full color  booklet and poster included. You can view the film in Cantonese with English subtitles or  English. There is a commentary and interviews with Rothrock and director Wellson Chin.  Also included is the opening and closing titles from the US release titled Top Squad.