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.