movie poster

Black Cat

1991

Director: Stephen Shin

Stars: Jade Leung, Simon Yam

A HK remake of the French cult classic La Femme Nikita. Leung plays a woman who, after accidentally killing a cop, is drafted into a top-secret organization and trained as an assassin by Yam. After getting pushed back out into the "real world," Leung falls for a mild-mannered man, who of course knows nothing about her real job. Leung must try to decide which world she belongs to as the organization's net draws tighter.

A lot of people raved about this movie, but I wasn't all that impressed. The movie does have a nice visual style with good cinematography, but none of the actors are really any good. Even Simon Yam (who is normally one of HK's best actors) seems to be sleepwalking through his role. Leung is particularly bad. I just didn't see her as either a cold-blooded killer or innocent girl. Her English is also pretty bad -- this normally wouldn't be a problem in a HK movie but about half her lines are in English!

There are also some glaring errors in the film. Even though the first part of the movie is supposed to be in New York, a lot of the gweilo actors have thick British accents. There is a big deal made about a bullet made out of an ice-like material that dissolves on impact, but can only be used for five seconds. When it is used in a hit, Leung holds the bullet for at least 10 seconds.

Coupled with the weak action sequences, Black Cat just wasn't all that entertaining. Stick with the original instead.

RATING: 3

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