The Avenging Quartet (Ba hai hong ying) (1992)

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Siu Wing directed this Hong Kong "Girls With Guns" film featuring a quartet of popular heroines from both Chinese and Japanese action cinema (Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima, Cynthia Yang, and Michiko Nishiwaki). Yang plays Police Officer Chin, who arrives in Hong Kong from the mainland in search of Hsiong… More Siu Wing directed this Hong Kong "Girls With Guns" film featuring a quartet of popular heroines from both Chinese and Japanese action cinema (Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima, Cynthia Yang, and Michiko Nishiwaki). Yang plays Police Officer Chin, who arrives in Hong Kong from the mainland in search of Hsiong (Waise Lee), an old flame who had left China several years before and is now attempting to pass off a forgery of an old Chinese painting which is much coveted by some Japanese collectors. The reason, Hsiong discovers, is paperwork with evidence of Japanese atrocities during World War II (graphically detailed in the cult favorite Men Behind the Sun) concealed in the real painting. Meanwhile, during an altercation with some drunken thugs, Chin is assisted by Feng (Lee), a wealthy but tough young woman who becomes her friend and confidante. Hsiong sells the forgery to Oshima (Oshima), and the angry Japanese woman joins forces with Sen (Nishikawi) -- who just happens to be Feng's sister-in-law and hates Hsiong -- to get the real painting and the evidence incriminating her country in war crimes. This sets the stage for a violent finale with torture, a rape scene, and all four female stars duking it out for the painting and Hsiong's life. Chin Kar-lok co-stars with James Ha. Available prints run from 92 to 96 minutes, with missing violence in the shorter Taiwanese version. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi