Movie Melting Pot… ‘Above the Law’ (Hong Kong, 1986)

Before you even ask, I’ll make it clear that this is NOT about the 1988 film titled ‘Above the Law’ starring Steven Seagal. Nothing against that movie, as it was one of Stevie’s better films, before he got totally ridiculous, but the film I am writing about is the 1986 movie of the same title (originally ‘Zhi fa xian feng’ and also released in Hong Kong with the English title ‘Righting Wrongs’) directed by Corey Yuen. This 80’s classic of lesser-known stature in the West can be considered a significant influence in the type of action movies we Westerners would see made in the following years leading into the 90’s. In this first feature in a limited series focusing on the re-released martial arts and action flicks from Dragon Dynasty, I take an in-depth look at Corey Yuen’s Above the Law (1986).

As I playfully mentioned above, this is not the Steven Seagal film, but one can certainly see the influence this movie had on the Seagal film which appeared two years later. Corey Yuen’s film follows a prosecutor named Hsia (Baio Yuen) who decides to take the law into his own hands when he realizes that the justice system is flawed and allows for too many dangerous criminals to escape punishment. His methods are carefully planned and are reserved for only the most severe offenders. However, when the death toll begins to rise, a special investigator named Cindy is brought in to track down the vigilante. The snag is that this new string of murders are not the work of Biao, but he’s quickly framed and accused by Cindy, played by Cynthia Rothrock. With this begins an action-packed story with one cop after another cop while the real killer is allowed to run free and unhindered in his ruthless killing spree. It turns out that there’s a good guy/bad guy twist to the story and the question of who the bad guy is gets blurred a bit, allowing for a bit of mystery to the story, albeit somewhat predictable.

I’m going to jump ahead a bit here and talk about Cynthia Rothrock. Here’s the deal… Rothrock is not the main character in this movie, but she plays an important role with LOTS of screen time. ‘Above the Law’ is really sort of the movie that caught the eye of filmmakers for Rothrock, which would take her career that had basically just started in 1985 and propelled her into a female action star in the late 80’s and early 90’s, including a role in Brandon Lee’s totally awesome and under-rated 1988 action flick ‘Rapid Fire’. There was a time when Rothrock was the female answer to Chuck Norris. She was petite and blond, but she was also fierce and could kick your ass in the blink of an eye if you so much as looked at her wrong. This tough as nails but cute as a button attitude plays strong in ‘Above the Law’. In particular, there is one lengthy fight scene near the end between Cindy and a female baddie, played by Karate champ Karen Shepard, that offers some truly classic and butt-kicking bodacious martial arts choreography (pre-special FX) mixing hand-to-hand, aerial martial arts and even some creatively cool fashion accessory turned deadly weaponry from the assassin chick she fights.

As if Yuen, Shepard and Rothrock didn’t combine to create enough martial arts credibility for you to check out this movie, finally having been released (5/29/07) in the States, ‘Above the Law’ also features a supporting cast role for kickboxing champion Peter Cunningham as an assassin. He only has a couple of scenes, but one of them is a pretty cool fight scene with Hsia. ‘Above the Law’ is a masterfully crafted hybrid of the martial arts school of action and the gun-toting renegade cop school of action a la John Woo. The better part of the story is fairly straight-forward and not excessively unique or groundbreaking, but the film’s ending is certainly foreign to what the American audience is accustomed to experiencing. I won’t outright ruin the ending, but I’ll simply state that death occurs for two characters that we Westerners would never have expected. What? So, now I’ve got your attention? Great! Watch the DVD to find out who dies…

DVD Features:

• Alternate Endings
• The Vigilante – An interview with Producer and Star Yuen Biao
• Action Overload – An interview with leading lady Cynthia Rothrock
• From the Ring to the Silver Screen – Featurette w/ co-star and kickboxing champ Peter Cunningham
• Feature-length Audio Commentary w/ Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan
• Trailer Gallery