She Shoots Straight Blu-ray Review (88 Films)

Corey Yuen’s family cop drama She Shoots Straight combines the frenetic action and tight choreography of some of the best Jackie Chan martial arts films with a serious dose of melodrama. Joyce Godenzi stars as the resourceful Inspector Mina Kao, who marries into a family of mostly female cops. Their primary task in She Shoots Straight is to take down a Vietnamese gang who plan to rob a gentleman’s club; while they avert that crisis, the gang targets Mina and her husband (Tony Leung), eventually leading to a revenge tour. Yuen’s film is, for the most part, an enjoyable comedy-action hybrid, but its middle half is marred by overdramatic maudlin plot lines. It’s not a super original idea but stunt coordinator Hoi Mang’s choreography is a sight to behold, and both Godenzi and co-star Carina Lau are game for the stunts.

88 Films’ Blu-ray features a new 2K scan from the original camera negative, and this looks great with a medium-heavy grain scale that can occasionally get thicker in different forms of lighting. Textures look appropriately filmic and no discernible compression is noted; the film does feature some light bloom which seems organic. Overall, a very good restoration here. Audio selection is robust, with both Cantonese and English mono tracks, a Cantonese 2.0 stereo offering, or a 5.1 surround English dub. Particularly, I enjoyed either of the Cantonese options (with English subtitles), since the English dub tends to sound a bit more woody. Extras include a new audio commentary with Frank Djeng, always an illuminating listen with his unique perspective on Chinese filmography and culture, and a 15 minute new interview with scriptwriter Yuen Kai-chi who discusses working with Godenzi as a new actress, Sammo Hung’s involvement, and the state of Hong Kong filmmaking. Alternate credits, trailers, and image gallery are included. This is set includes reversible cover artwork and a nice slipbox as well.