Royal Warriors Blu Ray Review (88 Films)

Royal Warriors (aKa Wong Ga Jin Si, Ultra Force, Police Assassin, 皇家戰士, Hong Kong Cop, and In the Line of Duty) is a 1986 action film directed by David Chung (Zou De Kuai Hao Shi Jie, It’s a Drink! It’s a Bomb!, Dynamite Fighters, I Love Maria, and Web of Deception). It was written by Kan-Cheung Tsang (The Mermaid, Amazing, CJ7, Kung Fu Hustle, Young Cops, Dynamite Fighters, Seven Warriors, and Magic Cop) as Sammy Tsang. It was produced by John Sham (Hong Kong 1941, Night Caller, Passion, Legacy of Rage, Fury, and People’s Hero). It follows Yes Madam!. plus it’s followed by In the Line of Duty III, In the Line of Duty IV, In the Line of Duty 5: Middle Man, Forbidden Arsenal, Sea Wolves, Death Triangle, and Yes Madam 5. Returning from her holiday in Japan, Inspector Michelle Yip (played by: Michelle Yeoh from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, In the Line of Duty franchise, Wicked, Supercop franchise, Tomorrow Never Dies, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, Sunshine, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and Everything Everywhere All At Once) foils a daring mid-air rescue of a gangster Harvey Lee aKa Tiger (played by: Michael Wai-Man Chan from The Big Boss Part II, Project A 2, Chinese Hercules, Chinese Godfather, The Young Dragon, Bruce’s Deadly Fingers, Legacy of Rage, and Dragon Lord) being returned to Hong Kong for trial. Inspector Yip keeps herself busy because with dangerous group of friends which includes Bull (played by: Wai Lam from Long Arm of the Law, Dragons Forever, A Chinese Ghost Story, Mercenaries from Hong Kong, Project A 2, and Retreat of the Godfather), Cockerel (played by: Hing-Yin Kam from A Better Tomorrow, Police Story, Law with Two Phases, No Compromise, and Walk on Fire), and Bandana (played by: Ying Bai from Dynasty, A Touch of Zen, Lady Kung Fu, The Invincible Eight, and Revenge of the Shogun Women)!!!! Early in her career, Michelle Yeoh was basically the female version of Jackie Chan. She even did collaborations with him but most of the others were very similar to his classic action style. David Chung was behind the camera for Royal Warriors. He was mainly known for being a cinematographer for productions like Full Throttle, Once Upon a Time in China, The Island, God of Gamblers franchise, Zodiac Killers, Don’t Play with Fire, and Royal Tramp franchise. So you already know that Royal Warriors looks great visually because it’s from the point of view from an established DP. The script is full of action, violence, drama, suspense, and some comedy. Luckily, it’s more action based some of the other earlier Hong Kong efforts that really pushed the humor. Lead actress Michelle Yeoh gives one of her best earlier performances as the tough as nails Inspector Yip. This helped her become the star that she is these days. She never backs down from any situation or fight no matter who it was. She holds her own with everyone for the action, violence, and chaos. It’s a bad ass female role that definitely inspired so many others later on. Yeoh has really made a huge impact in America and she’s been in all kinds of huge movies over the years. Actor Michael Wai-Man Chan plays the vicious crime boss Tiger. He’s one of the first villains introduced in Royal Warriors, he’s a respectful enemy in this high energy adventure for it’s beginning. He’s a familiar face in so many big projects in the Hong Kong scene and he’s always consistent in all of them. Ying Bai is the main threat of the unstable mercenaries Bandana. Both Hiroyuki Sanada (Shōgun, Sunshine, The Wolverine, John Wick: Chapter 4, and Mortal Kombat franchise) and Michael Wong (City Hunter, Once a Thief, In the Line of Duty IV, Tiger Cage III, and Fury) show up in some quality supporting roles for this In the Line of Duty entry as the team that tries to help Yip with this retribution disaster. The rest of the cast includes Hing-Yin Kam, Wai Lam, Kenneth Tsang (The Killer), Fung Woo (Police Story), Dennis Chan (Kickboxer franchise), Jing Chen (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky), Helena Law (Doctor Vampire), Kwok-Kuen Chan (Drunken Master II), Eddie Maher (Yes, Madam!), Paul Chun (Peking Opera Blues), Hon Chi Lai (Brutal Sorcery), Yun Ho (Project A), Siu Tak-Foo (On the Run), Reiko Niwa (Truck Rascals), and Yee-Yan Wai (Seeding of a Ghost). I personally loved the military and group flashbacks of the bad guys for Royal Warriors. They all made an oath to each other and they stick to it when this deadly scenario takes place. This has so much bloodshed, mayhem, car chases, explosions, brutal battles, and crazy violence when it all reaches it’s breaking point. The nightclub massacre was excellent. It’s exactly what you would expect from classic Hong Kong crime and action. It took stuff that was popular in the states and it just brought it to a whole another level. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ongoing flirting and romance angle in this. They put too much of it in it, it was mainly to add a little more humor to the darker feature. In the Line of Duty is interesting action series when it comes to Hong Kong cinema. They managed to put together some interesting stories while connecting what they can to make it all work as a entertaining universe. Royal Warriors is a must see for the genre in the late 80’s. It delivers on so many different things and it’s a total blast. The replay value is off the charts for this one, STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from 88 Films! This 1080p (1.85:1) uncensored transfer is from a brand new 2K restoration. Royal Warriors looks better than ever on home video with this brand new Blu Ray release. It’s already looked really good considering it was directed by an experienced director of photography. It’s great to see these older HK productions get the royal treatment after all of these years. It has a big variety of audio options which includes Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, and English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks on the disc. The tone really changes here depending on which audio version that you choose. It has the original plus an alternative one. It has the classic English dub and a brand new English dub so there’s a nice variety. Royal Warriors provides all kinds of insane scenes which includes car chaos, a massacre, a flight takeover, so many different fights, and loud explosions so the audio is always awesome for this one. All of the dialogue is crisp, the action is elevated, and the music has a big boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with expert Frank Djeng. He’s a major fan of this production and he pays his respects for it during this. He breaks down a good portion of the entire cast even the smaller roles. He provides plenty of background information and detailed stories about Royal Warriors. It was a post-dub shoot like most of the stuff back in the day filmed here. So it had a few of the main cast members speaking completely different languages while doing this project. You will learn so much about this here. It has the under a minute “Missing Aeroplane Inserts”. It has the Cantonese and English “Trailer” for the film. It has the almost 3 minute “English In the Line of Duty Title Sequence”. It has brand new artwork from Sean Longmore and a reversible side with the classic original poster. This is the single home video release. It’s also in the In the Line of Duty Blu Ray set. It needs to be in every Hong Kong action and crime collection. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!