Dead Target (HK 1991)

Rating: **
Review Date: 5/22/17
Cast: Sharon Kwok, Chin Siu Ho

A Chinese treasure is hidden in a temple in Thailand, and a nasty guy named Robertson wants to find it. A Chinese farmer has part of the treasure map, and Robertson uses the man's granddaughter (Sharon Kwok) as leverage. She's tricked into bringing the map to Thailand, where she runs into an undercover Interpol agent (Chin Siu Ho) and a bunch of Robertson's thugs. After a long string of bad luck, Sharon eventually meets up with her grandfather and agrees to help with Chin's investigation of Robertson.

It's a pretty terrible film and the typical World Video dubbing certainly doesn't help. Thankfully, both Sharon Kwok and Chin Sui Ho are very charming and charismatic. Sharon isn't much of a fighter, but she's a confident and spunky gal who's not afraid to give it her best shot. The underrated Chin Siu Ho provides most of the kung fu action and is always a joy to watch. The majority of the film plays out as a Thailand travelogue, focusing on Thai nightlife and wildlife. While Sharon is being chased through town, she ends up tangling with street vendors, Thai boxers, strippers, drag queens, and prostitutes. Naturally, her grandfather wants to meet her at a strip club, because that's apparently where all meetings take place in low budget Hong Kong films that are shot in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Not surprisingly, a fight breaks out and lots of silliness with naked girls ensues. And according to the film, Thailand is the land of drag queens, which is a recurring theme. You never know who's actually a real woman, and it's baffling why the film spends so much time exploring this sub-culture. Once she gets out of town, Sharon has to contend with cows, aligators, and a herd of stampeding elephants.

Pretty standard low budget overseas fare, complete with a goofy plot, corny acting, and awful dialog. The fight scenes are entertaining and well filmed, and there are some impressive explosions as well. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is sub-par and Sharon Kwok's escapades as a bumbling tourist wear thin pretty quickly. However, she's quite adorable and it made me want to seek out more of her work from the era.