In The Line Of Duty IV

Klebb Sandwich

In The Line Of Duty IV
aka Royal Sister IV
aka Wong ga si je IV: Jik gik jing yan
Hong Kong 1989
Directed by Woo-Ping Yuen
Eureka Masters Of Cinema Blu Ray Zone B

Just a quick shout out of a review for what is known, mostly, as the fourth of the In The Line Of Duty films. Although, on the print used here for this new transfer from Eureka Masters Of Cinema, In The Line Of Duty IV is titled up Royal Sister IV. And, of course, there’s no real link in terms of characters between this entry in the so called series and the previous three, two of which aren’t even known as In The Line Of Duty films... see my reviews of Yes Madam (here), Royal Warriors (here) and In The Line Of Duty III (here). And as for the Royal Sister films... nope, can’t find any trace of those on the internet at all... so goodness knows what territory it got released under that title. 

Okay, so this is apparently a much loved entry into the ‘series’ but, for me, it’s possibly the least engaging of these films mentioned here. I’m guessing one of the reasons it’s well thought of today is that it’s one of the early films of future superstar Donnie Yen (who’s been in loads of popular films over the years... the last time I saw him in an American film it was as the blind swordsman in John Wick IV , reviewed here). He plays the imaginatively named Officer Donny Yan. Here he’s teamed up with a female cop played by Cynthia Khan, as Inspector Yeung Lai-Ching, who was in the previous movie as a character with a similar name. Together they are trying to bring down drug dealers and are trying to keep their key witness/suspect, played by Yat-Chor Yuen, alive. 

However, they don’t realise that one of the cops is one of the bad guys... who has been assigned to take over the case. He’s played by Michael Wong, playing the equally imaginatively named Officer Michael Wong. What the heck are you Hong Kong action movies playing at guys? It doesn’t take that long to think of a name for a character, surely? And, in an American bashing twist, the reason he’s the bad guy is because he’s secretly working for the CIA. And it turns out it’s the CIA who are doing all the drug deals, to fund money for their organisation to be able to have the superior criminal investigation force over countries like... well, like Hong Kong I guess (whether you regard it as its own country or not is your call). 

So it’s a curious film which is the usual mix of action and thankfully less of the broad comedy you often get in these things. Although, for my money, it’s nowhere near as slick and watchable as the previous movie, which I’ve reviewed under the title In The Line Of Duty III (see above for review link).

Now, the action sequences are okay and hold their own but are not as spectacular as many I’ve seen in these kinds of movies. But there are some set pieces of note, such as a fight between Cynthia Khan and some bad guys hanging onto a hijacked ambulance... and also one where she’s fighting a tough karate woman hanging from lift cables too. Yeah, she does a lot of hanging off things and kicking people in this movie, it has to be said. 

Other fight scenes of note are a sword fight between her and Michael Wong and a motorcycle fight with big, clunky weapons featuring Donnie Yen... err... Donny Yan. Yeah, whatever. 

This film also has what I assume is one of the most unintentionally funny fight scenes of this genre. Where Yen is facing off against a guy who keeps throwing up pre-contact moves and making silly noises, to the point that he looks and sounds like a mad, demented, organ grinders monkey. Honestly, I am not sure how these guys managed to keep a straight face for these scenes. 

Another interesting moment is the way in which Michael Wong dies. He has been killing people by means of a Rosa Klebb-like retractable poison syringe in his boot... so he’s definitely got to go. However, once he’s disarmed...um... dis-shoed, there follows a truly lengthy fight sequence between him and the others where he finally dies and, as he falls to his death, he tears down the American flag as he does so... the same flag which is used to cover his face in death. So, yeah, I think it would be true to say there’s definitely an anti-American subtext to this movie. Well, I mean, not even a subtext really.

At the end of the day, In The Line Of Duty IV is watchable hokum, but nowhere near as good as the previous film, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not sure how many more of these films Eureka Masters Of Cinema are going to release but, I suspect these first four are the key ones from the franchise. If Hong Kong action is your thing then, you may want to add this one to your watch list.