After coming out of retirement, Michelle Yeoh starred alongside Jackie Chan in the great "Police Story III", and then made this film. In Project S she reprises her role as Inspector Yang, the character she played in "Police Story III". In an entertaining opening, Michelle has to enter a government building and rescue an official who has been taken hostage by some terrorists. It turns out Michelle's boyfriend(Yu Rong Guang)is among the hostages. The doo-doo hits the fan, and Michelle and her boyfriend team up to kick some terrorist ass and get the hostage to safety. Lots of great martial arts action from both Michelle and Yu Rong Guang, and Michelle even has a brief fight with Yukari Oshima(in a cameo role as one of the terrorists). After surviving the rescue mission, Yu Rong Guang tells Michelle that he is leaving for HK, as there are more opportunities for him there. Michelle is none too happy, and the two go their separate ways--for now. It turns out that Yu Rong Guang has put together a gang of ex-soldiers from his former command to pull off a big heist in HK. The target of the heist is the central bank in HK, and the gang stages a robbery to steal the security codes, resulting in a shoot-out with police. HK police determine the criminals are from the mainland and call in Michelle to assist with the investigation. She is partnered with two cops, played by Emil Chow and Fan Siu-Wong, and they are soon on the trail of the gang. After a raid on a hideout used by the criminals, Michelle comes to suspect her old boyfriend is the mastermind behind the robbery. This of course leads to the classic conflict as michelle is torn between her duty and the man she loves. The climax occurs inside the Central Hong Kong bank, where Michelle and company thwart the robbery attempt.
A lot of well-done martial arts scenes, including Michelle's fight with a huge guy that was for me, one of the highlights of the film. This guy is like 7 ft tall, and little Michelle is trying to take him down using everything from bags of coins to well-placed kicks to the head. Michelle is so miniscule compared to this guy, and really see the disparity when he picks her up and throws her(yes, she does seem to get thrown quite a bit in her movies!).
I would recommend Project S for the action, but it seems to suffer a bit as far as character development. The relationship between Michelle and Yu Rong Guang was under-developed, and you never really understand why Inspector Yang has such strong feelings for this guy. I also wish there had been more focus on Michelle's character instead of dividing screen time between her and the other cops. Not that there's anything wrong with Emil Chow or Fan Siu-Wong, they're great in their scenes, but their presense left less time for Michelle to do her thing and fill the movie with really impressive, drawn out fight scenes. The reason I'm watching this movie is to see her, and it's obvious from her previous performances that she has the ability to carry a film. Still, it has Michelle and it has good action, so it's worth watching.
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