Forbidden City Cop
- -Set in Imperial China, Stephen Chiau plays Ling Ling Fat, one of the elite Emperor's guards in the Forbidden City. However unlike his colleagues he doesn't know anything about Kung Fu or other martial-arts, but instead uses his time to make futuristic inventions. So when the emperor is kidnapped and the world most beautiful geisha comes to town Fat has to use his brain to get things done.
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A very funny costume comedy from Stephen Chiau which reprises his successful parody of the James Bond films in From Beijing with Love (1994) but in a historical setting and with elements of True Lies thrown in (Chiau’s devoted wife, wonderfully played by Carina Liu, is unaware of his double life as an agent).
Chiau plays Double-0 Fat, a special agent of the emperor and inventor extraordinaire, who goes to Kam Kingdom to inspect an extra-terrestrial-like Flying Fairy due to be publicly dissected amid much pomp. The event turns out to be a plot to assassinate the emperor – which Double-0 Fat foils. Back in the Forbidden City, the emperor asks Double-0 Fat to check out a famous hooker from Kam Kingdom who is in Beijing. This turns out to be a similar plot. Beneath all the usual craziness, which mixes thoroughly Cantonese verbal humour in a Beijing setting, the movie is made with considerable care. Starting with a pre-credits sequence which sends up Mandarin martial arts movies and their conventions, it then goes into a main-title sequence which parodies the James Bond films, and in the finale even throws in a reference to the killing of Oddjob in Goldfinger. As usual, Chiau is particularly funny when being a pompous expert (explaining his weird inventions, like the “mouth gun,” or analysing some foreign wine and explaining how taste buds work). There are also some completely off-the-wall moments, as when Liu is suddenly awarded prizes for her performance in a preceding scene and starts thanking her parents for their support in her career. Added to everything, the action sequences are both elaborate and comical.
Derek Elley
Thanks to Far East Film Festival