MOVIE REVIEW - In the Line of Duty IV (1989)

Aka - Huang jia shi jie zhi IV: Zhi ji zheng ren

Director: Yuen Woo Ping
Starring: Cynthia Khan, Donnie Yen, Michael Wong, Michael Woods

This was Donnie Yen’s breakthrough movie. He was supposed to be in a supporting role to Cythia Khan’s hero cop but he ends up saving her ass several times. With action in the able hands of master Yuen Woo Ping this is one movie that couldn’t go wrong. Released during a time when the market was flooded with similar styled action flicks, the story is average, the script is sloppy and the acting doesn’t help at all. It is the fights that hold this whole mess together.

The plot involving a witness of CIA corruption that Yen and Khan must protect at all costs as he runs from Seattle and hides out in his homeland of Hong Kong. They are sent to bring him back to the US to face prosecution for the crime he witnessed. Of course the hitmen come out of the woodwork trying to kill the trio.

The fight scenes are fantastic, especially Yen versus a beefed up Michael Woods on a building roof top toward the end. But the problem is some of them go on way too long as kick after kick is landed the person on the receiving end invariably seems affected by the damage they sustain.

Overall: A must for any martial arts fan. 7/10