Sexy and Dangerous (1996) / Action

MPAA Rated: Not rated, but probably R for violence
Running Time: 109 min.

Cast: Frances Ng, Loletta Lee, Karen Mok, Marianne Chan, Teresa Mak
Director: Billy Tang
Screenplay: Wong Jing
Review published May 12, 2000

I am not sure what screenwriter Wong Jing's name literally translates to from Cantonese, but if you ask me, I would proclaim it "Press eject immediately".  Now having seen enough of the movies he has written to count on two hands, I have only seen one (ROYAL TRAMP) that I found to be approaching the term "entertainment", and for this I would probably use my thumb when counting to signify a "thumbs up".  Guess which finger I count SEXY AND DANGEROUS on?

OK, I imagine SEXY AND DANGEROUS is mostly an attempt to capitalize on the much more successful YOUNG AND DANGEROUS series of Hong Kong films, but is that really an excuse for not ttrying to be unique?  Loletta Lee plays Marble, a street-tough club girl and main squeeze of One, Hong Kong's toughest triad leader.  Loyalty to her man keeps her taking the rap for his misdeeds and some stints in prison, where she meets One's psycho ex-girlfriend, Aids.  Frances Ng is George, a two-bit hood with delusions of grandeur and who vies for Marble's attention.  They find themselves in a world of danger amid warring triad gangs and jealous ex-lovers.

SEXY AND DANGEROUS lost me somewhere between the 15th and 16th needless character introduced into the story.  There isn't so much a plot, as a montage of starts to many plots and many characters, and none of them are fleshed out to success.  Had the film been able to focus on one particular storyline, it would have been at least watchable.  The actual result is a messy, noisy and needlessly gruesome excursion into some of the worst filmmaking to come from Hong Kong (or any country for that matter).  Francis Ng provides the only breath of fresh air amid this free-flowing sewage, but isn't employed as often as his character would merit, and the last half hour of his screentime consists mostly of him walking around with facial wounds resembling cheese that has been left in the toaster-oven too long. 

Sickeningly brutal and putrid, this makes the feeble YOUNG AND DANGEROUS series look like THE GODFATHER TRILOGY by comparison. 

Qwipster's rating:

©2000 Vince Leo