K-POW! WITH MRS K
WHEN a seemingly harmless housewife dispatches two villains in the guise of delivery boys to her house, filmgoers realise that Mrs K (Wai) is a martial arts exponent. Killing machine Mrs K is Ho’s introduction of the Shaw Brothers’ 1980s Hong Kong heroine Wai to a whole new audience. And the 50-something looks sleek while flooring baddies with ballet-like grace. As her “spaghetti Western” story, complete with Italianstyle showdown music and Quentin Tarantino-esque synthesiser sounds goes, Mrs K fled from Hong Kong a decade ago after turning her back on a life of high-profile robberies. Her last job was robbing a casino in Macau, with three others (played by Hong Kong directors Fruit and Kirk and Malaysia’s Dain of fame). The men have all met gruesome deaths.
The mastermind behind the killings is corrupt Hong Kong officer Scarface (Hong Kong actor Yam looking ever so suave), who was once in a relationship with Mrs K.
Scarface was complicit in the casino robbery too but betrayed the gang out of greed and was shot by Mrs K in selfdefence. Still carrying the bullet in his body, Scarface is seething with revenge and wants to claim his share of the loot which Mrs K had stashed in Malaysia.
She has kept a low profile after marrying a Malaysian doctor (Taiwanese rocker Wu) and bearing him a beautiful, martial arts-loving daughter Siow (new actress Siow). When one-time Macau officer Lau (veteran Hong Kong actor Lau) shows up, Mrs K realises that her past has caught up.
Things get hotter when she is pursued by silat exponent Tano (a star turn by
Faizal), Scarface’s right-hand man. And when Siow is kidnapped, Mrs K has to face up to her past demons and deal with unfinished business.
While seasoned veterans Wai and Yam carry the plot from start to finish, Faizal is a spectacular sight who holds his own.
Sporting long, unkempt hair and a permanent, predatory glare, he looks every bit the cold-blooded assassin from Shaw movies and both of his fight scenes with Wai are beautifully choreographed. While most of the Malaysian and Hong Kong supporting actors are slightly more than embellishments (and hilarious ones at that), Wu is surprisingly effective as Mrs K’s “docile” husband.
In one of the climactic scenes, he nicely steals the show by brandishing a pistol and shooting at the baddies, saying “my wife taught me how to do this!” Even 17-year-old Siow is a scene-stealer when she rebukes Scarface, telling him that the more he feeds his anger, the faster the bullet inside will explode and destroy him. In other words, Mrs K’s endearing family is as much a force to be reckoned with as the heroine herself.
Mrs K does for Wai what Jackie Brown did for American action heroine Pam Gier, albeit with a fully East Asian cultural setting. It is a master stroke of Ho’s cinematic genius, and a stylish action story that beautifully brandishes the lethal chops of an action heroine who is ageing gracefully.
It is an evergreen tale of sin and redemption with well-developed characters who are imbued with depth and redeeming qualities.