Tiger on Beat
An entertaining smart-mouthed cop movie from 1988, a mixture of crude farce and head-banging martial arts action that never quite gels. Chow Yun-fat's prancing, mugging, literally pants-wetting performance is a measure of how far he is willing to go to show his fans a good time. Chow's buddy-buddy partner is played by the muscular Chinese-American martial artist Conan Lee, who's convincingly ferocious, and curvy starlet Li Chi plays a heroin smuggler who decides to go straight (and cook dinner) after Chow slaps her around a little. The martial arts elements are more satisfying than the crass comedy. The director, Lau Kar-leung (a.k.a. Liu Chia Liang), was a kung fu master a few years back: hisMaster KillerandLegendary Weapons of Kung Fuare venerated by aficionados, and his comeback film,Drunken Master 2, is one of Jackie Chan's best. Lau packed the supporting cast with kung fu veterans like Liu Chia Hui (the Master Killer himself), Ti Lung, and David Chiang. The coolest action sequence is a "sword fight" in which the combatants face off with chainsaws.--David Chute