6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.9 |
Four new Banshee Squad Members join the Hong Kong Police Academy to undergo training supervised by Madam Wu. Their personalities don’t click with the current Squad Members, resulting in petty arguments and duels. However, they later make peace with one another as they join the Tiger Squad Members, supervised by Inspector Kan, to undergo new training courses together and combine forces to take down a band of terrorists.
Starring: Sibelle Hu, Sandra Kwan Yue Ng, Billy Lau, Regina Kent, Anthony CarpioForeign | 100% |
Action | 10% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Cantonese: LPCM 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: LPCM 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (locked)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The Inspector Wears Skirts was a perhaps slightly unexpected hit when it was released in cinemas in 1988, and while director Wellson Chin argues in a supplement on this disc that there had "always" been a plan for at least one sequel even when the first film was being shot, the fact that the first film brought in such nice amounts of revenue no doubt helped quickly make that sequel a reality. And "quickly" is the operative word, as Chin also mentions, since he was given the plumb assignment of delivering the feature in order to exhibit it theatrically during Chinese New Year celebrations, which evidently is a prized achievement, but which left Chin with precious little time to get this follow up shot, edited and ready to be seen. The Inspector Wears Skirts II continues with the sitcom-esque antics of a female police squad, and if it maybe has the slight whiff of that oft mentioned "sophomore slump", it's generally as mindlessly amiable as its progenitor.
The Inspector Wears Skirts 2 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 88 Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The back cover of this release states that this is a "2K remaster from the original negatives". There's a somewhat variant level of palette suffusion on hand in this presentation, with most of the outdoor material popping beautifully and offering some really pretty sumptuous hues, especially primary blues and reds. Things can be a bit more pallid looking in any number of interior scenes, where even flesh tones can be a bit less saturated than in some of the outdoor material. Detail levels are typically very good to excellent throughout. Grain is also a bit variant, and can range from nicely tight to occasionally on the splotchy side. There's no major damage of any import.
The Inspector Wears Skirts 2 features LPCM 2.0 Mono in either Cantonese or English. The Cantonese track has a more noticeably bright high end, which can therefore mean perhaps less subliminally audible hiss as well as more obvious slight distortion in some of the music cues. The English track lacks the same bright high end, but probably sounds a bit muffled overall in comparison to the Cantonese track. Both tracks tend to show some of the same intermittent break up in the music in particular. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
The original The Inspector Wears Skirts could hardly be called innovative in any way, and in fact it kind of had its own sitcom-ish quality, though that said, this second effort is definitely even more like a made for television movie, or even a pilot for a proposed series. Some of the comedy is agreeable enough, but many of the performers mug incessantly, as if to suggest they're not quite confident in the actual writing. Technical merits are generally solid (video) to arguably improvable (audio), but as usual 88 Films has aggregated some really appealing supplements (even if the disc tries to "hide" them on some standalone players), for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.
92 Ba wang hua yu ba wang hua / 92霸王花與霸王花
1992
Huang jia du chuan / 皇家賭船
1990
Top Squad / Ba wong fa / Ba wang hua / 霸王花
1988
師姐大曬 / Shi jie da shai / Female Reporter / Above the Law II: The Blonde Fury / Righting Wrongs II]
1989
一招半式闖江湖 / Dian zhi gong fu gan chian chan
1978
Avenging Warriors of Shaolin / Jie shi ying xiong / 街市英雄
1979
Wu ming ying xiong / 無名英雄
1971
Ging tin 12 siu see / Jīng tiān 12 xiǎo shí / 驚天12小時
1990
Slipcover in Original Pressing
2017
2016
2016
Lang mien jeu keun sau / Leng mian ju ji shou / 冷面狙擊手
1991
Fei lung mang jeung
1988
三德和尚與舂米六 / Sān dé hé shàng yǔ chōng mǐ liù | Limited Edition
1977
少林木人巷 / Shao Lin mu ren xiang
1976
Lan tou He
1979
Da sha si fang / 大殺四方
1980
龍騰虎躍 / Lóng téng hǔ yuè
1983
富貴列車 / Foo gwai lit che / Shanghai Express | Limited Edition
1986
Rang Zi Dan Fei
2010