The Angel Terminators duology is a pair of action films released in 1992, shortly after the success of the Iron Angels series which kick-starts the trend of Girls with Guns action cinema in the early 90s. Marketed as a spin-off of the Angel series, both movies features various up-and-comers actresses known for portraying Action Girl characters, among them including Moon Lee, Sharon Yeung, Michiko Nishiwaki, Sibelle Hu and Yukari Oshima.
The first movie stars veteran action star Sharon Yeung as Ada, a top cop in the Hong Kong police taking down a triad gang in the middle of a war for territorial control. But when she kills a triad boss and earns the wrath of the boss' Japanese wife, Nishiwaki (Nishiwaki), she is in for a world of pain.
For the sequel, the story diverts attention to life in the triads, pairing the former Angel duo of Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima, respectively as Chitty, a bounty hunter, and Bullet, a former triad enforcer who had gone straight. Both women being childhood friends, they attempt to bust a prostitution ring while trying to evade arrest from a cop (Sibelle) after them.
Angel Terminators contain examples of:
- Action Girl: Inspector Ada, the Cowboy Cop protagonist, top enforcer of the HK police, and Nishiwaki, the Dark Action Girl boss-cum-henchwoman of mobster Dick.
- Avenging the Villain: The reason why Nishiwaki opts to have Ada put through Cold-Blooded Torture, after capturing her alive? Because Ada killed Nishiwaki's husband, the mob boss Dick during the big shootout in the quarry.
- Blood from the Mouth: Most of the named villains leak blood from their mouths at the time of their deaths, including both of Nishiwaki's Co-Dragons, and Nishiwaki herself when Ada whacks a massive log in the back of her head, sending Nishiwaki halfway across the room and in a crumpled heap.
- Boyish Short Hair: Inspector Ada, being typical Sharon Yeung.
- Break the Haughty: When Nishiwaki managed to capture Inspector Ada alive, instead of killing Ada immediately, she decides to inject syringes of drugs into Ada and have Ada locked in a dark warehouse to make Ada suffer.
- Co-Dragons: The two American mercenaries whom are always seen following Nishiwaki, both whom are Elite Mooks who puts up a better fight than the regular thugs. They made it past the big shootout halfway through the film when their supervisor, Dick, didn't and later serves Nishiwaki directly in trying to kill Ada and Carrie.
- Disney Villain Death: Nishiwaki's husband and partner in crime, Dick, gets kicked off a set of railings by Ada during the quarry shootout/fight scene that climaxes the first act.
- Drugs Are Bad: Oh yes. Considering how the villains are a drug trafficking ring, Inspector Ada's torture involves her being locked in a dark room while having massive quantities of drugs being forcefully injected into her veins, and later Carrie being subjected through the same treatment, and the audience gets to see both women crawling to Nishiwaki on their knees to beg her for their daily dose of drugs, before Ada finally Going Cold Turkey after escaping...
- Dynamic Entry: Ada tends to do this. In the daycare center operation she did a reverse Destination Defenestration leaping through a window and shooting the first hijacker, and later while recovering from the effects of Nishiwaki's drugs, Ada managed to leap off a balcony and take out one of Nishiwaki's Co-Dragons by smashing a wooden signboard on his head.
- Excrement Statement: After Zheng managed to capture Carrie alive, one of the tortures he puts her through is to dunk her head into an opened toilet bowl... and pee down her neck.
- Extreme Mêlée Revenge: When Ada finally, finally gives Nishiwaki her comeuppance for all the torture she forced Ada though. Namely, kicking and punching the snot out of Nishiwaki during their penultimate fight scene, culminating in Ada smashing Nishiwaki's face with a log and sending Nishiwaki flying a dozen meters across before crashing into a table, very dead.
- Hostage Situation: Early in the film, two hijackers being pursued by Ada and Hon breaks into a daycare center and takes a classroom full of kids hostage. When the police surrounds the center, one of the hijackers chucks the teacher out and shoots her, taunting the police he will start shooting the kids next. Ada managed to save the day by launching herself through the classroom's windows and shooting the first hijacker and forcing the second to drop his weapon at gunpoint.
- Mutual Kill: Ada's final attempt to assasinate Zheng appears to be a failure, herself getting shot by Zheng... but not before she slashed Zheng through the jugular while hanging from her ankles.
- Outside Ride: During one shootout against Zheng and Nishiwaki's mooks, Ada tries leaping into the rear window of a moving police vehicle, but only managing to get her legs in while stuck halfway through. Cue Ada shooting mooks while clinging on the side of the vehicle with her ankles.
- Recovered Addict: Ada, after recovering from the effects of having drugs injected through her veins by Nishiwaki during her Cold-Blooded Torture montage.
- Slashed Throat:
- Nishiwaki's first onscreen kill, a rival mob leader she assasinates with a hidden blade.
- In Ada's final scene, she managed to slash Zheng's throat while suspended from a wire by her ankles.
Angel Terminators 2 contain examples of:
- Action Girl: This time there is Chitty the bounty hunter, and Bullet the ex-triad enforcer gone straight, played by the action girl-duo Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima. And there's also the Amazonian henchwoman played by Sophia Crawford who attacks Chitty in the finale.
- Belated Love Epiphany: Uncle Bao often considers his rebellious, tomboyish, and excessively rough daughter Bullet to be a menace and a disappointment, where the father and daughter spends most of their screentime arguing or quarelling. All that until she died taking a bullet meant for him.
- Cool Old Guy: Uncle Wan, a retired triad enforcer, played by old-school badass Lo Lieh, who willingly takes on a whole gang of younger triad enforces with dual machetes.
- Cool Shades: Bullet in several scenes, notably her first onscreen appearance. She's the only main character who wears dark glasses constantly in the film.
- Dead Guy on Display: Uncle Wan, and two of Chitty's friends, after a deal gone wrong, ends up being hacked to death and their corpses hung on a lamppost in public.
- Every Scar Has a Story: Uncle Wan said this trope in verbatim during the dinner scene, when he deliberately removes his shirt and exposes his scar-covered chest, abs and back. And then proceed to tell the story of how he got each scar... individually. By the time he got to the last scar, everyone at the dining table has fallen asleep, much to Uncle Wan's dismay.
- Face Doodling: Part of Chitty, Bullet and their old gang's bonding scene at the reunion involves them gambling... with the loser getting their face scribbled by a sharpie. Moon and Bullet ends up having fake mustaches, panda eyes and flowers drawn all over their faces.
- Flipping the Bird: Bullet flips off Boss Chen after he tries intimidating her. See
? - Groin Attack: Chitty and Bullet does this to the pimp's bodyguards during the whorehouse confrontation.
- Inspector Javert: Big Aunt, who relentlessly pursues after Chitty and Bullet after suspecting their involvement with the prostitution syndicate.
- Ironic Name: Bullet's eventual fate? Getting a bullet through her chest.
- Karaoke Bonding Scene: Chitty, Bullet, and Bullet's old gang during the first night when Bullet returns home.
- Machete Mayhem: Bullet's final scene when she tries assasinating Boss Wong, where she Dual Wield machetes taking out Wong's bodyguards until one of them shot her in the chest from up close.
- Molotov Cocktail: Bullet uses TWO petrol bombs when trying to kill Boss Wong (unsuccessfully).
- Only Known by Their Nickname:
- Sibelle Hu's police Inspector is only referred to as Big Aunt.
- Bullet's real name is never revealed in the film, not even after her death.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Uncle Bao who gets shot while witnessing his only daughter, Bullet, gunned down right in front of him. Bao survives his injuries, but not Bullet.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Big Aunt's preferred weapon that she uses to take names in shootouts. Might be an Actor Allusion to The Mighty Gambler also starring Sibelle Hu the previous year.
- Shout-Out: The opening shootout in a restaurant which culminates in Big Aunt pursuing a mobster to the kitchen is a clear nod to the previous year's Hard Boiled. But on a much lower scale.
- Shovel Strike: In the climatic beach battle where Chitty has to fight a Caucasian henchwoman taller and stronger than her, Chitty finally wins when getting her hands on a shovel and whacking her opponent across the face.
- Tattooed Crook: When another triad chick attempts to intimidate Bullet with her butterfly tattoo, Bullet instead removes her jacket... revealing her massive dragon tattoo covering her entire biceps.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: In usual Oshima-Lee fashion, Bullet is the brutish, rough Tomboy to Chitty the feminine, long-haired girly-girl. They are childhood friends who hangs out ever since they were kids by the way.
