A 2002 Hong Kong Girls with Guns & Martial Arts Movie directed by Corey Yuen. Lynn (Shu Qi) and Sue (Zhao Wei) are sisters who happen to be expert computer hackers and assassins. After Lynn discovers love, she plans on leaving the business, which Sue takes issue with. They're also dealing with a new inspector on their case, Kong Yat-hung (Karen Mok) who has gotten closer than ever to catching them (you could say she's... so close).
The movie is a relatively simple affair with good fight choreography, boatloads of Les Yay, and a fair bit of Narm Charm. Worth a look if you feel like a decent popcorn flick with a lot of She-Fu.
This film contains examples of:
- Action Girl: The three main ladies. Lynn and Sue are both a fairly light version of a Dark Action Girl, though by the end they're unquestionably on the right side.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Lynn, who is the more cynical and stoic of the sisters.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Lynn sees Sue as this at times.
- Assassin Outclassin': Lynn, Sue and Kong team up to dispatch the assassins sent to kill all of them.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Lynn wears a stark white suit during the opening when she assassinates the elder Chow.
- Bathtub Scene: Lynn is shown taking a bubble bath while thinking about her first meeting with Yen.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: The main protagonists are professional killers. However, the people they're fighting for the duration of the movie are worse.
- Bookend: The film begins and ends with a Computer Angel sister assassinating one of the Chow siblings, in the same building.
- Bullet Time: Used constantly, but especially in the opening with Lynn taking out Chow's thugs.
- Cain and Abel: The Big Bad hired the girls to kill his brother in the opening so he can take over the company. He then puts a Contract on the Hitman to cover it up.
- Camera Spoofing: Sue is fond of this trick, pulling it off on the opening to cover her sister escape and later tries pulling it off on her own sister to pretends she's a home and not pulling off a job on her own, but Lynn sees through it.
- Caught in the Rain: Lynn and her love interest are out on their date when the rain begins, and they're mugged. Lynn is forced to reveal that she's a highly skilled assassin, and her lover shows he accepts her by running into a convenience store and microwaving water bottles to keep her warm.
- Ceiling Cling: Lynn does it with her Combat Stilettos during her fight scene in the opening. Inspector Kong actually notices the hole in the ceiling and uses it in her investigation.
- Chase Scene: When Kong catches Sue in the bakery, they get into a car chase, joined by several cop cars and Lynn as Mission Control.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The Big Bad's everything-proof glass shield in his office.
- ... which is defeated by Sue using her grappling hook.
- Clothing Damage: During their fight, Lynn and Kong both end up ripping each other shirts, showing a bit of their bras. When Kong's partner Ma turns to stare at them Sue Death Glare's at him.
- Combat Stilettos: Lynn has a pair she uses in combat that allows her to Ceiling Cling.
- Contract on the Hitman: Young Mr Chow tries to kill the Computer Angel to cover his tracks, but it backfires and he becomes their target because of it.
- Decoy Protagonist: Lynn seems to be the main characters but She's killed in the second act and Sue and Kong are the ones who finish off Big Bad.
- Elevator Action Sequence: When Kong and Siu Ma ride in an elevator and she’s quickly aware of being surrounded by a group of armed robbery recidivists, Kong immediately fights and defeats them single-handedly while protecting the distressed Siu Ma.
- Excuse Me While I Multitask: One of the major fight scenes is Lynn fending off several mooks while she provides Mission Control to Sue on a mission gone wrong. Unfortunately the "multitasking" part leaves her open to getting killed by the mooks on a very important moment, when she decides to help Sue over protecting herself. As such, it is also a Last Stand and a Dying Moment of Awesome.
- Fair Cop: Inspector Kong, which catches Sue's attention.
- Fanservice: Lot's of it through the movie, but the bathtub fight between Lynn and Sue is probably the biggest example and the most gratuitous.
- Female Fighter, Male Handler: The competent ass-kicking Kong and the smart-but-ordinary Siu Ma.
- Femme Fatale: Lynn fills this role in the "Computer Angel" assassination team.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Sue is the foolish young singling to Lynn's responsible older sister.
- Frame-Up: Kong is forced to team up with Sue after she's framed for Lynn's murder.
- Full-Frontal Assault: A playful version, Sue gets into a fight with Lynn during her bath, trying to record her sister naked as blackmail and to prove she's ready to go on field missions. Lynn then fights Sue over the possession of the camera while also trying to keep herself covered. The fight ends with Sue being thrown into the bathtub, ruining the camera, while a triumphant Lynn wrapped in the shower curtain walks away.
- Genki Girl: Sue is very bubbly and energetic.
- Girls with Guns: The movie was an attempt to revive the girls this genre that once attracted fans to HK cinema from all over the world.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: Lynn has a grappling-hook launcher on her belt buckle, which she used to escape from the high building. Later, her sister, Sue, also has one and uses it in the final scene to great effect swinging around avoiding mooks, and even uses said weapon to drag a mook over a set of railings to his death. She killed the main villain using this weapon as well. Just imagine a Boom, Headshot! made with a grappling hook.
- Gray Rain of Depression: After her older sister, Lynn's, funeral, Sue buries her camcorder that contains the memories of her and Lynn, in the middle of a heavy pouring rain.
- Great Detective: Inspector Kong who notices many details the rest of the police let's slip and is nearest anyone ever got to catching Lynn and Sue.
- Groin Attack: In the final fight scene, Kong kicks one of the Big Bad's mooks on the groin when the latter tries to crush her from a high jump.
- Hair Flip: Lynn manages to weaponize it during her fight with Inspector Kong, using her hair to slap Kong's face.
- Hitman with a Heart:
- To some extent, Lynn and Sue, Lynn even goes through the effort of taking down Mooks with non-fatal shoots.
- Played incredibly straight by the Hitman who was supposed to kill them, but instead adopted them.
- Hollywood Hacking: Constantly due to the movie being about a team of assassin hackers.
- Homoerotic Subtext: So much between Sue and Inspector Kong. Neither has a male love interest, and their first "meeting" has Sue skate by Kong repeatedly, looking like she's checking her out. And when she sends Kong a birthday cake, Kong licks the frosting off with her finger. Sue even gives her a goodbye kiss at the end of the movie.
- Hostage Situation: The sisters and Inspector Kong get into one, with Lynn and Kong each holding each other's partner hostage. Eventually, it ends up with Sue and Ma holding each other hostage while Kong and Lynn fight it out.
- Interrupted Bath Lynn's bath is interrupted when Sue barges in on her.
- Improvised Weapon:
- After losing her katana, Sue uses a sliced piece of bamboo in the final fight.
- She also finishes off the Big Bad by firing her grappling hook in his head.
- It's Personal: After Lynn is killed Sue goes after the Big Bad for Revenge.
- Knowledge Broker: One of the police's contacts is an information broker who wears dozens of radios so he can hear everything.
- Leg Focus: Lynn shows off her legs in her Bathtub Scene and during her fight with Officer Kong.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Sue, who is very open about her attraction to Inspector Kong.
- Made of Iron: Master. Gets slashed in the gut? He just puts his katana in his mouth, wraps his jacket around the wound, and keeps going.
- Married to the Job: Inspector Kong isn't interested in romance and is focused on her job, although she does have some UST with Sue.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Inspector Kong and her partner Ma.
- Master Swordsman: The Master who duels with Sue and Kong at the same time and almost wins.
- Mission Control:
- Sue usually acts as Lynn's mission control, since Lynn doesn't want her little sister to be put on danger in field work, something that Sue constantly complains about.
- Lynn takes over for her Dying Moment of Awesome to guide Sue away from Inspector Kong during a Car Chase.
- In the finale, Kong does it for Sue.
- Modesty Towel: Lynn wraps herself in one during the bathtub fight, Sue then spends the rest of the fight trying to rip it off her. When she succeeds, Lynn starts using the shower curtain as one.
- Murder, Inc.: The "Computer Angels" Sue and Lynn.
- New Meat: Inspector Kong is fresh out of the academy, and gets little respect in her department because of this.
- No Name Given: Yasuaki Kurata's character who acts as The Dragon and ends being the Final Boss is only known as "Master."
- Non-Action Big Bad: The Big Bad is just a geeky guy. The one time he picks up a weapon, he just swings wildly to vent. All the fighting goes to his mooks and dragon.
- Nothing Personal: Lynn understands that the hit out on her is nothing personal, and doesn't blame those that took it out on her.
- One Last Job: Lynn is planning to quit the assassination business to be with her boyfriend. Naturally, she's killed before she can quit.
- Parting-Words Regret: After Sue gets into an argument with her older sister, Lynn, Sue apologizes to her sister by recording herself with her own camcorder and put it in front of Lynn's bedroom door. Sadly, it's the last time she saw Lynn as later Lynn is murdered while desperately saving her from getting arrested by Kong and the other police. Cue, Sue regrets for initially refusing to believe and comply to her older sister's advice about the dangerous life as a criminal.
- Professional Killer: Lynn and Sue work as one under the Computer Angel name.
- Photographic Memory: Inspector Kong has this, which helps her in remember files she read or in recognizing faces of past criminals.
- Retirony: Lynn is killed right when she decides to retire from being an assassin.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Sue after Lynn is killed.
- Romantic Rain: Lynn and Yen are out on their date when it starts raining. When they're mugged and Lynn reveals her combat skins, they have a romantic moment in the rain when Yen accepts her in spite of her job.
- Satellite Love Interest: Yen, Lynn's boyfriend has no connection to the plot other than being her Love Interest.
- Sibling Team: Computer Angel is an assassin team of two sisters, Lynn and Sue.
- Slipknot Ponytail :detective Kong keeps her long hair in a Ponytail. in a Sword Fight, her opponent's attack makes her ponytail undone.
- Soft Glass: The sisters, Lynn and Sue, shatter through a glass window panel in almost every fight scenes yet they manage to stay pristine and no single scratch; first, in the opening when Lynn killed Chow Lui. Later, when Sue exacts revenge in the same building in the final scene.
- Sweet Tooth: Sue loves cakes and has a habit of ordering them from the same bakery. When Sue sends a birthday cake to Kong to mess with her, Kong manages to find Sue by tracking down the bakery.
- Sword Fight: The final battle against the Master have Inspector Kong taking him on in a katana duel.
- Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Inspector Kong begins as this, but becomes a protagonist when she's framed for Lynn's murder.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Inspector Kong throws her sword at the Big Bad. While it doesn't directly harm him, it keeps the shielded glass doors from closing so that Sue could finish him.
- Titled After the Song: Indirectly titled after the Carpenters' song "Close to You" which plays are various moments.
- Tomboyish Ponytail Detective Kong's Trademark.
- Toplessness from the Back: Lynn briefly during the bathtub fight, when Sue yanks off her towel.
- Understanding Boyfriend: Yen still wants to be with Lynn after he finds out she's an assassin.
