MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological* The most demanding thing about this goofy romp-- originally titled FIVE PRETTY YOUNG LADIES-- is trying to decide if it's more comedy than adventure. But as dopey as the concept is-- five young Chinese girls, wearing matching skirts, boots, and halter tops, volunteer to capture an "invisible thief"-- I'd say the movie sells thrills more often than jokes. And really, when the Chinese make a thoroughgoing comedy, one's not likely to be fooled by lots of subtlety.
The five girls-- billed on HKMDB as "Pretty Girls 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5"-- are headed by two "name" stars-- Polly Shang Kwan and Elsa Yeung-- while the other three actresses, according to said database, barely did anything else but BRUCE. The five characters are almost indistinguishable from one another, except that the youngest wears pigtails and sometimes acts childishly. The quintet become involved with crimefighting when some hoods chase a handsome young scientist into the girls' gym. The girl-gang's leader (Shang Kwan) has an uncle on the local police force, so the ladies manage to insinuate themselves into the investigation of the scientist's relevance to an invisible thief plaguing Hong Kong. The scientist, whom the Shang Kwan character fancies, used "moon rocks" to concoct an invisibility formula, and the gangsters who attacked him work for a lady gang-boss (Betty Pei Ting). There's no pretense of detective work here. The girls just show up wherever the script needs them to do so and start kicking Bad Guy ass with their kung fu, though top-billed Shang Kwan performs the best stunts. When the girls aren't on screen, BRUCE is a stone bore-- though sadly, I have seen many films worse than this one.
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