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Righting Wrongs

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Righting Wrongs
Original film poster
Directed byCorey Yuen
Written bySzeto Chuek-hon
Barry Wong
Produced byYuen Biao
Corey Yuen
StarringYuen Biao
Cynthia Rothrock
Melvin Wong
Wu Ma
Roy Chiao
Corey Yuen
CinematographyTom Lau
Edited byPeter Cheung
Music byRomeo Diaz
Stephen Shing
Production
companies
Distributed byGolden Harvest
Release date
  • 27 November 1986 (1986-11-27)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeHK$10,751,259

Righting Wrongs (also known as Above the Law, and known in the Philippines as Fight to Win II)[1] is a 1986 Hong Kong action film produced and directed by Corey Yuen, and also produced by and starring Yuen Biao, both of whom also serve as the film's action directors. The film also co-stars Cynthia Rothrock, Melvin Wong, Wu Ma, Roy Chiao and director Yuen himself. Righting Wrongs is the one of Yuen Biao's better known films that he made without film industry compatriots Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan.

Title

The film's Hong Kong English language title is Righting Wrongs. The international version (dubbed in English) is titled Above the Law, which was also the title adopted for The Weinstein Company's 2007 US DVD release on their Dragon Dynasty label.

Plot

Jason Ha Ling-ching is a dedicated, by the books prosecutor who has tried to maintain patience and tolerance under the somewhat flimsy laws of the court. However, when his mentor is publicly gunned down in New Zealand and the key witness of Ha's latest case and his entire family is wiped out overnight, Ha can no longer go by the book.

Ha's initial plan is to take the law into his own hands and kill the two men he believes called for his witness' murder. He is successful in killing the first, which causes the Hong Kong Police Department to wake up and take action to regain order. Enter Senior Inspector Cindy Si, who is put on the case to find the killer under her superior, Superintendent Wong Ching-wai. However, when Ha goes to kill the second defendant, Chow Ting-kwong, he is already dead. Unbeknownst to them, both of the defendants were working under an even higher power, known only as "Crown". However, it is soon discovered that "Crown" is none other than Superintendent Wong, who was also Chow's killer.

Once Si realizes that Wong is the true mastermind behind all of the recent murders taking place, she and Ha finally work together to bring him in to prove he is not "above the law". Si storms through an airport hangar to confront Wong, but is fatally impaled by Wong using a hand drill. Ha arrives at the scene to fight Wong in the hangar and aboard a plane. Ha kills Wong with an axe to the back of the neck and jumps off the plane before it crashes, but dies on impact after landing into the ocean and his lifeless body afloats.

Alternate ending

In an alternate ending, both Si and Ha survive. Ha, however, is arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter (the Mandarin dub has him given a life sentence for first-degree murder).[2][3][4]

Cast

  • Yuen Biao as Jason Ha Ling-Ching
  • Cynthia Rothrock as Senior Inspector Cindy Si
  • Roy Chiao as Magistrate Judge
  • Melvin Wong as Superintendent Wong Ching-Wai
  • Louis Fan as Sammy Yu Chi-Man
  • Corey Yuen as 'Bad Egg'
  • Sandy Chan as Jason Ha's Girlfriend
  • Chung Fat as Red Porsche Policeman
  • Wu Ma as Uncle Tsai
  • Peter Cunningham as Black Assassin
  • Lau Sing-ming as Sammy's Grandfather
  • Karen Sheperd as Karen
  • Tai Po as Yellow Shirt Cop
  • James Tien - Chow Ting-Kwong
  • Hsu Hsia as Mr. Leung (protected witness)
  • Lau Chau-sang as Cop
  • Chow Kam-kong as Station Cop
  • Stephen Chan as Hung
  • Siu Bo as Cop Guarding Mr. Leung / Hanger Thug (2 roles)
  • Yuen Miu as Cop Guarding Mr. Leung
  • King Lee as Cop
  • Paul Chang as Bill 'Four Eyes Bill'
  • Hsiao Hou
  • Fruit Chan

Theme song

Production

According to Rothrock, Biao sustained a back injury while filming the scene where his character jumped off the second story of a house, despite landing feet-first on some padding dressed up as grass. The film's original ending was met with a negative reception in Taiwan; because of this, Rothrock stopped filming China O'Brien and flew from Los Angeles to Hong Kong to reshoot the ending for the Mandarin and international versions.[5][2][3]

Accolades

Accolades
Ceremony Category Recipient Outcome
6th Hong Kong Film Awards[6] Best Supporting Actor Wu Ma Nominated
Best Action Direction Corey Yuen, Yuen Biao, Mang Hoi, and Tsui Hark Nominated

References

  1. ^ "Grand Opening Today". The Manila Standard. 17 March 1987. p. 15.
  2. ^ a b Headley, Kelan (17 April 2015). "Righting Wrongs". Eastern Kicks. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Righting Wrongs". Movie Censorship. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Righting Wrongs". Martial Arts Entertainment. 27 November 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  5. ^ Rothrock, Cynthia (6 March 2022). Cynthia Rothrock's Best Fight Scenes HD. YouTube. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  6. ^ "List of Nominees and Awardees of The 6th Hong Kong Film Awards". Hong Kong Film Awards. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
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