Silver Hawk (2004) review

Michelle Yeoh leads an ultra-hip cast as the smilingest vigilante you’ve ever seen in Silver Hawk (2004). Filmed in both English and Cantonese, the movie is a light and laughing answer to the heavy-handed drama of most modern superheroes and is not to be seen if you’re in the mood for anything deep, dark, or brooding.

The cover of Silver Hawk sports Yeoh in full crime-fighting drag, apparently sky-surfing away from a futuristic city that’s also on fire, and I found it nestled snugly into the film noir section of my local video house. I took it home expecting to have a good, hearty laugh at another straight-faced action film that might have some well-choreographed fight scenes and little else. Indeed, the movie opens with a shot of Lulu Shiraishi (Yeoh) in a silver mask and cape, vaulting over the Great Wall of China on a motorcycle as she chases down an armored van full of stolen pandas. But from the moment you see our heroine grinning like an idiot while she kicks the tar out of a bunch of extras, you know you’re in for something different.

The plot unfolds with all the huff and bother of your typical action adventure. Lulu is the adopted daughter of a wealthy businessman, which is how she can afford all of her silver trench coats and completely disposable stainless steel knives. In the tradition of City Hunter (Jackie Chan, 1993), the rest of the cast is an eccentric caricature of the typical Hong Kong cop drama. Richie Ren plays “Rich Man,” the new “superintendent of police” for Polaris City, who has made it his personal mission to arrest the Silver Hawk, whose phenomenal success at crime fighting has demoralized the city police department. He is also Lulu Shiraishi’s childhood best friend, whom she met at a summer martial arts training camp, and is indirectly responsible for her becoming a vigilante in the first place.

The creepy German villain of the story, Herr Alexander Wolfe, is played by Luke Goss. He has captured one professor Ho Chung (Daming Chen) and the daughter of Lulu’s rich uncle Akira Shiraishi (Kouichi Iwaki) in a nefarious plot to use the good doctor’s new artificial intelligence program alongside Shiraishi’s newest blue-tooth cellular phones to control the world. With the help of Rich Man and the professor’s young computer-genius apprentice Kit (Brandon Chang), Lulu begs to differ.

The action scenes from this movie are both amusing and well choreographed. The Silver Hawk faces down improbable opponents (including high-wire assassins, ninja hockey players and a cross dresser) with gusto and obvious glee. The final battle against Wolfe (sporting bionic arms) is awe-inspiring and funny. Brandon Chang also deserves mention as hilarious comic relief in a story that didn’t necessarily need it, but still benefited from it. Altogether, a satisfying film.