Royal Warriors aka In the Line of Duty (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Dec 30, 2024
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
David ChungRelease Date(s)
1986 (June 11, 2024)Studio(s)
D&B Films (88 Films)- Film/Program Grade: B
- Video Grade: B
- Audio Grade: B
- Extras Grade: B-
Review
Some franchises are born; others are made. Still others are... well, made up out of whole cloth. That’s especially true of international productions, where dubbing, new titles, and creative editing can connect dots that were never intended to be connected in the first place. The most notorious example of that might be the American Robotech saga, which awkwardly stitched together three completely unrelated Japanese series: Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA. The same thing has happened in the world of Hong Kong filmmaking, where dubbed export versions have been tied together retroactively. Further complicating matters, the feedback loop of the import/export process has resulted in that kind of revisionism working its way back to Hong Kong, resulting in plenty of entertainment value for fans, but confusion for anyone who tries to create a straightforward catalogue of all the films. Such is the case with the In the Line of Duty franchise.
Turning In the Line of Duty into a series was an afterthought from the original production company D&B Films, so the confusion is exacerbated by the fact that the franchise doesn’t actually start at the beginning. The first film in the series, Royal Warriors (aka Wong ga jin si), had been moderately successful when it was exported as In the Line of Duty. D&B wanted to cash in on that success quickly, so they took a completely different film that had been released the previous year, Yes, Madam! (aka Huang jia shi jie), and retitled it In the Line of Duty II (or some variant thereof) for other markets. That was followed by two films that openly used the same naming system in Hong Kong as well: In the Line of Duty III (aka Huang jia shi jie zhi III: Ci xiong da dao) and In the Line of Duty IV (aka Wong ga si je IV: Jik gik jing yan). Yet even that moderate level of consistency was quickly discarded, with the next three films once again carrying their own titles in Hong Kong while still being exported as In the Line of Duty films in some other markets.
However confusing all of that may be, one thing is perfectly clear: most of these films have little or nothing to do with each other. Royal Warriors and Yes, Madam! both star Michelle Yeoh, but playing completely different characters. Cynthia Khan did end up playing the same character for the rest of the franchise, but that’s the only real connection between any of the films. The true unifying factor is that they’re all “girls with guns” cop thrillers, most of them on a slightly more serious level than rival studio Golden Harvest’s The Inspector Wears Skirts franchise. These women kick major ass regardless of the titles, and that’s all that really matters in the end.
Speaking of ass-kicking, there’s Michelle Yeoh. Royal Warriors stars Yeoh (credited here as Michelle Khan) as inspector Michelle Yip of the Royal Hong Kong Police, who ends up drawn into an inadvertent triangle when she teams up with air marshal Michael Wong (played by actor Michael Wong) and Japanese police detective Peter Yamamoto (Sanada Hiroyuki) to thwart an in-flight hijacking. Yip is all business, Wong is devil-may-care, and Yamamoto is a tortured soul, but together they manage to prevent further innocent loss of life. Unfortunately, the hijacking was actually an attempt to free the Chinese mob boss Tiger (Michael Chan Wai-man) from legal prosecution, and when Tiger and his attempted rescuer end up dead, that draws the ire of Tiger’s associate Raging Bull (Lam Wai). Raging Bull wants revenge, and his actions spark a cycle of vengeance that quickly spirals out of control for everyone concerned.
Royal Warriors may be considered as the first In the Line of Duty film, but it was originally a follow-up to the next film in the series Yes, Madam!, and the differences between the two are stark. While Yes, Madam! had its fair share of violence, it also leaned heavily into comedy, but everyone in Royal Warriors is playing for keeps. Michael Wong’s insouciance does offer a bit of comic relief, but even he ends up drawn into the endless cycle of vengeance that leaves a trail of bodies in its wake. Despite the presence of an armored car that looks like a reject from Megaforce and a car chase with John Landis levels of collateral damage, the action in Royal Warriors is generally taken just as seriously. Director David Chung, second unit director Johnnie To, and a legion of Hong Kong stunt performers staged some genuinely impressive action scenes for the film, and while there’s the occasional breather, the action never lets up. Regardless of whether you consider Royal Warriors as the first In the Line of Duty film or as a follow-up to Yes, Madam! (or even if you just give up and enjoy it for what it is), it’s a fine example of Hong Kong filmmaking at its best.
Cinematographers Ma Chun Wah and Derek Wan shot Royal Warriors on 35mm film using spherical lenses, framed at 1.85:1 for its theatrical release. 88 Films describes this version as a “2K remaster from the original camera negative,” with no other information available. There’s little damage visible, and everything is reasonably detailed, with the grain still intact, and few compression issues (although there does appear to have been a little noise reduction applied). The contrast range is good, with decent black levels, and the colors look natural. It’s a solid if unremarkable master.
Primary audio is offered in three different flavors of 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio: the original theatrical Cantonese mix; an alternate Cantonese mix, and the original English Dub. There’s also an English remix in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, and optional English subtitles are available. It’s not really clear what the differences are between the two Cantonese tracks, as both sound very similar if not identical. Aside from some excessive sibilance in the dialogue, both of them are relatively clean tracks without significant noise or distortion. The synthesized score by Romeo Díaz sounds a little thin, but it’s otherwise serviceable.
The 88 Films Blu-ray release of Royal Warriors features a reversible insert with new artwork by Sean Longmore on one side, and the original theatrical poster artwork on the other. The following extras are included:
- Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng
- Missing Aeroplane Inserts (HD & Upscaled SD – :29)
- Cantonese Trailer (Upscaled SD – 4:38)
- English Trailer (Upscaled SD – 3:49)
- English In the Line of Duty Title Sequence (HD – 2:57)
The commentary features programmer and former Tai Seng Entertainment marketing manager Frank Djeng, who as usual wastes no time diving into myriad different details about Royal Warriors. He opens with a rundown of the complicated history of the franchise, and then breaks down the production itself including biographies of all the cast and crew—even pointing out who actually dubbed the dialogue in the Cantonese version (the actors were all speaking their own native languages on set). He also helpfully notes some cultural differences for western viewers. (Note that this is a completely different track than the one he recorded for the 2023 Region B Blu-ray release from Eureka! in the U.K.)
The rest of the extras are pretty thin: just a couple of trailers; some insert exterior shots of the airplane in the hijacking sequence that were eliminated from the final cut; and the English language opening title sequence and closing title card from the Atlas International export version. Missing from the Eureka! version is the alternate Djeng commentary; a second commentary with Mike Leeder and Arne Venema; an interview with producer John Sham; and a locations featurette with Leeder and Venema. You’ll want to hold onto that disc if you already own it, but for those who aren’t multi-region capable, this 88 Films version offers a fine Region A-friendly alternative. Either way, Royal Warriors definitely belongs in the collection of any fan of Hong Kong Cinema.
- Stephen Bjork
(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).