Royal Warriors (a. k. a. In The Line Of Duty) stars Bond girl Michelle Yeoh (of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame) as Michelle Yip, a Hong Kong police officer. She takes her job and her position very seriously and isn't afraid to do whatever it takes to uphold the law. She's a good cop with a sense of honor and a lot of respect for her duties.

After foiling a plan in which some dastardly hijackers attempt to spring a Japanese mob boss from a transport plane, she teams up with an airport security guard named Michael Wong (played, oddly enough, by Michael Wong of John Woo's 1996 made for TV movie, Once A Thief), who quickly becomes enthralled with her. Throw a slick Japanese cop named Yamamoto (played by Henry Sanada, recently seen in The Last Samurai) into the mix and things heat up, resulting the death of the mob boss and his cohort.

The blood brothers of the mobster killed on the plane swear revenge, and start hunting down the three cops. Car chases, night club brawls, and more high octane over the top action sequences than you can shake a stick at follow suit as our three law enforcement officials have to work together to stop the thugs and save the day.

Sonny Chiba protégé Henry Sanada is great in his role as a tense Japanese cop who just wants to spend time with his wife and kid. He struts through the film with an air of confidence and lends his considerable skills to a couple of truly boss fight scenes. Michael Wong is mediocre in his role as the love smitten air security agent, falling over Michelle Yeoh's character in a few half-assed attempts at adding some humor into the film. The real star of the film though, is obviously the lovely Ms. Yeoh herself. She shoots and punches her way through the film with oodles of charm and the looks to match. Good looks aside, she's also no slouch in the smackdown department either. While she may have been a one time Miss Malaysia winner, her background as a dancer gives her the skills to bring a solid physical performance to the screen.

While Cory Yuen's Yes, Madam may have been her breakthrough role, Royal Warriors is a faster paced film with action scenes that are a little bit rougher than its predecessor. The night club brawl is a fantastic scene and some of the hits we see had to hurt, fight choreography and stunt-work or not.

So while Royal Warriors isn't going to win any awards for realism, it sure is an entertaining action film with a fun, comic book appeal to it. Some of the humor feels a bit out of place and brings it down a notch or two from where it could have been, but not enough to spoil it. If you dig girls with guns and over the top violence, Hong Kong style, then Royal Warriors is required viewing.

Video:

Fox's anamorphic 2.35.1 transfer looks pretty sharp. Colors are quite vibrant despite a noticeable amount of natural looking grain, and print damage, while present, is restricted to some specks here and there. There's a nice level of detail present from start to finish and flesh tones look natural and lifelike. Compression artifacts are never a problem but there are a couple of scenes that have a wee bit of edge enhancement. Overall though, Royal Warriors looks very nice on this release.