A must have
Summary
Black Cat 1 & 2 are hugely entertaining girls with guns action movies with plenty of action scenes, an awesome lead in Jade Leung and Vinegar Syndrome have clearly gone to a lot of trouble in giving us several special features making this worth adding to your physical media collection.
Plot: When a customer attempts to sexually assault truck-stop waitress Catherine (Jade Leung), her self-control snaps and she kills both him and the policeman who tries to arrest her. While escaping the courtroom during her arraignment, she’s seemingly shot dead. Surviving, however, she is drafted to be an assassin by secret government agent Brian (Simon Yam). A newly-installed microchip in her brain controls her reflexes, turning her into a remote-controlled killing machine.
Review: If you’ve seen La Femme Nikita then you’ve basically seen Black Cat as this is a remake; they are nearly identical in terms of story although this came out a year after Nikita. In Black Cat a female drifter with no real identity kills someone and ends up being left for dead herself, however a mysterious organization brings her back to life in order to become the ultimate assassin. Simon Lam stars as Brian, one of the agents who makes her into the ultimate killer and the two form a sort of bond.
Black Cat wastes no time in getting going with Catherine (Jade Leung) working at a truck stop but when a trucker attempts to rape her, she goes berserk and kills him and the bar owner. You immediately know that this is someone who isn’t exactly sane to begin with, but Leung is fantastic and may be my favourite iteration of the Nikita style character. She’s like a feral animal so she is the perfect choice to become the assassin known as Black Cat.
There is action every few minutes and it’s gritty as Hell with plenty of violence, shoot-outs and explosions to keep things moving. I prefer the first half as it’s more action-packed as the second half focuses more on Erica (formerly Catherine) and her relationship with Allen.
There are two moments in the movie which contain some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen and it’s two English speaking actors. One scene involves a reporter who stumbles over her dialogue and also another scene where an employee of the agency also struggles with his lines. It’s pretty amateurish and did take me out of it a little bit, but not enough to ruin the film.
It’s just over 90 minutes and moves along at a mostly decent pace and isn’t short of action scenes to keep you entertained.
Overall, Black Cat may be yet another version of La Femme Nikita, but it’s still packed with action and Jade Leung is a force to be reckoned with as the unhinged Catherine/Erica.
Black Cat 2
In this sequel Erica is almost more of a supporting character for the first half of the film with Robin Shou’s (originally named) Robin the main protagonist. When terrorists want to assassinate the Russian president, he is forced to team up with Black Cat (Jade Leung) to try and stop them.
This entry has a more fantastical element to it with some wirework in the action scenes, but there are some truly spectacular moments; Black Cat 2 has more fight scenes than the first with a highlight being Erica and Robin fighting off thugs in a steel plant. There’s also an awesome shoot-out on a ski slope early on in the film, so it isn’t short on set-pieces.
This is another well-paced entry and is arguably slicker than the first movie, but it does lack the same grittiness. I also thought it ended a little abruptly where we don’t find out what happens with Erica. It just basically stops, leaving you hanging.
Overall, Black Cat 2 is still an entertaining movie with plenty of fight scenes and Jade Leung once again proving what a total badass she is; Robin Shou is also a welcome addition and I feel like he should have become a bigger star after Mortal Kombat.
Vinegar Syndrome have gone all out here remastering the films nicely while also giving a plethora of special features to keep you engaged for a few hours.
- 2-disc Region A Blu-ray Set
- Newly restored by Vinegar Syndrome from existing studio masters
- Includes both Cantonese and English language tracks for both films
- Commentary track for Black Cat by author and historian Samm Deighan
- Brand new interview with actress Jade Leung (14 min)
- Brand new interview with martial arts director Benz Kong To-Hoi (13 min)
- “Copycat? Black Cat and Its Influences” (17 min) – a video essay by author and historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
- Black Cat trailer in Cantonese & English
- Black Cat 2 trailer in Cantonese & English
- Still galleries for Black Cat & Black Cat 2
- 40-page perfect bound book!
- Reversible sleeve artwork
- Newly translated English subtitles
If you enjoy the Black Cat movies then this box set is definitely worth picking up; I can’t seem to find it online anymore, so I’m glad I got it in the shop when I did. It’s worth every penny.