A must-have
Summary
Jet packs with machine guns. Need I say more?
Plot: Iron Angels (aka Fighting Madam, 93 min): After drug enforcement officials destroy opium fields in Thailand, disrupting a global drug network known as the “Golden Triangle,” the officers responsible for the raid are one by one targeted for assassination by the violent cartel. Unable to stop the bloodshed, the government turns towards an elite “spies-for-hire” group known as the Iron Angels. Saijo, the legendary Angel #1, is accompanied by two beautiful and deadly agents, Moon and Elaine, and the trio is then partnered with an American DEA operative named Alex. Together, they discover that the ruthless Madam Yeung has violently taken over the criminal enterprise, and the Iron Angels must stop at nothing to take her down. Soon, the agents find themselves in a bloody fight against Madam Yeung and her group of killers, led by her right-hand man, Mr. Chang (played by fan-favorite Hwang Jang-Lee).
If you have even a passing love of action movies then I’ll just say you need to buy this set ASAP; I had never seen the Iron Angels movies before and was blown away. The action in this first entry is simply insane with more squibs than I think I’ve ever seen in one movie.
There are fight scenes, shoot-outs, explosions and stunts galore. Sure, some of the fights are sped up a little but they are still awesome and there is an energy to the action that keeps your adrenaline pumping throughout.
The pacing rarely slows down more than a few minutes before someone is violently killed and there were just several moments where I said “holy shit!”. The shoot-out at the compound is the highlight with a guy arriving hanging from a helicopter firing a machine gun. I live for movies like this!
Moon Lee plays the imaginatively titled Moon, who with the rest of her trusty gang of badass spies Saijo and Elaine take on the sadistic villain Madam Yeung (a wonderfully unhinged Yukari Oshima).
The supporting cast also includes Hideki Saijô, Alex Fong, Elaine Lui, Hwang Jang-Lee, Ting-Wai Chan, Ralph Chen, Kharina Isa and Mark Steinborn.
The picture and sound quality on the Blu-ray are amazing although the score is very dated sounding by today’s standards.
Directed by Teresa Woo who deserves more admiration the action is incredibly shot and the stunts are still breathtaking.
Overall, Iron Angels could rapidly become one of my favourite action movies as it delivers all the fights, squibs and bloodshed a growing boy needs.
Iron Angels II (1988)
Plot: Iron Angels II (aka Fighting Madam 2, 97 min): Now an Iron Angel himself, Alex goes on vacation with Elaine and Moon for much-needed rest and relaxation after completing a dangerous mission. While in Malaysia, Alex meets up with two old friends, Peter and Marco, to enjoy some laughs and reminisce. However, the stakes become deadly when Alex discovers that the CIA is secretly investigating his wealthy friend Peter for funding a government coup. To make matters worse, Elaine has fallen for Peter and soon finds herself held captive by his private army upon discovering his secret. With the help of Iron Angel Kharina, Alex and Moon must head into the jungle to get Elaine back, culminating in a bloody showdown between the Iron Angels and Peter’s private army.
This sequel doesn’t quite match the first film in terms of pacing and thrills, but it’s still awesome with an action-packed final 20 minutes.
In this entry Moon, Elaine and Alex are on vacation where they meet Alex’s old friend Peter (Ting-Wai Chan) who may or may not be the villain of the tale.
Spoiler alert, he is. This adds a bit of weight to the characters where Alex feels loyalty to his friend, but knows that he has lost his way.
After a great opening there is a definite lull in the pacing, but it’s never too long before we get some fight scenes; I feel like the scale of this movie is smaller in terms of the action, at least for the first half and it’s only for the finale that things get spectacular. Alex’s final showdown with Peter delivers the goods as they battle it out in a river which must have been a logistical nightmare to film.
Like the first entry the Blu-ray looks and sounds great with crystal clear picture and sound. The music score is still mostly awful and cheap sounding making little impact.
Overall, Iron Angels II isn’t a patch on the first film but still has enough action and thrills to make for an easy watch.
Iron Angels III AKA Retorn of Iron Angels (1983)
Plot: Iron Angels III (aka Return of Iron Angels, 92 min): The Iron Angels are back once again, this time to stop an international terrorist organization hellbent on starting a war between Thailand and Vietnam. Moon must go undercover as a deadly assassin to infiltrate the terrorist group as they are planning to assassinate several high-ranking government officials. In the meantime, Alex and Kharina are partnered with a young newcomer named Kwai and a tech specialist nicknamed “Computer” to assist Moon. However, after losing contact with Moon, it is up to the other Iron Angels to try and stop the assassinations before it is too late. When the group gets word of a potential attack at a government summit, Alex and Kwai jump into action and quickly find themselves in the middle of an all-out battle, good thing they are armed with machine gun-mounted jet packs!
The second movie may have been a mixed bag in terms of pacing in the first half but there are no such issues in this epic third movie. There are fights every 3 seconds with one lasting nearly 15 minutes between Alex and a Thai Fighter in the ring.
It’s amazingly choreographed and it’s always nice to see people with genuine talent move on screen and the camera just lets us witness it. The fight alone makes this worth watching… oh, but did I mention that the finale has our two heroes show up on fucking jet packs with machine guns on them? No? Then why are you reading this and not buying he Blu-ray set immediately?
There is no Elaine in this entry and she is replaced by Kwai (Ralph Chen) and the return of Kharina (Kharina Isa) from Part 2. Moon Lee really gets to shine with a few awesome fight scenes although she does disappear during the finale. Also, the main villain doesn’t seem to get his comeuppance at the end which is a shame as he spends the whole movie hurting and killing his own men. He is underused in general and could have been given more to do.
The pacing here is faultless clocking in at 90 minutes and it’s never dull for a moment.
The music is forgettable once again, but I think it’s better than part 2 at least.
Overall, Iron Angels III is an awesome end to the trilogy with a bodycount surely in the thousands and jet packs with guns are in the finale. No notes. Cinema.
Vinegar Syndrome knocked it out of the park with this set and I am so glad I blind bought it and I hope you do too.
It has some nice special features which you can check out below.
- 2-disc Region Free Blu-ray Set
- Newly restored by VS from existing studio masters
- All films are presented with their original Cantonese language soundtracks with newly translated English subtitles, in addition to English language dub soundtracks
- Mandarin language dub soundtracks are included for Iron Angels and Iron Angels III
- Commentary track with film historian & author Samm Deighan for Iron Angels
- Commentary track with martial arts film expert Frank Djeng for both Iron Angels II and III
- “Meeting an Angel” (21 min) – a discussion between actress Elaine Lui and Hong Kong film historian Arnaud Lanuque
- “The Angels Go To War” (18 min) – an interview with production manager Johnny Lee
- “Three Directors and an Angel” (30 min) – an interview with executive director Raymond Leung
- “The Shadow Action Director” (33 min) – an interview with acting director Stanley Tong
- “Angels Shed No Tears” (9 min) – a video essay by Frankie Balboa
- Original trailers for Iron Angels and Iron Angels II
- 40-page perfect bound book with essays by Michelle Kisner, Madelyn Sutton, and Erica Shultz
- Newly translated English subtitles
The chat with Elaine Lui is entertaining as she talks about how she got into movies and working on Iron Angels. All the features have clearly had time and effort put into them and you can never go wrong when you see Frank Djeng involved.
Overall, this is one of my all-time favourite action trilogies that delivers everything I want from my movies; crazy action, plenty of bloodshed and rapidfire pacing. There are enough extras to keep you entertained for a few hours and the films have never looked or sounded better. Buy this now or I will come after you with my armored jetpack. Also, why do we not have jet packs? I want one to fly to work on rather than having to drive through stupid Toronto traffic. Sorry, I’ll shut up now.