Get reel: Lamenting the loss of Hong Kong cinema's wild warrior women

Where have Hong Kong cinema's female warriors gone, I wondered, while watching Japanese actress Fumi Nikaido wielding a sword with wild abandon in Sion Sono's extremely violent film, Why Don't You Play in Hell?

While some might point to Cheuk Wan-chi's Kick Ass Girls as evidence that there still are Hong Kong movies in which women get to strike out, that movie's leading ladies just aren't in the same league - in terms of fighting prowess and star power - as the earlier likes of Angela Mao Ying (Lady Whirlwind), Polly Shang-kuan Ling-feng (Back Alley Princess) and Hsu Feng (The Valiant Ones), who all graced classics made by the legendary King Hu in the 1960s and '70s.

So ubiquitous were female warriors in Hong Kong movies for a time that even films with masculine titles, such as Swordsman (1990) - which Hu began filming but had to share helming credits with five other directors (including Tsui Hark and Ann Hui On-wah) - and Swordsman II (1992), often featured prominent swordswomen.

Another feature of Hong Kong films then was how women often served as key influences on iconic action men. It's hard to forget Anita Mui Yim-fong's character teaching Chow Yun-fat's Mark Gor how to shoot a gun, in the trilogy, A Better Tomorrow. As for displays of "girl power", nothing quite beats those films in which fighting femmes team up to beat up the bad guys. Yes, they often were low-budget works with titles on the cheesy side. Still, those late '80s, early '90s "Girls with Guns" movies such as Yes Madam!, starring former Miss Malaysia Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng and five-time world karate champion Cynthia Rothrock as fearless cops, were thoroughly enjoyable.

And while I'm sure that Yeoh believes she's gone on to better roles and films such as Luc Besson's The Lady (2011), I hope she realises how much pleasure her earlier, action-packed films, including Royal Warriors (1987) and Wing Chun (1994), have given fans.