Movie Review - The Fatal Raid

The Fatal Raid ** (out of 5) (NR) This contemporary Hong Kong action flick offers the best and the worst of this category of subtitled imports. It’s cops vs. bad guys setting up a slew of intense, elaborately staged action sequences. It also features a handful of lethally gifted ladies (some of whom wear less than their situations call for) among the ranks on both sides of the law, reviving the “girls with guns” subset of the martial arts family that thrived a couple of decades ago on both sides of the Pacific.

This low rating comes from the script being hard to follow as it jumps between two time frames 20 years apart, and several illogical aspects to what the characters do, even once we understand their motivations. In 1998, Hong Kong cops got into a major battle with a gang in Macau, resulting in lots of casualties and destruction of property. Stuff blowed up big time. The collateral damage would have made horrendous public relations for both sets of authorities, so the incident was covered up like a UFO sighting attributed to swamp gas. As a result, there was no compensation for the families of the deceased officers, or consideration for the few survivors. That proves to have unwanted effects long afterwards. As usual, the coverup turns out to be worse than the crime.

Twenty years later, two of those survivors are placed in charge of a protection detail for a Hong Kong politico going to Macau for a high-profile conference. A new crew - largely consisting of the aforementioned babes with bullets - is deployed, only to find themselves unwelcome by their Macau counterparts, still resenting the mayhem from that previous visit. A small group of young revolutionaries tries to disrupt the meeting, leading to another big mess the brass wants to shove under the rug. But they’re not the largest threat to the event. That’s a whole ‘nother bunch with different agendas and better weapons.

As the action plays out, we get some terrific hand-to-hand fights and chases. The trio of young women in the newer Hong Kong cop crew would be perfect for, and better served by, a Charlie’s Angels knockoff. But the shootouts make everyone look inept. Rarely have so many bullets been fired from so many machine guns to hit so few bodies. The bottom line is that if you’re looking for an adrenaline rush with a PG-13 serving of eye candy, this could be a viable option. If you seek more all-around quality in the genre, you can find more satisfying scripts supporting their action, like the recently-reviewed Raging Fire.

(Digital, DVD and Blu-ray releases 8/24/21)