Overrated

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

When Des Mangan said that this was the most action packed of the In the Line of Duty Movies he was not wrong. We open with a fight scene between a Chinese immigrant and five tough guys, and the immigrant wins. Basically the action of this movie is almost non-stop and it keeps you focused right through to the end. Sometimes simply watching kung-fu fights, one because bored of them, but this movie seemed to give life into these fights.Basically a Hong Kong cop (Cynthia Kahn) and a Seattle cop (Donny Yueng) are working together to bust a drug ring operating between Seattle and Hong Kong. Another immigrant sees a cop who has just been shot after witnessing the CIA backstabbing the drug ring and taking the drugs for themselves. The immigrant takes the film and flees while being chased by many nasty people. As the CIA have control of a lot of law enforcement agencies, this guy finds himself not only fleeing the crooks, but also the police and other authorities.Soon he returns to Hong Kong and proves to the two officers that he is innocent, but can identify the villains, so they find themselves the target of assassins. After getting into lots of trouble and trying to root out corrupt cops, they confront the baddies, have a big fight, and win. Nothing deep, but simply a movie one watches for the action as that is what entertains people these days (and those who find American action to be quite dry, turn to Hong Kong cinema to see what it is really done.)

It's non-stop fight action all the way in director Yuen Woo-ping's amazing martial arts classic 'In The Line Of Duty'.Sporting a great line in blouson jackets (leather AND tassled suede) and tight snow-washed jeans, feisty female fight star Cynthia Khan, aided by high-kicker Donnie Yen, battles nasty gangsters and corrupt cops in this prime slice of 80s kung fu cinema.OK, the story might not be anything special—a witness to a crime is hunted by both the police and the gangsters—but with blistering chop-socky and dangerous stunts from the opening frames to the end credits, those who enjoy Hong Kong mayhem will be in heaven when they watch this.Using virtually none of his trademark wire-work (that, in my opinion, ruins many of his films), Woo-ping presents the viewer with a roller-coaster ride of top action set-pieces and amazing acrobatic mêlées that show off his stars' skills to great effect. Khan is easy on the eye, but deadly in a fight, and gives her all in several brutal battles, one of which sees her performing an amazing routine with a couple of spanners standing in for a pair of nunchakus, and another which has her fighting atop a moving ambulance. Yen is also on fine form, performing more than his fair share of life-threatening action, but his best moment is undoubtedly the final rooftop punch-up with the massive Michael Woods—David and Goliath, kung fu style!Throw in some great motorcycle-fu, loads of energetic gun fights, a sword fight or two, and good support from both Yat Chor Yuen (as the unlucky witness Luk) and Michael Wong (as a traitorous CIA agent), and the result is a hugely enjoyable masterpiece of the genre.

"In The Line Of Duty 4" is one of the best kung fu movies ever made. I will simply list the reasons:1) An astounding Cynthia Khan. She looks great, she fights great, and when she's required to, she can also act!2) An incredible, young, full of I-want-to-show-the-world-what-I-can-do energy Donnie Yen.3) Fight choreography that cannot be topped (and virtually wire-free, too).4) Great, skillful, ruthless villains. Guys (and one woman) that make you wonder: can they be defeated? 5) Awesome, death-defying stunts.6) A take-no-prisoners, anything-goes attitude that is unique to Hong Kong action cinema.7) A simple and functional plot, that still manages to touch such subjects as friendship, betrayal and the emotional involvement of law enforcers.Don't miss this film. Rating it within its genre, I give it a full **** out of 4 stars.

Silly amounts of fights beak out. one guy has a balisong and is stupid enough to take on cynthia (who is armed with spanner-nunchaku). You could probably watch this with the sound turned off and not miss out on anything.If you want action, watch this movie. However, don't expect this one to bring you to tears. If this film was a book, it would be an inflatable bath-time storybook, one word a page, accompanied by illustrations...but what illustrations!