Highly Overrated But Still Good

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This movie essentially begins with an ancient painting from the Sung Dynasty which was taken during World War 2 by the occupying Japanese forces. As the war progressed the Japanese army began experimenting with biological weapons and used Chinese citizens to test them on. However, with the war now turning against them--and the possibility of being executed for war crimes--the Japanese military decided to hide certain top secret files inside of this valuable Sung painting with the idea of eventually bringing it back to Japan. Unfortunately for them, the painting was stolen not long afterward--along with the horrific information contained inside. Needless to say, the Chinese government, unaware of the secret files inside, wants the painting because of its historic value. The Japanese government, on the other hand, wants the painting in order to avoid embarrassment concerning their atrocities. As a result, when the painting turns up on the black market, a number of people want this painting at all cost. This brings us to the present with a Chinese policewoman named "Chin" (Cynthia Khan) in the process of busting a secret transaction involving a Chinese Triad from Hong Kong. When a gun fight breaks out between the police and the Triad, Chin is saved at the last minute by one of the criminals--who just happens to be her former boyfriend, "Hsiong" (Waise Lee). Figuring that he might be implicated in the murder of several policemen, Hsiong flees the mainland and makes his way back to Hong Kong. That said, even though it has been seven years since she had last seen him, Chin decides to travel to Hong Kong to find him. What Chin doesn't realize is that Hsiong has changed quite a bit and since he has possession of the painting a lot of other people are also looking for him as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I found this movie to be somewhat unusual in that it incorporates both action and comedy but then changes rather dramatically toward the end. Yet, even though I didn't particularly care for this sudden change, I must admit that the film itself was fairly entertaining all the same. Additionally, having four lovely actresses like Moon Lee (as "Feng"), Michiko Nishiwaki ("Sen"), Yukari Oshima ("Oshima") and the aforementioned Cynthia Khan certainly didn't hurt either. All things considered then, I rate this movie as slightly above average.

The title "Avenging Quartet" is a case of false advertising: in truth, Cynthia Khan and Moon Lee dominate about 90% of the running time, Michiko Nishiwaki pops up only periodically, and Yukari Oshima's part is basically an extended cameo. All the women look stunning (IMO the show is stolen by the adorable Moon and the sexy Michiko - there is a sharp contrast between these two types of women), but the story is slow, confusing and uninteresting, and the action is sparse until the explosive climactic "battle royale" inside a burning building. The movie has its moments (including a brief confrontation between Yukari and Michiko before they team up), but in between those moments it can be hard to sit through. And as the previous reviewer noted, the Ground Zero version of this movie, retitled "Tomb Raiders", is of very poor visual quality and should be avoided. (**)

I bought this movie from Suncoast which was titled "Tomb Raiders" and it had a double feature which included Godfather's Blues. I was tempted to eject this disc from my PS2 and trade it in to Blockbuster when I saw that the picture was a little too bright and there were times where the picture would fade out for a second and then be normal. My guess was that the company who did the transfer used video transfer from a dust-filled VCR, but I decided to just give it a shot, rather than let a few little glitches stop me. Needless to say, I'm glad I didn't sell it because I was amazed with the stunts, fight scenes and character development used for the characters. I also loved the locations that they used in Hong Kong. A scene with Moon at the movie theater, Cynthia walking alone near the Yin Yang club and the gym-fighting scene between Michiko and Yukari are just some of the great scenes shown in this movie. Seeing this movie just makes me wish I was in Hong Kong.What I enjoyed most about this movie was the character development and the music used in the movie. The director devoted a lot of time to creating the characters for the actors and actresses to play and you can tell that each one has fun playing who they are. Cynthia was great as Chin, the Beijing military officer who is searching for the man she loves and looks great playing the lonely heroine. Moon does a great job as well, but she adds more flare and spice to the screen with her cute playful portrayal of Feng. Michiko and Yukari definitely prove they're a force to reckoned with as they portray Sen and Oshima, two femme fatales who are after a priceless painting that contains hidden secrets from the war. Waise Lee's character Hsiong, seems emotionless at times, but he kicks into hero mode near the end of the film and Chin Kar Lok adds comedy and action in his portrayal of Paul, a goofy Hong Kong cop with who has a thing for Moon's Feng. Also, the scenes where Cynthia and Moon talk about their boyfriends (not knowing that they're in love with the same man) is also memorable. These two girls chit chat, drink Bacardi together, fight together, play Nintendo together and even share the same bed (as friends). The way these two women acted in this movie, you'd almost think that they were sisters. Very well done indeed. It was good that the director focused more on character development than they did the actual plot of the movie.The music was great too, had a few romance tunes and some suspenseful fight scene music and that made the movie great too. The action scenes are also superb as everybody goes into throw-down mode and beats down anyone stupid enough to get in their paths. It's a shame that the director, Stanley Wu didn't make more movies now after creating this gem.Avenging Quartet is definitely a movie for the Guns-N-Girls genre and it shouldn't be passed up. But if you want to buy it, get the subtitled version for you VCD player or VHS. If you want a DVD copy, make sure that it's only the Avenging Quartet and not the double-feature one from ground-zero.net. The picture quality isn't all that good. Other than that, pop it into your DVD player and enjoy. You won't be disappointed.

A Hong Kong action movie being renamed? This must be a first! If you're interested in getting a copy, I found it as a Black Belt Theatre release on DVD. It's now entitled, "Tomb Raiders." However, there is no tomb and there are no raiders. Who cares! Anytime you put Michiko Nishiwaki, Yukari Oshima, Moon Lee and Cynthia Khan together in the same movie, it's worth seeing. There is a second title on this DVD, "Godfather's Daughter" starring Yukari. The title changed only slightly from the original "Godfather's Daughter, Mafia Blues."