Righting Wrongs

Righting Wrongs
Original film poster
Traditional	執法先鋒
Simplified	执法先锋
Mandarin	Zhí Fǎ Xiān Fēng
Cantonese	Zap1 Faat3 Sin1 Fung1
Directed by	Corey Yuen
Written by	Szeto Chuek-hon Barry Wong
Produced by	Yuen Biao Corey Yuen
Starring	Yuen Biao Cynthia Rothrock Melvin Wong Wu Ma Roy Chiao Corey Yuen
Cinematography	Tom Lau
Edited by	Peter Cheung
Music by	Romeo Diaz Stephen Shing
Production companies	Golden Harvest Bo Ho Films Paragon Films
Distributed by	Golden Harvest
Release date	27 November 1986 (1986-11-27)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Box office	HK$10,751,259

Righting Wrongs (also known as Above the Law, and known in the Philippines as Fight to Win II)^[1] is a 1986 Hong Kong action film produced and directed by Corey Yuen, and also produced by and starring Yuen Biao, both of whom also serve as the film's action directors. The film also co-stars Cynthia Rothrock, Melvin Wong, Wu Ma, Roy Chiao and director Yuen himself. Righting Wrongs is the one of Yuen Biao's better known films that he made without film industry compatriots Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan.

Title[]

The film's Hong Kong English language title is Righting Wrongs. The international version (dubbed in English) is titled Above the Law, which was also the title adopted for The Weinstein Company's 2007 US DVD release on their Dragon Dynasty label.

Plot[]

Jason Ha Ling-ching is a dedicated, by the books prosecutor who has tried to maintain patience and tolerance under the somewhat flimsy laws of the court. However, when his mentor is publicly gunned down in New Zealand and the key witness of Ha's latest case and his entire family is wiped out overnight, Ha can no longer go by the book.

Ha's initial plan is to take the law into his own hands and kill the two men he believes called for his witness' murder. He is successful in killing the first, which causes the Hong Kong Police Department to wake up and take action to regain order. Enter Senior Inspector Cindy Si, who is put on the case to find the killer under her superior, Superintendent Wong Ching-wai. However, when Ha goes to kill the second defendant, Chow Ting-kwong, he is already dead. Unbeknownst to them, both of the defendants were working under an even higher power, known only as "Crown". However, it is soon discovered that "Crown" is none other than Superintendent Wong, who was also Chow's killer.

Once Si realizes that Wong is the true mastermind behind all of the recent murders taking place, she and Ha finally work together to bring him in to prove he is not "above the law". Si storms through an airport hangar to confront Wong, but is fatally impaled by Wong using a hand drill. Ha arrives at the scene to fight Wong in the hangar and aboard a plane. Ha kills Wong with an axe to the back of the neck and jumps off the plane before it crashes, but succumbs to his wounds as his body floats on the ocean.

Alternate ending[]

When the original ending was met with a negative reception from the audience, an alternate ending was made for the Mandarin and international versions. In this ending, both Si and Ha survive. Ha, however, is arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter (the Mandarin dub has him given a life sentence for first-degree murder).^[2][3][4]

Cast[]

• Yuen Biao as Jason Ha Ling-Ching
• Cynthia Rothrock as Senior Inspector Cindy Si
• Roy Chiao as Magistrate Judge
• Melvin Wong as Superintendent Wong Ching-Wai
• Louis Fan as Sammy Yu Chi-Man
• Corey Yuen as 'Bad Egg'
• Sandy Chan as Jason Ha's Girlfriend
• Chung Fat as Red Porsche Policeman
• Wu Ma as Uncle Tsai
• Peter Cunningham as Black Assassin
• Lau Sing-ming as Sammy's Grandfather
• Karen Sheperd as Karen
• Tai Po as Yellow Shirt Cop
• James Tien - Chow Ting-Kwong
• Hsu Hsia as Mr. Leung (protected witness)
• Lau Chau-sang as Cop
• Chow Kam-kong as Station Cop
• Stephen Chan as Hung
• Siu Bo as Cop Guarding Mr. Leung / Hanger Thug (2 roles)
• Yuen Miu as Cop Guarding Mr. Leung
• King Lee as Cop
• Paul Chang as Bill 'Four Eyes Bill'
• Hsiao Hou
• Fruit Chan

Theme song[]

• Proud (狂傲)
  • Composer: Akira Mitake
  • Lyricist: Lo Keok-chim
  • Singer: Jacky Cheung

Production information[]

• Cynthia Rothrock was originally supposed to act in Jackie Chan's 1987 film, Armour of God, Rothrock was declined. But due to Jackie Chan's injury halting production of the film, however Rothrock was reassigned to play as the lead actress in this film.
• This is Rothrock's personal favorite of her own films.
• The airplane stunt finale was shot in New Zealand, rather than Hong Kong.
• Supposedly, many of the times Rothrock was doubled, she would be doubled by stuntman and fight choreographer Meng Hoi.
• Rothrock did not speak Cantonese or Mandarin, so all of her lines were spoken in English and then later dubbed into the respective languages.
• According to Rothrock, despite being an impressive martial arts villain on screen in this film, actor Melvin Wong apparently had no formal martial arts training whatsoever prior to this film.
• According to Melvin Wong, the airplane hangar fight between him and Yuen Biao was "guest directed" by none other than Sammo Hung.
• The film has two main versions in Cantonese and Mandarin the primary difference being additional scenes for the Mandarin version and another ending.

Accolades[]

See also[]

• List of Hong Kong films
• Yuen Biao filmography

References[]

External links[]

• Righting Wrongs at IMDb