Matthew D
Insane action choreography with Cynthia Khan and Donnie Yen!
Hong Kong director Yuen Woo-ping, of Drunken Master, Tai Chi Master, and Master Z fame, breathes life into these outrageous stunts, kung fu fights, and bloody shootouts for his martial arts crime thriller In the Line of Duty IV (1989). The exciting 80's music builds up the suspense and the careful choreography makes each battle really entertaining. I like the touches of humor to break up all the violence. I love the shadowy lighting for a neo-noir feel at times. Cynthia Khan is awesome!
Cynthia Khan and a young Donnie Yen are killer as two steadfast cops seeking to bust an international drug ring between America and Hong Kong. Writers Cheung Chi-Sing, Stephen Shin, Kim Yip Kwong-Kim, and Anthony Wong Wing-Fai craft layers of crime across the globe for Khan and Yen to solve and punch their way through for a gripping narrative. I like the crook side character that gets involved to throw a monkey wrench into the entire tale of morals, ethics, police brutality, revenge, forgiveness, and co-operation.
Yuen Woo-ping's direction has swift storytelling and intense action sequences, let alone all the unbelievable stunts and compelling characters. I love his slick and fast style. He makes 94 minutes feel like 45 to me. Producers Stephen Shin and Dickson Poon brought in real talent with Donnie Yen to act and fight alongside Cynthia Khan. Stunt choreographers and actors Yuen Woo-ping, Yuen Shun-Yi, Cho Wing, and Paul Wong Kwan do dangerous stunts and incredible fights for a remarkable martial arts picture.
Cynthia Khan is beautiful, compelling, and cool with striking delivery and harder kick strikes. Her policewoman heroine punches and kicks through scores of enemies and all to try and save one witness. Donnie Yen delivers ruthless attacks and shocking police brutality with his intriguing anti-hero. Michael Wong is quite kind, patient, and understanding as the police captain this time around as he acts friendly, but turns out to be the corrupt policeman. Simon Yuen is hilarious and likable as the erratic escaped witness from police custody.
In all, In the Line of Duty IV is very clever and exciting with particularly standout performances from Cynthia Khan, Donnie Yen, Michael Wong, and Simon Yuen.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/18/23
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Audience Member
Um filme muito divertido e envolvente. A trama e tipica dos filmes de Hong Kong, porem misturada com o teor de filmes americanos. Isso me agradou Bastante.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
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camille l
Donnie Yen. Cynthia Khan. La saga In The Line of Duty. Michael Woods. In the Line of Duty IV, réalisé par un Yuen Woo Ping tout en retenue, aurait dû être un chef d'oeuvre total, le film d'action féminin ultime. Pourtant, les scénaristes en ont voulu autrement. Si nous avons le droit à nos combats frénétiques (dans les derniers quart d'heure), il faut passer outre un script absurdement crétin qui nous livre une enquête inintéressante au possible, une version compliquée de celle du premier opus. Il n'en demeure pas moins que Donnie Yen y livre une performance remarquable, le macho combattant égoïste et que les seconds rôles sont plutôt bons, surtout Yat Chor Yuen & Michael Wong. Mais on ne peut qu'être déçu d'In The Line of Duty IV, surtout vu la qualité des 2 premiers.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
this popular series starts 21 run out of steam here
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
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Audience Member
The 80s where were good times when it comes to the action genre for giving us such classic as Die Hard, Indiana Jones, Police Story, and many, many more. So it's no surprise that some of the lesser action know film, like the one i'm reviewing today, are bound to get overlooked.
In The Line of Duty 4: Witness revolves around two detectives who are up to their necks in trouble and team up to stop crooked CIA agent. The plot is decent and has enough action to satisfy those fans of Donnie Yen. Even though I expect it the movie to get complicated, it's simple and functional and reaches many themes like friendship, betrayal, and immigration. I don't know if it's a direct continuation of the previous films in the series, but the characters don't feel developed. There's not one character that really stood out to me, but Donnie Yen did stand out as an actor. Out of his earlier films that I've seen so far this is by far one of his better efforts. It's actually exciting, funny, and you're just not going to hope for someone to come out of nowhere and fight Donnie Yen. I liked the Asian cast, they did good job acting and fighting. The Americans actor aren't as good, especially one who fights Donnie in a alley and starts making funny facial expression. I did recognize of these actor, but unfortunately I don't know his name and I would have never imagined Donnie Yen beating the same guy in two different movies playing a similar characters. The action scenes were solid, though the best ones where when vehicles were included.
In The Line Of Duty 4: Witness should satisfy fans and non fans of the series with a solid. While not huge on plot, it's big on action and one of the lesser know action movies from the 80s you'll enjoy.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
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dave j
Monday, March 26, 2012
(1989) In The Line OF Duty IV: Witness
(In Chinese with English subtitles)
ACTION/ COMEDY
Fourth of 7 or 8 "In The Line Of Duty" movies, starring Cynthia Kahn and Donnie Yen (who at the time signed to do 4 movies with Yuen Woo-Ping) protecting an important witness who has a bounty on his head, unoblivious there's a corrupt police officer who's trying to take him out well played by Michael Wong! There's also another sub plot involving a secret negative leaking some corrupt official but the movie would've been over a long time ago, and that it had to be a two hour film. The plot obviously serves nothing but a backdrop to showcase some hard hitting action fights/ stunts except that they could've been better photographed!
3 out of 4
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
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