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As a kid, Jiao Yaner (Lo Lieh) had to watch his father (Chan Shen) run
into an ambush by the Forest's Four Evil Spirits, then be labelled
as a traitor and killed by Chief Chen (Yang Chi-ching), one of his own
allies. Jiao Yaner only was not killed by Chief Chen as well because Madam
White Brow, a benign martial arts master, and Leng Rushuang, her kid
student, interfered.
Eventually, Jiao Yaner is brought up at Chief Chen's martial arts
school but is not allowed to learn any fighting there because the chief
fears he might one day want to retaliate ... still, Jiao Yaner secretöy
hones his fighting skills to utter perfection thanks to a manual his
father ahs given him before his death ...
Many years later, Jiao Yaner is still nothing but a low rank servant,
while Chief Chen's own son (Dean Shek) has made it his pastime to drug and
rape pretty girls ... until one day he runs actoss Leng Rushuang (Shih
Szu), who has meanwhile become the famous crimefighter Lady of the Law,
and who successfully chases him off. But when escaping, the young man
accidently kills the concubine of the Valley Head, a prominent and
influential guest of his father. To get away with it, Chen and son make up
a plan to blame the murder on Jiao Yaner, and not only that, they make up
a complex scheme to use the Lady of the Law, whom Chen's own son has tried
to rape just hours ago, for their own evil ends ... and in fight, the Lady
of the Law manages to defeat (and arrest) even Jiao Yaner.
But then Chief Chen figures it's not such a good idea to give Jiao
Yaner a fair trial, since his and his son's involvement in the crime could
be revealed after all - expecially since there is one man, Blind Yan, who
is able to identify the rapist ba his voice - , and decides he would
rather have him killed ... which prompts Jiao Yaner to break out of jail
and try to get a hold on Blind Yan before Chief Chen's assassins do.
This culminates in an extended chase during which Jiao Yaner
successfully evades the Lady of the Law, Chief Chen and his assassins and
the Valley Head and his harem ... and finally he gets his hands on Blind
Yan and brings him back to Chief Chen's place - where he spies on Chen and
son preparing to poison their honourable guests, the Valley Head and the
Lady of the Law. He substitutes the poisoned wine for good wine, but still
it seems everybody dies from poison. When the Chief and son see their
guests dead, they give away their involvement in the murder in a
conversation - which is when Valley Head, who knew he was supposed to be
poisoned and thus didn't drink the wine, comes back to life, but far from
actually wanting revenge for his dead concubine, he actually asks for a
replacement ... and when the Lady of the Law, who also knew she was
supposed to be poisoned, comes back to life, the men agree on having her
become the Valley Head's new concubine - something she very much opposes
to. Soon enough, the situation culminates in her dueling the Valley Head
on a tightrope while Jiao Yaner, who comes to her aid, fights off Chief
Chen and his soldiers - until finally Blind Yan arrives with the army,
identifies Chen's son as the rapist and clears Jiao Yan's name - who in
the end rides off with the Lady of the Law.
Lady of the Law is in equal parts martial arts movie and
convoluted (but not over-convoluted) murder mystery - and it works fine on
both accounts: The action is competently staged, inventive and fast moving
while script is intelligent, features many unusual plottwists and unusual
plot devices - all of which make this an excellent martial arts movie.
Recommendation.
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