Greenes
Please don't spend money on this.
Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Comeuppance Reviews
Cleopatra Wong (Lee) is an Interpol CID agent tasked with getting to the bottom of a dastardly counterfeiting ring. As she travels around Asia, she gets into many precarious situations which involve her beating up/shooting the baddies. She and her cohorts finally trace the operation to a monastery in Manila. There she encounters counterfeiters so evil, they have imprisoned a bunch of nuns so they can continue their criminal operations. But Cleopatra Wong is on the case...so the bad guys better beware! Will she use her feminine charm, as well as her Martial Arts skill, to restore the currency and save the Asian economy? Find out today! Starting with the on-screen credit "And Marrie Lee as They Call Her Cleopatra Wong", you know you're in for a rollicking good time. Cleopatra Wong, the movie, will make you miss drive-ins. Even if you were born after a time when they were prevalent, you will still miss them. At least that's what happened to us after seeing this. It conveys the whole drive-in vibe very well, and the 70's fashions, decor, and music (and even the Martial Arts style) only serve to reinforce that. Of course, the plot only serves to set up a bunch of action scenes featuring Cleopatra, and thank goodness. It never gets bogged down with unnecessary stuff, although the "dressing up as nuns" section before the climax does drag a bit (heh heh), and sinks into Blind Rage (1978) territory. But the movie pulls itself out of it for the final confrontation, where Cleopatra pops wheelies on her awesome motorcycle and shoots people with what can only be described as a "Supergun".There's nothing we like better than a disco scene, and even more so if it transitions from a karate scene. The dubbing is classically ridiculous, but how can you lose when, in a scene referring to the counterfeit money, the Chief says (well, more accurately, shouts) lines like "It's too real to be fake!" - you just can't make them like this anymore. Adding to the fun is 1 (one) exploding helicopter. So, yes, there is a slowdown in the final quarter or so of the film, but let's not dwell on that. We should concentrate on the movie's many positives, as listed above. Plus, the music by one Romeo Galang (who also is credited as co-writer) is memorable and very upbeat, which helps a lot.Producer/co-writer/director Suarez would follow this up with the superior and more serious-minded The One Armed Executioner (1983), and helpfully, Dark Sky has released both on a double-feature DVD that is well worth picking up.
gridoon2018
"Cleopatra Wong" lives up to its title in the first half: there is very little plot and quite a lot of action, and it's all about the title character, an Interpol agent, traveling from (Asian) country to country and getting into brawl after brawl as she's trying to shut down a counterfeiting ring. The editing can be crude at times and Marrie Lee (Cleo) doesn't really have a distinctive fighting style, but every now and then she will do an unorthodox move that will have you rewinding the tape / DVD and wondering how she did that. But in the second half the film becomes a team effort, and Cleo kind of takes a back seat to the four other (male) agents that join her in her efforts. The entire second half takes place in a monastery (where the counterfeiters have disguised themselves as monks and nuns!), and don't be surprised if you feel the need to use your fast-forward button. ** out of 4.
dbborroughs
Cleopatra Wong is an agent for INTERPOL. Called off her vacation to track down a source that is flooding five Asian countries with near perfect money. The trail takes her from the Philippines, to Hong Kong, Singapore and then back to the Philippines where she ends up donning a nun's habit to enter a monastery that seems to be the source of the bogus cash.This movie doesn't make a great deal of sense but it does move along at a great clip. I don't think during the first half of the film more than three minutes pass with out some one getting beaten up by Wong. Its amazing, and amazingly fun, so much fun you don't care about the lack of sense. Unfortunately once Wong has found the source of the bad bills the film slows down as we are taken inside the operation and shown whats really going on. Its a not a good thing since the film not only to start to think about how nothing is making sense the film never fully recovers the momentum lost, even with a 20 minute long shoot out that ends the film (its a great guilty pleasure).I liked the film a great deal. I dislike the slow fifteen minutes in the middle, but as an action candy this is one heck of a guilty pleasure. Action junkies are advised to track this film down. I also can recommend it to anyone with a high tolerance for tongue in cheek action films.7.5 out of 10.(FYI: I've read, though I'm not sure its true that the final shoot out got the film in hot water in the Philippines since the Catholic Church objected to people in nuns habits firing shot guns and automatic weapons, and considering the number of people in habits, its not surprising)
DICK STEEL
"She purrs like a kitten, makes love like a siren. This side of the Pacific, she's the meanest, deadliest, and sexiest secret agent" That's the tagline for the movie, and it's Singapore's answer to the 70s female action powerhouses like Charlie's Angels. Cleopatra Wong (Doris Young aka Marrie Lee) is an international Interpol agent whose mission in this film is to crack an illegal counterfeiting group whose sole objective is to destabilize the currencies of ASEAN countries Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philppines.Sounds diabolical, doesn't it? And it's a job only a cosmopolitan agent like Cleo Wong can handle, as she jet sets from Singapore to Hong Kong to the Philippines, hot on the trail of these crooks, manufacturing fake currencies in a convent. She even shows her leadership qualities in leading an all male group of agents on the attack of the crooks hideout against machine gun-totting fake nuns.Shown as the "Female Big Boss", the montage at the beginning shows the abilities of Cleo Wong as top fighter and archer, whom even Robin Hood is no match for with her simultaneous firing of 3 arrows, blowing up a helicopter in the process (yes, they did blow up a helicopter, back in the 70s for this show!) With older films, what catches the eye is usually the environment and the state of development of Singapore at that time. Here, we viewed the Paya Lebar International Airport, an old 70s Mercedes Benz, and the city skyline which has many buildings noticeably absent. We go from the mainland to Sentosa via cable car, following Cleo's footsteps, and come across vastly different and sparse beaches that we're unfamiliar with today. Local actor/DJ Brian Richmond also had a role in this film as Cleo's Singapore boss.I overheard the people around me laugh and shake their heads on the impossibility of some scenes - like Cleo Wong single-handedly taking on 3 wrestlers (one of whom is local famous wrestler Mehar Singh), and leaping (yes, leaping without aid) over tall walls in escape. Or the scenes in which the raid on the hideout using guns resulted in prolonged and painful (no pun intended) death scenes. I suppose one must take into context the sign of the times, where kung-fu action was punctuated with exaggerated sound effects, and where the slightest punch will effect in maximum flying damage.All in all, it's a fun film which one shouldn't miss. This was the film that was produced for an international audience, and one which resulted in catching the eye of Quentin Tarantino! Cleopatra Wong definitely lived up to her tagline.Those interested in catching this film, there will be additional screenings at The Arts House on 22 Aug 05 Mon 2130hrs and 23 Aug 05 Tue 1900hrs.
