Silver Hawk
THE STORY

Well, here we go! The first Hong Kong movie of 2004 with blockbuster written all over it. Too bad they ran out of ink, when they got to the script.

Silver Hawk is your everyday vigilante superhero, à la “Batman”. A rich spoiled woman who decides to take the law into her own hands. Naturally the police hate her, but she has strong support from the public.

The police assigns a new detective Rich Man to find her. But actually he once trained with Silver Hawk’s real life alter ego, Lulu, when they were kids.

But Silver Hawk is about to face her most serious enemy. The vicious Alexander Wolfe has an evil plan to take over the world. A special chip installed in a new generation of cellphones will enable him to control the mind of any user.

Silver Hawk must join forces with Rich Man to overcome this serious threat.

THE FILM

Answer me this: A bad guy who wants to take over the world by manipulating people through their phones... Is that really the best idea they could come up with? You realize of course this plot is basically stolen from “Batman Forever” (there’s also a “Batman & Robin”-scene with skating supervillain henchmen! No, really!). This kind of plot would even fit right in with the cheesy “Batman” TV-series of the 60’s, but it has no place in a modern blockbuster wannabe from Asia’s leading female actionstar.

But it gets worse.

It turns out that “Silver Hawk” is a politically correct film. The kind of film where bad guys are “just” knocked out, where no one dies, no one is shot, and there’s virtually no sign of blood. “A PG rated Hong Kong actionmovie”? Sadly, yes!

There’s no doubt that Michelle Yeoh is a stunning woman. Elegant and beautiful. She radiates confidence, and she’s charming as hell. She’s one of those women who’ll look more and more beautiful the older she gets. But in this film she’s pulled a “Jackie Chan”. In the very first scene she manages to simply scare some bad guys into submission, while saving an endangered animal. Tell me I’m dreaming.

But in all honesty the lack of blood can easily be forgiven if the superhero in question is really cool. Silver Hawk, however, is not cool. She resembles Zorro more than any other superhero. She has a horse that comes when she whistles (okay, so it’s a motorcycle, but still), and a mask that wouldn’t fool a three year old. Also, she doesn’t seem to be able to get from A to B without jumping or semi-floating though the air in slow-motion. That gets tiresome real quick. Yeoh has a unattractive goofy smile plastered all over her face every time she dons the silvery suit. It’s a smile that says “I’m the hero, so nothing really bad will happen to me,” somewhat of a buzz kill.

If you’re making a superhero film, your biggest problem can not under any circumstances be the hero. That absolutely has to be your strongest card, everything depends on it. When the hero doesn’t work, the film doesn’t work.

In short, “Silver Hawk” doesn’t work. It’s that simple.
David Bjerre
May 16, 2004
GALLERY



Original Title
Fei Ying
Country
Hong Kong
Year
2004
Director
Jingle Ma
- Goodbye Mr. Coool (2001)
- Tokyo Raiders (2000)
- Fly Me to Polaris (1999)
Cast
Michelle Yeoh
- The Touch (2002)
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)
- Herioc Trio (1993)
Richie Jen
- Gorgeous (1999)
- 20:30:40 (2004)
DVD Availability
Available on DVD from YesAsia: