So Close (Hong Kong, 2002)
Directed by: Corey Yuen

Starring: Shu Qi, Vicky Zhao Wei, Karen Mok, Yasuaki Kurata


Hong Kong director Corey Yuen (one of Jackie Chan¹s childhood kung fu classmates) delivers a radically fun punch to the head with this surprisingly moving, big budget, action wedding cake. Two assassin sisters, Shu Qi (The Transporter) and Vicky Zhao (Shaolin Soccer), versus one cop, Karen Mok (Fallen Angels), in a movie that¹s not only an upgrade of the Hong Kong “Girls with Guns” genre, but a lesbian date flick, as well. 



The plot is very similar to Flaubert¹s Madame Bovary in that it revolves around a computer program that can hack all the security cameras on earth. Developed by their dad, the program was inherited by Shu Qi and Vicky Zhao when he died, and rather than sell it and make lots of money, they use it to become career assassins — follow your dreams! But after years of busting caps Shu Qi has become a hurting-on-the-inside kind of hottie, who only kneecaps the hundreds of goons she pumps lead into, and who feels sorry for the thousands of people she¹s snuffed and now she wants to find a guy and settle down. Loser. Little sis, Vicky Zhao, on the other hand, wants to wear revealing outfits and open many cans of whup ass on veritable armies of henchmen. Karen Mok, a cop who has run into the glass ceiling so hard she¹s got a concussion, unwinds from all the razzing she gets from her sexist colleagues by pursuing Vicky and Shu Qi and maybe, just maybe, falling for Vicky in the process. Cop/criminal romances are, historically, really bad ideas but scrawny, pale, Hong Kong movie nerds (like me) are extremely grateful that Karen and Vicky are ignoring precedent on our behalf. Lesbians who like their women armed, Asian, and able to run up walls and kick people on the tops of their heads hard enough to kill them, will also appreciate the effort.



Flying bullets, spinning sidekicks, supercomputer balderdash, car chases, and shattering sheets of glass tumble off the screen like an all-you-can-eat action feast and it takes a fight with Japanese screen legend Yasuaki Kurata (who, despite being well into his late 50s, still manages to break out his patented brand of freak-fu) to bring this whole butt kick buffet to a close. Corey Yuen deploys the pop ballad “Close To You” all over the soundtrack and here¹s a chance for a whole new generation to get it stuck in their heads, associating it with images of Shu Qi dealing out death from nickel-plated 9mm¹s, rather than Rick Moranis warbling it pathetically in Parenthood. To my mind, that¹s a gift that¹ll keep on giving and should earn Yuen a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.



The three leads are obviously relishing the one time in their careers they get to play action heroes, chewing up every second of screen time like mouthfuls of thousand dollar Kobe beef. SO CLOSE is a movie that manages the neat trick of being simultaneously super-silly and super-cool. With Corey Yuen bringing years of being Jet Li¹s action director to the table; and Vicky Zhao, Karen Mok and Shu Qi bringing perfect hair, perfect clothes, and perfect roundhouse kicks, it¹s like a fashion shoot that can beat your ass.