If you’ve ever felt like your in-laws were a nightmare, imagine being Joyce Godenzi (wife of Sammo Hung and a former Miss Hong Kong) in She Shoots Straight (also known as Lethal Lady). This time, she plays Mina Kao, a super-cop who marries her supervisor, Insp. Huang Tsung-Pao (Tony Leung), and finds herself part of the Huang family, many of whom are also cops. While dealing with her sister-in-law, Chia Ling (Carina Lau), who is jealous, a gang of Vietnamese ex-soldiers led by Yuen Wah is razing Hong Kong.

The mid-movie shift is a gut-punch. After an impulsive move by Chia Ling leads to a rescue mission, Insp. Huang Tsung-Pao is blown to bits by a booby trap. The scene where the sisters have to tell the family matriarch at her birthday party is one of the most effective melodrama-meets-mayhem moments in 1990s HK cinema. The final act? Pure, unadulterated vengeance on a freighter that makes Die Hard look like a school play.

The final duel between Joyce Godenzi and the muscular female mercenary Yuen Ying (Agnes Aurelio) is legendary. It involves a lot of broken glass, heavy machinery and zero stunt doubles for the wide shots.

Directed by Corey Yuen, this is more than a Girls with Guns movie. It’s a family drama that just so happens to have high muzzle velocity. It bridges the gap between the weeping melodramas of the 80s and the hyper-violent tactical shooters of the 90s. If you want to see Yuen Wah being absolutely despicable and Godenzi proving she was more than just a pageant queen, this movie delivers.

Extras include commentary with Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng, an image gallery, a trailer and a reversible sleeve. Order from MVD.