Righting Wrongs


Righting Wrongs is a 1986 Hong Kong action film produced and directed by Corey Yuen, and also produced by and starring Yuen Biao, both of whom also serve as the film's action directors. The film also co-stars Cynthia Rothrock, Melvin Wong, Wu Ma, Roy Chiao and director Yuen himself. Righting Wrongs is the one of Yuen Biao's better known films that he made without film industry compatriots Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan.

Title

The film's Hong Kong English language title is Righting Wrongs. The international version is titled Above the Law, which was also the title adopted for The Weinstein Company's 2007 US DVD release on their Dragon Dynasty label.

Plot

Jason Ha Ling-ching is a dedicated, by the books prosecutor who has tried to maintain patience and tolerance under the somewhat flimsy laws of the court. However, when his mentor is publicly gunned down in New Zealand and when the key witness of Ha's latest case and his entire family are wiped out over night, Ha can no longer go by the book.
Ha initial plan is to take the law into his own hands and kill the two men he believes called for his witness' murder. He is successful in killing the first, which causes the Hong Kong police department to wake up and take action to regain order. Enter Senior Inspector Cindy Si, who is put on the case to find the killer under her superior, Superintendent Wong Ching-wai. However, when Ha goes to kill the second defendant, Chow Ting-kwong, he is already dead. Unbeknownst to them, both of the defendants were working under an even higher power, known only as "Crown". However, it is soon discovered that "Crown" is none other than Superintendent Wong, who was also Chow's killer.
Once Si realizes that Wong is the true mastermind behind all of the recent murders taking place, she and Ha finally work together to bring him in to prove he is not "above the law". However, depending on the version of the story told, both Si and Ha fall victim to their ambition, with Si killed with a large screw through the neck by Wong and Ha falling to his demise after killing Wong in an out of control airplane. However, in another version of the story, Si survives her attack from Wong, and while Ha still kills Wong, he falls victim to a different, and rather ironic, fate: Ha is given an eight-year sentence in prison under the charge of manslaughter, or a life sentence in prison under the charge of First Degree Murder.

Cast