Forbidden City Cop

Forbidden City Cop
Forbidden City Cop DVD cover
Directed by	Vincent Kok Stephen Chow
Produced by	Wong Jing
Written by	Vincent Kok Stephen Chow Edmund Liu
Starring	Stephen Chow Carina Lau Carmen Lee Tats Lau
Music by	Tats Lau
Cinematography	Lee Kin-keung
Edited by	Kwong Chi-leung
Production company	Samico Films Production Win's Entertainment
Distributed by	Newport Entertainment
Release dates	16 February 1996 (1996-02-16)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Box office	HK$36,051,899

Forbidden City Cop (Chinese: 大內密探零零發; literal translation: "Imperial Secret Agent 008") is a 1996 Hong Kong wuxia comedy film directed by Vincent Kok and Stephen Chow and starring Chow, Carina Lau, and Carman Lee.

Synopsis

Ling Ling-fat is a Cantonese wordplay on the code number "008", a reference to James Bond, whose number was 007 (see From Beijing with Love), as well as part of a Cantonese Chinese New Year's greeting: "Kung hei fat choy" (恭喜發財).

Ling-ling Fat (Stephen Chow) is, by heritage, a member of the Chinese Emperor's elite personal bodyguards. He belongs to the tribe of Baolong, which literally means "King Protecting". Instead of studying martial arts, like his fellow bodyguards, Ling Ling-fat makes unusual inventions, such as cannons fired from the mouth, helicopter blades, and magnets. He also practices gynaecology, and spends time with his loving wife (Carina Lau). In the beginning of the film, Ling-ling Fat fails to apprehend a group of ugly swordsmen who are trespassing in the Forbidden City, but he does manage to acquire a kung fu manual, Flying Fairy, from one of the swordsmen. During an audience with the Emperor, Ling-ling Fat's seemingly useless inventions and his ignorance of martial arts enrage the Emperor, who demotes him to menial tasks around the palace.

Meanwhile, Faceless, King of Kam Tribe, plans to assassinate the Emperor and overtake China. The Kam Tribe creates a diversion by inviting all the doctors of China to a medical exposition in which an alien is to be dissected. Ling Ling Fat and the Emperor separately depart for the event. While Ling-ling Fat and his wife feast at a string of restaurants, Kam's men kill the Emperor's three remaining bodyguards. The assassins put the unconscious Emperor in an alien costume to present him as the alien for dissection. Just as Ling-ling Fat and the other doctors discover the Emperor's identity, Kam's assassins begin to slaughter everyone in attendance. Ling-ling Fat uses his wits and inventions to defeat the assassins.

The Emperor honors Ling-ling Fat for his success and gives him an enormous pearl as a reward. For his next assignment, the Emperor charges Ling Ling Fat with investigating a prospective concubine, the beautiful prostitute Kam Cho (Carman Lee). Ling-ling Fat meets with Kam Cho without his wife's knowledge and has difficulty restraining himself from her seductive advances. He gives her the enormous pearl and lies about it to his wife. Later, Kam Cho surprises Ling-ling Fat at his home, forcing a violent confrontation between Ling-ling Fat and his wife's family. Ling-ling Fat forsakes his tearful wife and leaves with Kam Cho.

When Ling-ling Fat brings Kam Cho to the palace, he and the Emperor throw Kam Cho in chains and reveal that she is actually Faceless in disguise. Ling-ling Fat had deciphered Kam Cho's true identity during their meeting and enlisted his entire family in a ruse to fool Faceless. The Emperor begins handing out acting awards to Ling-ling Fat's various family members, but Faceless manages to break free. Once again, Ling-ling Fat uses his inventions and wits to combat Faceless, but Faceless fights back with powerful martial arts techniques. On the verge of defeat, Ling-ling Fat is struck by a lightning bolt meant for Faceless which awakes his potential and enables him to use the Flying Fairy technique he learned from the manual he gained at the beginning of the film, thus destroying Faceless.

Box office

The film grossed HK$36,051,899 in Hong Kong.

Cast

• Stephen Chow as Ling-ling Fat
• Carina Lau as Ling Ka-ting
• Carman Lee Kam Cho / Faceless
• Cheung Tat-ming as Emperor
• Law Kar-ying as Fat Yan
• Tats Lau as Forbidden City cop
• Lee Lik-chi as Court official
• Wong Yat-fei as Yip Ku-sing
• Vincent Kok as Doctor
• Manfred Wong as Luk Siu-fung
• Yuen Cheung-yan as Evil mother
• Kingdom Yuen as Brothel procuress
• Mimi Chu as Fat's mother-in-law
• Elvina Kong as Fat's doctor patient
• Stephen Au as Presenter of Flying Fairy
• Wilson Yip as Brothel customer

External links

• Forbidden City Cop at IMDb