Superwoman and Physician

There are plenty of tough women in Chinese kung fu films from Chia Ling and Angela Mao on down but often their gender isn't a big deal in the story - people just accept them or are mildly surprised. In this one Yi is the daughter of a teacher who holds the secret of the Eight Diagram Palm style but won't teach her because she's a girl. So she learns by hiding, watching the boys getting taught, and her mother shows her the ultimate move which no-one else knows. Once her father sees how skilled she is, he realises his mistake and appoints her his successor as head of the school.

The head of a rival school, who wants to steal the secret, poisons Yi and her parents. Yi manages to escape but is close to death. At this point the semi-humorous physician character turns up to save her so she can get on with sorting the bad guys. There is a romance between the two but this never gets in the way of the main action.

The acting is fine, both main characters are likeable and the jokes are pretty funny in the usual slightly crazy Chinese way. The story makes sense and is easy to follow, the characters well-differentiated, the pacing is good and it's an enjoyable watch all through. I liked that they did make the feminist point for once, and that, once healed, Yi uses her secret knowledge to take on the bad guys with total confidence.