Michelle Yeoh first came to my attention around 1994, when I picked up an issue of Inside Karate that had an article devoted to the 10 or so Best Martial Arts Movies (made since 1990). I knew who Bruce Lee was and knew who Jackie Chan in only the most abstract sense--I'd play his NES game and heard his name in passing. But I really didn't know anything about Hong Kong cinema beyond that. Anyway, among the movies included on this list were Police Story III: Supercop and Yes, Madam! At the time, she was still known as Michelle Khan, which would persist for another two years or so when the former got an American theatrical release.
I didn't make it to the theater to see Supercop, only watching it the following year when I rented it on a double bill with the first Police Story. About three or four months later, the newest 007 feature, Tomorrow Never Dies was picking up in hype and TNT did a Michelle Yeoh night one evening. I watched both Heroic Trio movies, but retired to bed before watching Wing Chun (had to go to church the next morning). I did rent Wing Chun a month or so later, which was also about the time that Tomorrow Never Dies hit theaters--I caught that movie on opening night. By Christmas morning, I had legitimate VHS copies of The Heroic Trio and Wing Chun in my fledgling collection of Hong Kong movies.
What had started off as the Summer of Jackie became the Winter of Michelle. I was officially a fan: Michelle had taken Sigourney Weaver's place as Best Girl.
Although my collection of Jackie Chan grew steadily thanks to both his Miramax redubs and re-releases, Tai Seng releases and budget VHS tapes of his old school films, Michelle Yeoh movies took a bit longer. Butterfly and Sword had gotten a VHS release in 1994, and the Blockbuster Video on Hammer and Thornton carried it. Royal Warriors and Magnificent Warriors got VHS releases from Tai Sent around 1998, although Yes, Madam! and Project S went unreleased. I had my friend Peter buy me the 40-dollar Tai Seng release of The Tai Chi Master for my birthday in 1999.
At the time, Michelle Yeoh was known to mainstream audiences as "that Japanese girl who was in that James Bond movie." Trust me, I heard people say that. I would correct them and say she was "Malay Chinese," to which they would give me the "Whatever!" look.
And then her big chance came: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The film was initially pitched the art-house film crowds in the States. I still recall going with my friends to the Bay Area to watch it: while we were leaving, I saw some older Caucasian viewers talking about it. "I liked it, but why were they flying?" "It was a fairy tale." It did so well that it secured a wide release and made hundreds of millions of dollars. I myself went to see it two more times in the theater with my friend Jacob. It not only went on to become one of the highest grossing foreign films in the US of all time, but walked away with four Oscars, including Best Foreign Film. Needless to say, Michelle Yeoh became an international star almost on the level of Jackie Chan with that film's success.
Michelle Yeoh used her earnings and newfound clout to start her own production company and make the sorts of movies she wanted to make. The results--The Touch and Silver Hawk--are widely considered to be lukewarm at best, but I have a personal love for Silver Hawk and will hear nothing bad against it. I think the mediocre response to those films resulted in Michelle Yeoh doing a bit of soul searching and moving away from action roles, trying to hone her thespian chops (or at least searching for more balance between the two). So, for every (supporting) role like Babylon A.D. and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor that required her to throw a kick and or swing a sword, she would counter with roles in stuff like Memoirs of a Geisha and The Lady.
Despite being an Asian woman in her 50s, Michelle has managed to keep on finding work in varying projects of prestige. Crazy Rich Asians was a huge financial success. Yeoh joined the MCU with a brief cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 before taking on a second, more substantial part in Shang-Chi: Legend of the 10 Rings. She got to play a starship captain on Star Trek: Discovery. And then came Everything, Everwhere, All at Once. The often irreverent sci fi-fantasy-comedy took a concept that the MCU was beginning to explore in films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and told a touching story of an immigrant woman in America dealing with both a mid-life crisis and ever-growing rate of societal change.
Despite being an R-rated indie film, EEAAO did quite well at the box office and drew all sorts of critical acclaim. As of my writing this article, Michelle Yeoh has already won a Golden Globe for her performance--not to mention a number of awards in smaller critics' choice ceremonies--and is currently a favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. And, at age 60, Michelle Yeoh has shown no signs of slowing down.
Fighting Female February was a tradition for this site back when it was hosted by Nathan Shumate of Cold Fusion Video. I am going to revive the tradition, and who better to start us off on this new voyage than Michelle Yeoh herself. I'll review as many of Michelle's movies as I can this month, of which I'll post the link to here. So join us for the Month of Michelle her at It's a Beautiful Film Worth Fighting For!
New Reviews:
Yes, Madam! (1985)
Royal Warriors (1986)
Butterfly and Sword (1993)
The Heroic Trio (1993)
Wing Chun (1994)
Reign of Assassins (2010)
Older Reviews:
Police Story III: Supercop (1992)
The Executioners (1993)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Silver Hawk (2004)
True Legend (2010)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016)
I was initiated into the Michelle Yeoh fan club fairly early on. Some fellow used to put on HK film festivals in NYC back in the 1990s. It was his festival on HK action women and a poster of Brigitte Lin in Swordsman II that made me pause while walking by and thinking, that looks interesting. Then the following year he had a fest devoted to her films and she showed up. And I think I saw them all. Someone should do a fest of her action films again.
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