''Forbidden City Cop'' (; literal translation: "Imperial Secret Agent 008") is a 1996 Hong Kong '' wuxia'' comedy film directed by Vincent Kok and

Stephen Chow Stephen Chow Sing-chi (, born 22 June 1962), known professionally as Stephen Chow, is a Hong Kong filmmaker, former actor and comedian, known for ''Shaolin Soccer'' and ''Kung Fu Hustle''. Early life and education Stephen Chow was born in British ...

and starring Chow,

Carina Lau Carina Lau Kar-ling (, born 8 December 1966) is a Hong Kong-Canadian actress and singer. She started her acting career in TVB, before going on to achieve success in films after 2nd year at the college. She was notable in the 1980s for her girl-n ...

, and Carman Lee.

Synopsis

Ling Ling-Fat (Stephen Chow) is one of the Chinese Emperor's four elite personal bodyguards, the "Baolong clan" () - whose names form the Cantonese

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...

's greeting: "Kung hei fat choi" (). Ling Ling-Fat's own name also doubles as a Cantonese wordplay on the code number "008", a reference to James Bond, whose number was 007 (see '' From Beijing with Love''). Instead of studying

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

like his fellow bodyguards, he devotes his time to making practical yet often mundane and/or cumbersome inventions, such as cannons fired from the mouth, helicopter blades, and magnets. He also practices

gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...

, and spends time with his loving wife (Carina Lau). In the beginning of the film, Ling Ling-Fat fails to apprehend four ugly swordsmen who are trespassing in the Forbidden City. He does, however, manage to acquire a kung fu manual, Flying Fairy (, ''Tin1 ngoi6 fei1 sin1'', lit. 'Outer Heaven Flying

Fairy A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...

'), from one of them. During an imperial audience, Ling-ling Fat's seemingly useless inventions and lack of any martial arts skills enrage the Emperor, who demotes him to various menial tasks around the palace. Meanwhile, King Faceless of the 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 a Grey alien - a 'flying fairy' - 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 him 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 accidentally struck by a lightning bolt meant for Faceless which awakes his potential and enables him to use the Flying Fairy technique, thus destroying Faceless.

Cast

as Ling Ling-fat *

as Ling Ka-ting * Carman Lee as Kam Cho / Faceless * Cheung Tat-ming as Emperor * Law Kar-ying as Fat Yan * Tats Lau as Forbidden City cop *

Lee Lik-chi Lee Lik-chi (李力持) (born 10 May 1961) is a Hong Kong-based actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with Stephen Chow before disassociating each other due to frequent clashes. He is also an active contribu ...

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 Stephen Au Kam-tong (born 26 April 1963) is a Hong Kong actor for TVB (2000–present). He was formerly an actor for ATV (1990–2000). He played David Mo (武紀勇) in TVB sitcom Best Selling Secrets (2007–2008). He also played the role ...

as Presenter of Flying Fairy * Wilson Yip as Brothel customer

Box office

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

External links

*
''Forbidden City Cop''
at

Hong Kong Cinemagic Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, is a bilingual ( French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The websi ...

* {{Vincent Kok 1996 films 1996 action comedy films 1990s police comedy films 1996 martial arts films Hong Kong action comedy films Hong Kong martial arts films Hong Kong martial arts comedy films Wuxia films 1990s parody films Hong Kong slapstick comedy films 1990s Cantonese-language films Films directed by Stephen Chow Films set in 12th-century Song dynasty Films directed by Vincent Kok 1990s police films Chinese New Year films 1990s Hong Kong films