A Queen's Ransom (3 Stars)

A Queen's Ransom is an entertaining Hong Kong thriller built around an elaborate international conspiracy. George Lazenby plays George, an Irish Republican who assembles a team of mercenaries from across Asia, each with their own reasons for wanting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Hong Kong. However, the apparent assassination plot conceals a different objective, and the late revelation that George never intended to kill the Queen made me groan.He appears to have used half his team as a distraction, leaving himself and three others to divide the gold.

My biggest disappointment was the underuse of Angela Mao. Her introduction is brief, and she looks so different from the Angela Mao I know that I barely registered her appearance amid the many characters introduced in the opening scenes. She plays a deposed Princess of Burma who has lost hope of ever becoming queen, but has little to do with the main story. She only has a couple of short fight scenes, although they’re the best in the film. It feels as though the filmmakers hired Angela because her name would attract audiences, without making proper use of her considerable martial arts skills. She deserved better.