★★★½
“Another day, another kidnapped husband.”
Despite the name, this is clearly a sequel to Agent Crazy Flower, although it’s showing on the iQIYI channel as Miss Danger 2, because of course it is. The Chinese title seems to get the sequel concept, but the IMDb has it under the name above. The trailer is also on YouTube as Miss Agent 2, and searching for that, the results include Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. So, as ever here, things like cast names are very much on a “best endeavours” basis. What is certain, is the return of Xu as ex-agent Ya Mei, again forced back into action for ATO after her husband Fang Li (Luo) is once more used as leverage against her.
Turns out, he’s an AI expert, and is just the guy the villains in the TNT crime syndicate need to complete their “Fire Phoenix” plan to… Um, I think it’s something to do with draining everyone’s bank account into theirs. But it really doesn’t matter much, trust me. Anyway, Mei has to infiltrate TNT in order to rescue her spouse. Complicating matters significantly, however, is Peach (Nan), a barking mad killer who acts like a cross between The Joker and Anton Chigurh – doing the coin-toss thing to decide who lives and dies. She breaks out of prison, intent on taking vengeance for her brother, whom she believes Ya Mei killed. This comes as a surprise to our heroine, who has no such murderous recollection.
I think it’s safe to say that extra half-star this gets, over its predecessor, can all be laid at the door of Peach. Whenever she’s on screen, the movie seems to find another extra gear, and goes from a decent way to pass the time, to compelling entertainment. Saul (Lei), the leader of TNT, occasionally tries to compete in the “twisted malevolence” department, such as tricking an underling into poisoning his own wife, for no particular reason. However, he is nothing but cheap, wannabe trash (and also, very much in love with the sound of his own voice) in comparison to Peach, who is likely ranked among the best villains I’ve seen in 2026.
She’s got the style, the charisma, and the complete disregard for human life – her own, as well as anyone else’s. Though it takes a while, we get the expected face-off between her and Ya Mei, and it does not disappoint. I will say, the ending is a bit abrupt. It’s basically a caption saying, “ATO and the local government jointly launched an attack, arresting all personnel involved in the TNT organization,” which has to be the most flagrant breach of “Show, don’t tell” in recent movie history. But until that point, I certainly didn’t feel like my time had been wasted. I’m also just realizing the title might perhaps better be translated as Agent Wild Flower. That would make more sense. But further adventures? Or a Peach spin-off? Don’t mind if they do.
Dir: Huang He
Star: Dongdong Xu, Sheng Nan, Liqun Luo, Zhong Lei
a.k.a. Agent Crazy Flower 2: Peach Killer


Well, this was a challenge. It showed up on YouTube as Gangster Granny, a reasonable translation of the Chinese title,
She wasn’t young there, and twenty years later, Yuen is in her mid-seventies. It’s clear there is doubling, CGI and other trickery used. But she’s still showing impressive grace, fluidity and skill for her age. I am not (yet!) in my mid-seventies, and consider getting up from my armchair without groaning to be an achievement. This begins with the middle-aged and pregnant Liang Jie in prison, showcasing her fighting talents before giving birth to a son, quickly whisked away for adoption. Thirty years later, she gets out and seeks her long-lost son. But Liang is still on the shit-list of mobster Chang Meng – Liang killed his father, which is why she was in jail. He sends blind assassin Ah Gui (Ng) to pretend to be the son, so he can kill Liang.
Mary (Benko) moves in to a new Brooklyn neighbourhood, along with her husband, John (Gorn) and teenage son, Johnny. But neither of them are comfortable, the middle-class morality being an ill fit for John’s career as a bank robber. Unfortunately, John has an addictive fondness for gambling, which leads to him being gunned down on their front porch. This leaves Mary excluded by most of the other residents, and in a precarious financial position, unable to find legitimate employment. Eventually, she convinces John’s sketchy associate Sean (Godere), to bring her on board for his next robbery, and Mary discovers a hidden talent for such activities. This brings with it a new-found inner confidence in her everyday life.
I gave serious consideration as to not covering this here, since it is kinda fringe. The protagonist, Rebecca Kamen (Cornish), spends much of the movie handcuffed. This is not particularly conducive to action. But there are just about enough moments, as shown, where she gets her hands on a firearm, to crawl over the qualifying threshold. Don’t expect much in the way of girls-with-guns action. In fact, don’t expect much, full stop. For as the tagline above suggests, I preferred this the first time I watched it, when it was called The Usual Suspects. It begins with the police investigating a scene involving arson and murder, where one victim attempted to paint a name in their blood on the wall: “Jovan”.
You need to be patient with this. Both in terms of its plot and, more generally, its attitude. This isn’t exactly action-packed. Yet the heroine – and I used the word loosely – is an unstoppable force of nature. Just more like a glacier than a tornado. She never rushes in, always having a plan, and rarely raises her voice. Yet woe beside anyone who tries to get in her way. She is Ha Soo-yeong (Jeon D-y), whom we first meet as she is being released from prison at the end of her sentence. Turns out she was a policewoman, busted for corruption in a scheme also involving her cop boyfriend.
I’m always amused when I check the reviews on the IMDb for a film, and they are almost all “Totally amazing!” or “Worst film ever!”. The former tend to come from the movie’s friends; the latter, from people miffed by the positive reviews, and seeking to counter them. The reality is usually somewhere in the middle, and that’s the case here. Given this was reportedly made for forty thousand dollars – and those are Australian dollars, which right now is about 67 US cents – it’s quite impressive, and certainly doesn’t look low budget, despite a cast of basically three and a single location. However, it’s a film where, if anyone had behaved sensibly, proceedings would have been all over in about ten minutes.
Bella Thorne’s struggle to appear in a film which reaches three stars on this site, continues unabated. While probably not helped by my tendency to confuse her with Kristen Stewart, that’s five attempts now. Although, for a minute here, I thought this might be the one where she finally cracked it, with a potentially interesting first half. But it could not sustain itself, and as the final credits rolled, and I saw Guinevere Turner’s name as the co-writer… Yeah, it all made sense. I mean, she wrote
★★
By coincidence, I watched this after
We have written about some of the women who worked behind enemy lines for British intelligence during World War II. Names like