Review: At some point in television and movie history, marketing types worked out that if you create a female counterpart to a hero, you could sell more accessories for the doll range. Why just have a Spiderman when Spidergirl encourages girls to buy webbed hairdriers? And why settle for Batman, when Batgirl encourages boys to lay the two action figures on top of each other and giggle a lot ? Most boys actually thought that the feminine versions of their favourite characters sucked, but then they saw the girl playing Supergirl in the film and changed their minds. I know I did.

Well, this movie is feminism with a nifty right hook, because in many ways Wing Chun gives us a female reply to Fong Sai Yuk or Wong Fei Hung. With Michelle Yeoh in the starring role and Yuen Woo Ping calling the shots, I'm pleased to reveal that this is cracking entertainment.

The lead character in this particular tale was a real person. In 18th Century China, a man called Ng Mui escaped from the Manchurian destruction of Shaolin temples, and taught a man called Yim Yee his martial arts technique. Yim Yee later lost contact with his master, but taught his daughter Yim Wing Chun what he had learnt. Wing Chun wished to know what the style was called , but Yee had never been told, and so named the style after his daughter. Thus was born the Wing Chun style. However, for the purposes of this movie (much like happened with the cinematic visions of Wong Fei Hung and Fong Sai Yuk), this movie takes the facts about the person, and puts them into a fictional plot.

Wing Chun is essentially a love story with some feminist undertones, and a running theme is that of a woman's societal status, particularly the lead character's status and how she deals with this. Wing Chun dresses as a man because nobody will take her seriously as a martial artist as a woman, and as the love between her and Yeung Pok To (Donnie Yen) develops, the gender as expressed by her clothes reflects her status. Much of the plot revolves around the attempts of men to treat women as a commodity, and then everyone starts kicking each other's asses, which is essentially what we want to see.

The Humour is farcical stuff, typical of the genre. It's the kind of humour that provides an identity mix up, and revelations of the facts are often interrupted by people starting fights, or being suddenly blinded for some reason. We also get another chance to enjoy the one about the girl being unrecognisable in disguise, purely because she is wearing a man's hat.

Some movies show you something you really haven't seen before. Some films make you sit up in disbelief and let loose a tiny surprised fart. Strangely, this isn't one of those films. What it does do is take the standard kung-fu movie format and do it very, very well. A short while into this movie you get the impression that you are in familiar territory, and in many ways, this is what makes it so much fun.

Fans of epic Kung Fu films such as Once Upon a Time in China, Fong Sai Yuk, Iron Monkey and Tai Chi Master will not be dissapointed with Wing Chun, because this film has a very similar feel to it. The action choreography is up to the usual standard of the director's work, and the final battle is a riot. Watch out in particular for the horse-back fight, and a cameo appearance by the legendary Cheng Pei Pei.