Wonder Seven

Plot

Armed robbers rob six gambling houses in 13 minutes, then run across the border to avoid arrest. The Special Forces Squad, a seven-member secret group of well-trained Hong Kong government agents, chases after them on motorbikes and ties them up for the authorities to find.

The Chief introduces the Special Forces Squad to Colonel Yim, a colonel of the Southwestern Army. Yim tells them that Major Yeung of the Southwestern Army is plotting with US ammunition suppliers and selling arms to terrorists. The team plans to stop his upcoming deal, arrest Yeung and his group's bank cards so that they can open a safe deposit box at a Swiss bank containing $120,000,000 in diamonds belonging to the Chinese. Team member Fei meets a woman and flirts with her.

The team spots Young at an arts festival and see that he is pairing bank cards with the woman Fei met. Her partner Tsun then fatally stabs Yeung. Fei grabs Yeung's bank card and takes it with him. Afterwards, Tsun tells Ying, the woman that Fei met, that their boss Sun told him to do it so that they could take Yeung's share, then he makes Ying give him her bank card. Ying then meets with Fei and promises to share the diamonds with him if he gives her the bank card that he seized.

Team member Dragon and the chief visit a theatre that the team wants to turn into a restaurant, but someone waiting for them fatally shoots the chief. Fei rushes in an accidentally shoots Dragon. Sergeant Cheung wants to arrest the team, but an agent of the Hong Kong government and members of the Chinese Security Bureau tell Cheung to release them, close the case and hand over the evidence to the Chinese. Fei obediently surrenders to arrest, but his friends use explosives to free him from the transport container despite his objections. Tsun and the gang kill nurses and security guards and try to abduct Dragon from the hospital, but Dragon's teammates arrive and take him to safety at a Buddhist monastery.

The Chinese security bureau blows up the team's houseboat. At a golf course, Fei meets with Ying, who pretends to fight him, then helps him escape into the woods, where the team's Coach, the head of the Chinese security bureau, agrees to give him time to solve the case. Dragon wakes up and tells them that he hid the card in the lining of seat 53 in row H of the theatre when he was being attacked. A monk at the monastery reveals their location to Colonel Yim, who is working with Tsun. Sun tries to kick Tsun out of the gang, but Tsun kills Sun and takes over the gang. Tsun kills Superman in a gang fight on motorbikes, and the team incinerates his corpse.

Tsun introduces Ying to his business partner, Colonel Yim. Ying finds the team's hideout in the monastery and is told by team member Little Archer to look for Fei in Kau To Shan. Ying finds Fei and tells him that Colonel Yim is a spy working for Tsun. The team leaves for a new hideout. Tsun arrives at the monastery but finds that the team has left, so he shoots the monk.

Ying joins the team, and together they attack Tsun and his gang in a high-rise building. Coach and his men join in, then Coach begins fighting Fei for control of the bank card while they are hanging from a gondola lift. Tsun takes the bank card from Fei, giving him control of both cards, then escapes in a helicopter with Ying as his captive. Fei is caught in a falling elevator, but Coach throws an explosive into the shaft, propelling the elevator cab into the sky, where it hits the helicopter, causing it to fall and get caught on the edge of the building. As Tsun dies, he gives both bank cards to Ying. Ying and Fei escape across an I-beam onto the roof of the building as the helicopter falls to the ground.

The team gives Ying an invitation to their future restaurant. She says that she will come when she has settled her business in the U.S., then gives the bank cards to Fei.

Reception

The review on chrichtonsworld.com reads, "Tonally the film is all over the place. Lot's [sic] of comedy and lightheartedness intertwined with death, chaos and betrayal. Super baddie was very aware he was in a bad film and hams it up big time which makes me think this film was meant for kids. It's the only explanation that makes sense. Still doesn't explain why it deals with certain adult themes but I guess they were optimistic or convinced could handle all what it is throwing at them. Overall, you aren't supposed to take this film seriously. Just focus on the action sequences and you will have a good time especially if you are watching it for the first time. Just don't expect too much."

Reviewer Kozo of lovehkfilm.com wrote, "Some nifty action sequences highlight the flick, including a visually cool sequence at a dragon parade. Sadly, the rest of the film is over-the-top strange, with some silly action and even sillier character interplay. The Wonder Seven spend a lot of time on lame hijinks, and prove to be far from interesting people. They all conform to various types [...], but that isn't enough to make them viable characters. Male lead Li Ning has the screen presence of a brick, and bad guy Chin Ho adds to his increasingly limited repitoire [sic] of over-the-top baddies. Michelle Yeoh dominates the screen when she's on it, but the rest of the film could have used some help, especially from someone who can actually write. The plot of the film makes not a lick of sense, and proves far from engaging. And the climax of the film doesn't even relieve any narrative tension, because there is none! The overall effect is numbing. Wonder Seven just sort of goes forward until it ends, and whether or not you ultimately care is entirely up to you."

Reviewer Jeff Vice of Deseret News wrote, "Very few Hong Kong action films are going to win awards for realism. In fact, many of them feature such ludicrous plots that they make even fellow star Jackie Chan's comic thrillers look like documentaries. But there are some of these films that stretch credibility so far it snaps. And for every one of them that succeeds in spite of its silliness (such as the movies in director Tsui Hark's 'Once Upon a Time in China' series), there's an equally inane ones like 'Wonder Seven.' This at-times-exciting, but-more-often-preposterous action-thriller mistakenly pairs China's biggest female action star, Michelle Yeoh, with former Olympic gymnast Li Ning. Though it's interesting to see Yeoh play a villain for a change, it obviously doesn't last for long. Also, an unfortunate injury during filming kept Yeoh out of much of the action, and consequently, director Ching Siu Tung was forced to give the dexterous but unexciting Ning the bulk of the fight scenes."