I Love Maria: Hong Kong Cinema Classics – Shout! Factory (UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1988
Director: David Chung
Writer: Yuen Kai Chi
Cast: John Shum, Sally Yeh, Tsui Hark, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Lam Ching-ying, David Wu, Kirk Wong 

Release Date: May 26th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 100 Minutes 18 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / HDR10 Dolby Vision
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Cantonese, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $39.99

"The Hero Gang, a nasty group of thugs, are terrorizing Hong Kong with their killer robots. But when one of the robots gets damaged during a mission to kill an outcast, an inventor on the police force takes her and changes her programming. The new code, plus a few injuries to her logic center, transforms the automaton into a robot with a real personality." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD, Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "4K Scan from the Original Camera Negative."

I Love Maria comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 65.5 GB

Feature: 65.2 GB

This is another exemplary restoration; flesh tones and colors look correct, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

I Love Maria comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 31.7 GB

Feature: 27.4 GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5 (Both Audio Tracks)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Cantonese and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Both audio tracks sound excellent; dialogue always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and action sequences sound robust. Included are English subtitles for the Cantonese language track and English SDH subtitles for the English language track. There are also English subtitles for text and moments in Cantonese while watching the English language track. It should be noted that subtitles and audio can only be chosen via the audio setup menu, and they cannot be turned off while watching the main feature.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an audio commentary with film historians Frank Djeng and Erik Ko.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include an image gallery with music from the film playing in the background (stills/Japanese press book/posters), a theatrical trailer (4 minutes 53 seconds, DTS-HD mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), English language credits (2 minutes 20 seconds, DTS-HD mono), an interview with screenwriter Yuen Kai-Chi titled From Brainwaves to Mainframes (6 minutes 25 seconds, DTS-HD stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), and an audio commentary with Frank Djeng and Erik Ko.

Other extras include a slipcover (limited to the first pressing).

Summary:

I Love Maria was directed by David Chung, whose most notable film as a director is Royal Warriors. Besides directing, he predominantly worked as a cinematographer. His notable credits as a cinematographer include Don't Play with Fire (aka Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind), My Heart Is That Eternal Rose, God of the Gamblers, Once Upon a Time in China, and Royal Tramp.

A criminal gang terrorizing Hong Kong with giant killer robots creates a new robot model after their second in command, Maria. When the Maria robot is damaged during an attack, an inventor who works for the police rebuilds and reprograms her to fight against the criminal gang she once served.

Most viewers watching I Love Maria will likely think of Robocop first. While there are some similarities between these two films, I Love Maria was already in production before Robocop was released. That said, the result is a crazy genre-bending film that has all of the hallmarks that fans of 1980s Hong Kong cinema should thoroughly enjoy.

Sally Yeh (The Killer) is cast in the role of Maria and her robot replica. Her performance is outstanding, particularly when she flawlessly mimics a robot's movements and lack of emotion. The rest of the cast is rounded out by recognizable faces like Lam Ching-ying (Mr. Vampire) in the role of B 12, the former leader of the Hero Gang, and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (Bullet in the Head) in the role of T.Q. Zhuang, an inquisitive reporter who often gets in the way.

Other cast members of note are John Shum (Yes! Madam) and Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China) in the roles of an inventor who works for law enforcement and a former criminal. Despite being the producers of I Love Maria, they also play significant roles in characters whose stories are equally as large as the protagonist's. When it comes to humor, most of the comic relief is a result of their characters' antics.

The outlandish premise is superbly realized, and a briskly paced narrative never gives you a chance to catch your breath. The action set pieces are inventive, especially when it comes to the exemplary stunt work on display. Although Hong Kong never had the resources that Hollywood does, the special effects hold up surprisingly well. Ultimately, I Love Maria is a highly entertaining sci-fi/action/comedy hybrid that greatly benefits from its cast's enthusiastic performances.

Shout! Factory gives I Love Maria an exceptional release that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a pair of insightful extras. Highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer