Director:
Chris Nahon Year: 2016
Rating: 5.5 Ya, so I have
been in the mood for some female action films of late. It comes over me from
time to time. With these sorts of films there is always a fine line between
female empowerment and female exploitation. It is not like these films are
made for a female audience for the most part. This film straddles that line
falling for the most part on the side of empowerment but it is no coincidence
that most of the women fighters are fairly attractive and that their figures
will be easily admired in tights and halter tops. This was directed by Chris
Nahon who helmed the Jet Li film Kiss of the Dragon and the Jean Reno film
Empire of the Wolves. It is written and produced by an old Hong Kong hand,
Bey Logan. Logan is a gweilo who went to Hong Kong and fell in love with
their films. He was one of the first English speaking writers to put out
a book on the martial arts films titled Hong Kong Action Cinema in 1996 that
for years was a huge help in trying to find films I wanted to see. He also
showed up in a few films. He is currently writing a series of books about
Kung Fu cinema in which he really dissects and explores a few films that
he feels were influential in the genre. I have the first one and it is quite
good.
Of course, that doesn't mean he can write
a good script and this was as about as generic as you can get. Or as predictable
as the sun coming up every day. But sometimes complicated plots can just
get in the way of the action and that is clearly what their interest is here.
Lots of one on one fighting in one of those many tournament films in which
the opponents beat the crap out of each other till we get to the final. There
have been a ton of those - the only difference here is the competitors are
female. And as I mentioned, good looking ones. This is the Kumite, a traditional
set of matches in which anything goes - you lose if you step over the line,
if you are knocked out or if you are killed. There are brief backgrounds
given to the two main competitors and their teachers - the rest are pretty
expendable. It all takes place in Hong Kong in a secret location where creepy
men bet on them.
The action is fast and brutal. How much
training the actresses had I have no clue, but they are filmed in a way that
makes them look like they know what they are doing. Amy Johnston is the real
deal though. She has done tons of work as a stunt woman (and gets some time
in the recent documentary Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks where I heard about
her and looked up some of her films) and is finally getting some exposure
on the screen. Her main opponent is played by Jennie Wu, who puts on a good
show but I don't think she has much training. She was in the TV series Top
of the Lake. One of the expendables is played by Mayling Ng, who is trained
and vicious in the film - but then she plays a Russian so what do you expect.
I am not really a fan of these types of
films - boring to me because there is so little plot - we are just given
a lot of hard hitting action for our amusement like we are sitting in the
stands of the Roman Coliseum ready to put our thumbs down for death. I love
martial arts films for the pure athleticism of the actors and the intricate
choreography but just watching someone smash in someone's face not so much.
You get some of both here.
