Coweb
Director: Xiong Xinxin
Year: 2009
Rating:
5.0
Aka - Ninja Master - as it was marketed
in some places - there are no ninjas.
A few months back, I watched a fun if ridiculous
Hong Kong film titled Sifu vs Vampire from 2014. It starred the wonderful
Yuen Biao who plays a Taoist priest who has to fight off vampires in a modern
setting. But Yuen is past his prime and so much of the martial arts fell
to his female assistant played by Mainland actress, Jiang Luxia, who is very
impressive in her action scenes. I am perpetually in hope of a revival of
the Girls with Guns genre in Hong Kong and though they have the occasional
female action film, the actresses are by no means martial artists. But Jiang
Luxia is the real deal. She was the former Nationawide Wushu Champion and
is proficient at pretty much all forms of martial arts. She said watching
Tai Chi Master as a child inspired her. That film of course stars Jet Li
and Michelle Yeoh. She made a series of wushu videos titled Mao Er Bao Bei
that were on the Internet that got millions of views.
This was her second film and it is directed
and choreographed by none other than Xiong Xinxin. A legend if you follow
Hong Kong films though perhaps not as well-known as he should be. If you
watch The Blade, you will never forget him. His action scenes are ferocious
and astonishingly fast - both as an actor and as a choreographer. Thus, my
hopes were high for this film, but sadly it is a mess. Xiong has only directed
two films and by this one, he should probably stick to choreography. The
plot makes little sense and the film looks very cheap, but then I didn't
come for the plot. I came for Jiang Luxia. And Xiong gives her fight after
fight. She is stupendous though it seems the camera is cranked a bit too
much giving the fights a jumpy look.
In a classic Hong Kong setting, she has
a fight on bamboo scaffolding. There have been a few classic fights on this
very Hong Kong construction structure - though not for long. They are replacing
them with metal scaffolding - such a shame. That fight is pretty good though
again the editing and speed make it look a little off. She also has a fight
against two break-dancers, a giant Gweilo in a kitchen, using nunchucks against
a swarm of men and then finally a lengthy fight against Kane Kosugi. Basically,
the plot is that she runs a dojo until her father dies in an accident and
she goes to work as a security guard. An old friend played by Sam Lee - ya
that Sam Lee - persuades her to take a job in Hong Kong as a bodyguard to
the wife of a wealthy man. When they both get kidnapped, she goes looking
for them. And kicks a lot of ass doing so. I will have to track down
a few of her other films.
