Review of the film "Lady Bloodfight" from Ravenside

06.04.2017Ravenside

I warn you that the review contains spoilers, but there is nothing to be afraid of, since there is nothing here that you have not seen in other films, much less original or unexpected plot twists. "Lady Bloodfight" - This is the female version of all Blood Sports at once.

The film has several storylines:

• the conflict between two supporting characters, against which the action takes place;
• the main character in search of her father;
• the main character against the bad Russian;

These lines are simple and do not look superfluous, although they clearly lack logic and originality.

Heroine Amy Johnston travels to Hong Kong in search of his father, who disappeared there 18 years ago. Her father fought here in Kumite, so she follows in his footsteps and also decides to fight in Kumite, but for some reason the tournament is for women. If my father fought in a women's tournament, then it is understandable why he did not return home. Flashbacks with the father could have helped, but there are none. Instead, we have a prologue in the form of a fight between two girls who are at odds outside the ring. The fight is awarded a draw, which also does not benefit their relationship. They respond to the organizers’ proposal to divide the money with a decisive refusal (what fools they are), after which they are given the condition to prepare the students and fight with their hands and feet in the next episode. A strange alternative, but oh well.

Then fate gives them students, and everything starts to spin. The process of recruiting students is stupid, but the process of recruitment and training is interesting due to the different approaches in which parallel training is shown to us schematically but well. Although there are some mistakes here: three months for training is too short a time, plus they forgot to show us the training of the main character in using weapons.

Further events lead everyone to the woman-kumite, where the main action takes place. As in "Looking for Adventure", the fighters represent different countries and styles, but their portrayal on screen has little in common with those styles. Taekwondo here is not taekwondo (many arms, almost no legs), Krav Maga is generally something illegible, capoeira is announced but not shown, and boxing is completely and undeservedly discredited. The main character immediately makes a chatty and cheerful friend among the fighters (Jet Tranter), only to lose her later (Ray Jackson was luckier). And here we should separately mention the Russian Svetlana Chekhova (well, this is as usual, there is no way without it), a thug with iron teeth and a scar on her face, who was brought in cumite straight from prison. I must say that she is the only one who looks like a female fighter (she is played by a fitness model Meiling Ng). To complete the picture and complete the image, it would be possible to show that she sits in the same cell with her tame bear, drinks blood and eats gruel with red caviar. In short, the director succeeded in Chekhov.

Then there are the following plot and dramatic branches:

• the conflict between the two teachers is revealed in more detail, but still looks muddy and unfinished;
• the robbers, like chronic fetishists, carefully keep the main character’s backpack with photos and clothes (they dressed up in women’s clothes, what’s the big deal). Apparently, this is so that she will come and mark them down, testing out the skills she has acquired, and in connection with this she will have a fight with the teacher. This discord of theirs, it must be said, looks far-fetched;

It is worth explaining why I dwell in such detail on the plot and characters, despite the fact that I am reviewing a typical DTV movie about fights. The fact is that the film clearly claims not only to be an action movie, but also a drama, trying to give the picture a more noble look, to make it less trashy, but smarter and more expensive than it is. But the stakes for fights here are not the main ones, especially since they are weak here.

Amy Johnston lacks screen technique, just like all the other heroines. Most Kumite participants barely look like fighters, although, of course, this is not for you "DOA: Dead or Alive" with their hellish bikini festival and napalm of sexual objectification. In fights, the girls are “saved” by cuts cut by editing or blows veiled by the angle, or ropes used a couple of times, but operator Michelle Abramovich holds the camera in his hands more firmly than we are usually used to seeing in projects of this level. But if the rest of the girls are still extras, then the demand for the main character is different. She shows no progress, except perhaps mentally. Otherwise, she moved like a cow at the beginning of the film and doesn't move much better towards the end. In addition, the entire film drags its feet in the best traditions of gait Vina Diesel и Keanu Reeves, spreading his arms like a minor FIFA. This is aggravated by her frozen gaze and the confused expression of a concentrated cuckoo, unbuttoned sweaters and T-shirts with bare shoulders and straps. Who needs this? This definitely doesn’t add any sexuality to her, and is it really necessary?

But if we ignore the minuses, then it should be noted that the girls chosen were at least visually colorful, which is what they relied on. They try, they act out everything as actors in fights, which is why there is empathy for the heroines. It’s clear that this is primarily because there are girls in the ring. Their movements are given with effort, they hit with desperation, gasp and groan after each blow, scream with rage, groan with pain, spit blood, in short, they try, here the men could learn something. But blood is blood, and women’s bodies need to be sold, so the scene in the locker room will attract men to the screens.

Another problem with all films of this genre is that the characters (no matter male or female) constantly examine their cuts, touch their wounds and broken lips, and then carefully look at the blood. For what? What do they expect to see there, apricot yogurt? In 90% of cases this does not look appropriate on the screen.

Let's move further along the plot and closer to the ring.

The heroine won the fight with the Russian Svetlana completely unconvincingly, and the rest of the fights too. But in the case of Evil Russian, persuasiveness was needed simply like air, because it was dramaturgically assumed and that’s even without options. But the battle failed, there is no feeling of satisfaction. Svetlana bloodthirstyly and brutally kills the main character’s new friend, and this scene, by the way, is done impressively; it stands out from the entire film with good cinematic precision and empathy. And in the end, our villainous compatriot receives a couple of rotten lyules from Johnston’s character.

- “This is for Cassidy,” Johnston’s heroine, referring to her murdered friend.

And that's all, or what? Well, damn it, there really isn't much for Cassidy.

And again, we have another favorite cliché of all times - the magical resurrection of the main character, being beaten almost unilaterally throughout the entire battle and ultimately beaten into rubbish. After the resurrection, her opponent suddenly forgets how to fight, commits moronic acts in the ring and stops defending himself. We have seen all this more than once or twice, this has always happened in all films about underground, above-ground and any kind of battles, but 25-30 years ago it was forgivable, but now you just need to come to terms with it and endure it.

After this, we are faced with the final battle between the two students, which looks completely unnecessary, because it is not perceived as final. The heroine passed the main test, and her final opponent does not pose any danger to her at all, because he is more than completely fused, and for the audience his life on kumite passed almost unnoticed. As a result, the final opponent undeservedly received much more damage (why she, and not Chekhov’s light, I don’t understand?). The battle itself turned out to be somehow sprawling and sweeping, boring and clumsy, with the ghost of the deceased dad against the backdrop of the mountains and yet another magical resurrection of the heroine.

And I’ll also add and summarize briefly:

Cons:

• Cuckoo heroine;
• Very weak fights;
• Stupid plot twists;
• Lots of clichés;
• The girls in the final fight in all sorts of ridiculous dresses and skirts made from their mother’s tulle, which looks inappropriate and vulgar;
• The ghost of a smiling dad was out of place;
• The teacher resurrected the bird, but did not resurrect the groom (you need to watch the movie here);
• The final repentance of the villain San looks like nonsense (here you need to watch the film to the end);

Pros:

• Decent acting of the main characters and extras;
• Many different colorful characters;
• Moshchnetskaya Svetka Chekhova, who is up for the main role in the sequel, as happened with another Russian villain, fighter Yuri Boyka;
• Good ending with teaching the kids;
• Changing clothes of fighters in the locker room;
• There is empathy for the heroines in the ring (I personally had it);

As a result, the main drawback of the film is still weak fights, and a large number of cliches in them. Given the diligence in the acting, holes and banalities in the plot would be forgivable. And the film could use some interesting cameos, such as Cynthia Rothrock, Karen Shepard or Sophia Crawford.

Home » Reviews » Review of the film "Lady Bloodfight" from Ravenside
Tags: Lady Bloodfight, Jet Tranter, Chris Nahon, Ng Meiling, Amy Johnston

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