Movie
Lady Bloodfight (2016)
If the title sounds like Bloodsport – the 1988 martial arts movie starring Jean Claude Van Damme – that’s probably intentional. This is basically a remake with female fighters, with Amy Johnston as Jane Jones, an American who travels to Hong Kong to find out what happened to her father. This being a movie, it was never going to just be a simple disapperance. Turns out he vanished after fighting in the kumite – a brutal fighting contest in Hong Kong – and a shady businessman might just be involved.
This should be a very familiar storyline to any martial arts afficionado, with Jane becoming the student of Shu, who has an ongoing feud with another trainer over a dead man who was the boyfriend of one woman and the brother of the second. Since their kumite duel was declared a draw, both women accepted the solution to train a fighter for entry into the next tournament. Shu’s rival takes on Ling, a young thief who also happens to be a quick and nimble combatant. This proxy battle becomes the main focus of the plot, though Ling is not really evil enough to qualify as a villainess.
Lady Bloodfight fares better than other female centric martial arts movies because they actually had sense to include some fighting. Lots of fighting, actually. This may sound obvious, but rest assured there are many films that don’t make best use of the talent on show. The fights in this one are bloody, and other than some bizarre magical / fantasy elements – such as Shu’s healing water dance – this is a brutal depiction of tough females in action with more than one deadly encounter before the credits roll.
Villainess
Svietta (Ng Mayling)
Since Ling is an antagonist with heart – despite some barbed exchanges with Jane – there has to be a brutal sadistic opponent in a movie like this. Enter Svietta, a former Russian convict covered in tattoos. Mercy is simply not in Svietta’s vocabulary, and she – unlike the heroine Jane – has no qualms killing her outmatched foes.
Many of the key female characters get establishing fights, whether they be the two trainers in the previous kumite or various young women getting attacked and turning the tables in spectacular fashion. Jane gets to dispose of some unwanted male attention when she puts down a guy in a diner, and again after he foolishly comes back for more. Svietta is the only one who doesn’t need to fight. Her fellow prisoners give her a wide berth in the shower, deciding it best to leave this psycho alone. Perhaps wise, as losing to this woman usually proves fatal.
After 45 minutes (roughly half the movie) setting up the plot, the kumite finally gets underway and a nervous Jane gets to fight first. Despite nearly stepping outside the ring, she wins in the end (most fight outcomes are predictable). Ling also shows her fighting prowess and during all this Svietta watches in silence. The Russian brute beats her first opponent to a bloody pulp despite the fight essentially being over long before that. If this is a psychological scare tactic on Svietta’s part, it certainly has the desired effect on the audience.
As eliminations (including some literal ones) continue, Jane befriends the cocky Australian fighter Cassidy. Anyone familiar with these movies will know what’s coming. Next up is weapons round which provides plenty of opportunity for injury and death. While Jane fights against a woman with a bladed staff and finds a way to knock her opponent out, Svietta butchers her opponent. This happens to be Cassidy whose fighting skills sadly don’t match her boasts. Svietta wins this one relatively easily and – to prove just how brutal she is – slits Cassidy’s throat before she can crawl to safety.
That sets up the semi-final encounter between Jane and Svietta. The Russian is so despised by the other competitors that even Ling finds time to give Jane a pep talk. Initially that all seems in vain as Svietta overpowers Jane, though their fight is nowhere near so one sided as Svietta vs Cassidy. The judges are about to call the fight for Sveitta when a seemingly defeated Jane rises to her feet. Seems revenge can be a powerful motivator, enough to give Jane the adrenaline to take her opponent down.
After that it’s Shu to the rescue by healing a badly wounded Jane, and the heroine goes on to defeat Ling in the final. Then the shady businessman gets his comeuppance and – since he was behind the death of Shu’s boyfriend – the trainers and students make amends and found a new martial arts school . All fairly routine and predictable as a plot goes, but the well staged fight scenes make the movie and its brutal villainess worth watching.
Video Review
Honourable Mention (Unranked)
Pushed to the Limit (1992) – Inga (Christl Colven)
Before Lady Bloodfight came along, naming a decent all-female tournament film was a challenge as women would usually appear as fighters in otherwise all male fields. It’s quite telling the “best of the rest” is this mediocre offering with wrestler Mimi Lesseos as… herself essentially, and she enters the kumite for revenge after her brother is killed by ruthless drug traffickers. As noted in the main review, this is a very familiar plotline.
Sadly action is very limited, with all kinds of filler involving dancing in Vegas and boring family scenes. When we do get some fight sequences, they’re poorly choreographed and shot, often with cutaways to other stuff going on. The villainess is an Amazonian henchwoman who breaks her opponent’s spines by standing on them after her victories in the ring. Sadly Inga sounds more interesting than she is, largely due to the uninspired fight scenes.
Things do liven up when Mimi does some snooping around the main villain’s house, but she ineveitably ends up back in the ring again. Needless to say, Mimi defeats Inga in the marquee fight and this henchwoman is just about memorable enough to mention.
Action Woman Fan 