I actually found one of my favorite movies on YouTube. It was an obscure made-for-TV film from 2002.
What movie was that, Wayholk?
Speaking of that, I was just chillin' with my dog Tallulah watching some Netflix and caught a martial arts movie that personally tickled my fancy, called
Lady Bloodfight.
Dumb title, I admit, but it I haven't had the pleasure of seeing movies revolving around lady martial artists much with the benefit of them not being obvious exploitation. The fighting was pretty hardcore, but, I always seem to glean some kind of inspiration or philosophical musings about my own attitude and spirit when I trained in tae kwon do ('course I was no hardcore fighter like the characters in these movies
), or how I would want to think and behave were I a professional warrior in the same situation as these movies are based around. I was particularly pleased with the way this movie handled its sentiments of good and honor vs violence and evil in the duels that follow. I really liked the protagonist, played by an actress I don't believe I'd heard of before named Amy Johnson, and many of the other characters, too, even a few of the fighters and teachers who held more cynical worldviews and thus hardly had a care for personal honor in the ways of combat. With the exception of one character they at least seemed ... believable, I guess.
The plot begins with two Chinese women martial artists who appear (I was in the kitchen for most of this beginning scene, so I may have it wrong) to have beaten each other so badly in a duel that their respective teachers command them to cease and agree to another means of settling their differences. They agree unofficially to meet other again vicariously through their own future students in an underground all-female fighting tournament that is held regularly in Hong Kong. And so I suppose the winner of their personal rivalry will be determined through which of the students the two women take on will win the tournament, during a future time when they both are able to put forth viable fighters to go against each other. One is a cynical woman who is greatly disciplined but focuses solely on satisfying her misguided grudge against her rival, and the other woman is more kindly in her approach to training students, certainly always intent on subduing her opponents without killing or personal hatred, but of course will still be tough and no-nonsense to her approach when she must. And so the two students both women take on to train for the tournament are fitted to be just as opposite in personalities. Although this is without putting either of the women teachers or the students into the clear hero or villain role, which is rather interesting ... and even better for once restraint was showed in the movie's amount of swearing. I actually barely heard any.
So, yeah, I recommend this movie for those who can stomach people hitting one another hard enough to cause broken bones and visible blood to fly.