Coweb

Genre: Action, Martial Art
Starring: Jiang Lui Xia,Sam Lee,Siu-Fai Cheung,Kane Kosugi,Mike Moller
Release year: 2009
Language: Mandarin
Subtitle: English

SYNOPSIS:
Mandy slaves away at two jobs struggling to support her family while dreaming about resurrecting her father's martial arts academy, a once famous school now forgotten since an accident took his leg.

When Mandy rescues wealthy businessman Ho Kwan from muggers he offers her a job as his bodyguard, and she agrees when he also offers to support her family and restore her father's academy. Before long, kidnappers appear and despite Mandy's efforts Ho Kwan is abducted, but not before he slips Mandy a box.

Upon investigating, Mandy learns Ho Kwan was kidnapped by ruthless gambling impresario Sung. The box contains a key to a mainframe that controls online betting on fights to the death, and in order to reach Ho Kwan, Mandy will have to join the tournament and gamble with her life.

RATING: 7.5/10
USER RATING:

REVIEW:
" ...Mercifully the setup from then on is at least succinct; a brief 'pull yourself together' speech from Chung; an audition where Nie has to demonstrate her martial prowess to convince Ho to employ her, some scene-setting with Nie brooding while the happy couple gad about town and then henchmen in a hotel dining room, entrance stage right.

At this point it suddenly becomes obvious Jiang Luxia lives up to the hype in many respects. The hotel fight – first against the anonymous henchmen, then the silent, hulking Westerner – is a good six minutes of entertainingly overblown stunt fighting, tables and chairs broken, plates and utensils thrown, Jiang darting over, under and through the furniture. It feels surprisingly credible, not just in terms of the skill on display but also in the way Jiang emotes every blow, her face clearly showing the effort she's supposed to be putting into it. It's an unexpected bonus, given the rules of the 'chick fight' frequently disregard little things like size discrepancy or physical strength unless dramatic convenience calls for them to play a part.

Yet at the same time all the technical excellence can't make up for the creeping impression this is all, well, a little dull. Xiong does not measure up as a director; fumbling the dramatic interludes might be forgiveable, but surprisingly he seems fairly unconcerned about framing the fights for effect as well. Six minutes feels like a long, long time measured out in awkward, fairly unremarkable camera angles and stilted pacing – it takes a good deal more to elevate hand-to-hand combat than simply point-and-shoot, and Coweb rarely feels as if Xiong can be bothered. The mood is also hampered by some baffling foley work that verges on the absurd – those who didn't care for the animal noises scoring Dog Bite Dog would be well advised to turn the volume down here.

Neither editing nor score help much. The dramatic beats are listless and predictable – Jiang has some degree of screen presence, but the script rarely gives her any chance to use it beyond screaming at her opponents, and while Sam Lee has managed some effective performances in other films he's largely wasted here. The narrative never really manages any sense of tension and if the fights aren't dragged out far too long, they're being undercut by unwanted closeups, jarring cutaways, filler shots or a soundtrack which is simply appallingly badly conceived, themes fading in and out or changing completely for no apparent reason.

All this reaches a nadir in the final fight, twice as long as the kitchen sequence – Jiang and Kane Kosugi are forced to stretch their final showdown over nigh on twelve minutes, clumsily interwoven with the inevitable plot twist. The way the real villain of the piece meets his end is practically unbelievable considering the film's obvious lack of any real budget and the idea anyone would find the villain interesting enough to want his final moments scattered through what ought to have been a thrilling climax is baffling.

Coweb is not a bad film, and the talent of most of the principals is obvious for all the production's failings. Jiang Luxia clearly deserves more than this, and given his decades of experience in the industry Xin Xin Xiong could still be the one to get her something better. But while it may well be of interest to avid fans who dream of a better, simpler time when all a movie needed was a shaky one-line premise and a makeshift arena, Coweb never really manages to make anything worthwhile out of its raw material, and seems a little too happy to settle for mediocrity rather than turning all that potential into anything truly memorable "

Source: Twitchfilm.net

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