Derek Childs (totalovrdose) Ninja Masters is yet again further proof that Americans, it seems, have great difficulty attempting to market products from overseas (no offense). Korean movies, like The Voice and The Wig both, respectively, when released in America, received incredibly violent covers, despite the general lack of blood present in both features. In the case of this particular martial arts film, to title it Ninja Masters would be like calling me an astronaut - it is false advertising at its most ridiculous.Initially titled Coweb when released in Asia, this is an entertaining martial arts feature, and though not the greatest movie in the genre, it certainly deserves to be viewed. I might be criticized for writing this, but I wasn't a huge fan of The Protector, a movie this particular film can be contrasted with: in both titles, a brilliant martial artist goes out of their way to save those they've been tasked to protect. Although the choreography, action scenes and direction could not be faulted, I found much of the dialogue in The Protector to be rather uninteresting, and many of the individuals involved to be severely lacking characterization.Although a similar argument regarding character depth could be made concerning Coweb, the frequency and focus on the fights make up for any lacking substance, and entertainingly keeps the audience vested. The fights do occasionally go for longer than they probably should, and during other moments, it is unfortunately obvious no contact is actually made during a physical altercation, an irritating fact furthered when some characters are kicked backwards, occasionally appearing as though they're either on wires, or jumped at their own volition.This aside, the use of slow motion that is occasionally employed accentuates the speed and agility of the combatants, while the use of ambient sound during one scene, rather than non-diegetic resources, assists in thrusting the viewer right into the middle of the fights. Although each of the fights are very obviously filmed on sets, the film offers a range of locations, including a traditional fighting ring, a disco club, and a street tourists generally flock towards, the vivid incorporation of color adding an additional visual treat for the senses.Story-wise, Nie (Jiang Luxia) is an exceptional Wushu trainer, who, after coincidentally bumping into an old acquaintance, is allowed the opportunity to demonstrate her skills, alongside other adept fights, in an attempt to acquire a position as the bodyguard to Ho Kwon (Cheung Siu-Fai), a well respected and revered business man.Nie, an attractive and honorable individual, who desperately needs the money in order to restore the martial arts academy developed by her father, accepts the offer, however it doesn't take long before her skills are put to the test. When Kwon is abducted, Nie goes to extraordinary lengths to reacquire him, in the process discovering that the kidnappers are directly linked with an online fighting ring, that she will have to descend into if it means saving the man she has sworn to protect with her life.Over the course of the film, there are a number of predictable moments, including the ending, which doesn't offer a total sense of completion, while on other occasions, annoyingly, characters are unable to see the obvious surprises coming to fruition, though some of them are equally well hidden. Potentially, the film could be accused of revealing some plots a littler too hastily, the decision to hold some moments back for a while longer perhaps been something deftly advantageous the writers ought to have considered. Adjunctively, there are occasions when further explanation might have been a requirement: an example would be when Nie finds herself up against dozens of antagonists, and pulls nunchucks out of, well, to be honest, I'm still unsure where.Over the course of the title, Ms Luxia is very impressive, her commanding stance being equaled by the confidence she displays in her abilities. Ms Luxia brilliantly coveys emotion through facial and bodily expression, the piano soundtrack that accompanies some of the films more story-oriented moments establishing her personal journey and proficiency, alongside the internalized struggle of what humanity will remain of her once all the fighting is over.Despite other martial arts features offering material that is potentially more outstanding, there are several moments in the film where Coweb will leave you breathlessly riveted. Though the story is limited in its capacity to hold one's attention, Ms. Luxia not only commands the screen, but is easy on the eyes as well (actually, she's gorgeous), and it's peculiar this talented young woman hasn't appeared in more films. Although Coweb won't appeal to everyone, it certainly doesn't deserve to be discarded simply because American public relations specialists have little idea how to market this product.

Chung Tsang Although a fairly OK martial arts movie I believe there may have been a marketing flaw with this movie. The poster to the movie shows a "Ninja". Set in the background are old / classic style structures. With the tag line of "They are the perfect weapon" When watching the movie however it is set in the modern day. There is no "They" only one main protagonist fighter. No ninjas to speak off.The movie as I say is OK on its own merits as a Hong Kong style martial arts movie but due to some error along the line the wrong poster was attached to it.The action seems solid enough to hold your attention with a pretty good female lead. Which in movies like these, are always trying to show / prove that they can be as strong as their male counterparts. In doing so the female characters becomes arrogant the same way, but more a fault of the writing.No titillation here if that is what you are looking for as seen in many of the other action style movies with female leads, dressed in skimpy revealing clothing. Cheap tricks designed to distract you.I believe this movie was made mainly as a response to 2008's Chocolate. Still worth checking out in any case. A few of the fight scenes especially the one vs one fights do last a little longer than I would like, to show the skills of the cast maybe? As it is not based on the fantasy setup. No wire-work or anything like that, so actions and stunts done under their own steam.

sarastro7 *There are SPOILERS here!*Coweb is a good movie. It's true that the directing may be somewhat inexperienced; some of the fighting sequences could have been better shot, but other than that I have very few complaints. I think that people's criticisms are just plain wrong, and I also think that the low rating the movie has received so far simply owes to not enough people (by which I mean people who know their martial arts movies) having seen it yet. Compared to martial arts movies in general, Coweb is in fact amazingly realistic in many ways. Sure, the plot is designed around the fight sequences, but so are most other martial arts movie plots, and this one actually does a better job of it than most.We have a young woman, YiYi, who's a martial arts (taekwondo?) instructor, while also being a security guard (in the beginning of the movie she seems to be a cop, but it's not entirely clear to me why she's suddenly a security guard - not that it really matters). When she meets an old friend who's the personal assistant of some big-shot business man, she is offered a job as a bodyguard to his wife. Pretty soon, the business man and his wife are both apparently kidnapped, using so many guys that YiYi can only fight off some of them. Over the next several days YiYi and her old friend (nicknamed Fatty) do everything in their power to try to save the business man and his wife, which involves following leads that are texted to a phone left by the kidnappers, telling them to show up at certain times and places to fight various goons. It turns out that the fights are being recorded and broadcast on the internet for a group of gamblers to place bets on. YiYi fights her way to the top, and eventually finds out that she has been betrayed and manipulated by everybody; it has all been a lie, designed to make money off her fighting skills. She ends up confronting the business man who exploited her, and getting him arrested.Besides being a pretty cool martial arts movie, it also contains a very satisfying political dimension, demonstrating in a very clear way how the rich exploit the poor and naive. Showing how money so often destroys people's lives. I always love a Chinese movie with a distinctly anti-capitalist message, and this is certainly one. The end scenes actually bear some resemblance to Hamlet - I kid you not - with Gertrude turning on Claudius, and Hamlet (YiYi) having the final duel with Laertes.The movie is not all that brutal. It does have some blood, but not much in the way of broken bones or deaths, so it's pretty watchable for everybody, which I think is good. There are a number of good scenes, but also some imperfections. Not all of the background music fits the fight scenes very well.The previous reviewer who says of this movie that "It accomplishes what Hong Kong "Golden Age" directors failed To achieve with their female talent" is to a large extent right. Imagine a movie starring one of the old-school fighting females with as many fight scenes as we have here! In some ways, Coweb is comparable to movies like Joyce Godenzi's She Shoots Straight, but the latter hasn't got anywhere near as much fighting in it, and much the same can be said for many other vintage action movies. A plot that accommodates the fighting as well as Coweb's does is rare, but it is exactly the kind of thing a good martial arts movie desperately needs. Hopefully, action directors are finally beginning to realize this...8 stars out of 10.

Llakor Coweb is probably short for Combat Web. The idea of the film is that a female bodyguard has her boss kidnapped by a gang who run an underground fighting web-site. In order to rescue her boss, the bodyguard must fight her way through the gang's martial artists - all while her fights are being secretly taped, streamed over the web and bet on.The film aspires to be the kung fu version of The Truman Show, even name-checking that film and it is a neat idea, but horribly executed. The only reason to see this film is its star, Jiang Lu Xia. Coweb's reality web story probably owes something to Jiang who was discovered doing stunts and karate on online videos before becoming a part of Jackie Chan's reality TV series The Disciple.Jiang has her limits. If she has a sense of humour, it is impossible to detect - at least in this film. She only has three gears to her acting and fighting, neutral, annoyed and REALLY angry.Despite these limits, wind her up and she is a whirling ball of action fury, impossible to ignore. She manages to combine Jackie Chan's athleticism and ability to squeeze over and through obstacles with Bruce Lee's unstoppable fury. Of course, both Jackie and Btuce had other gears. Jiang just has the one and this may limit her career, but in full fury she is something to see.Jiang is about five foot nothing, but it seems like she has six feet worth of legs. She has an astonishing ability to turn her legs into a multi-jointed weapon like a living three-sectioned staff allowing her to hit opponents with full force from the most impossible angles. She also has some interesting submission moves to add to her acrobatics and kicking.But her most impressive quality is her sheer confidence, best demonstrated in a sequence where she has to cross a bridge and a horde of enemy bad guys pour onto the bridge to stop her. For the audience, there is a moment of doubt and then in a flash you realize that Jiang isn't outnumbered thirty to one, the bad guys are outnumbered one to thirty.It's not like any movie martial artist loses that fight, but few would do what Jiang does ("You just put your head down and charge like a bull," one of her other opponents marvels later.) and fewer still would be as believable while doing it. Jiang Lu Xia is something to see, her film Coweb, not so much.