The Resisitance (2011) [Film Review]

The Resistance; or, The Mark of Ninja
     Tonight, I have to kill the general, avenge my family, and avenge the Chinese people. If tonight fails, I need you to tell everyone what has happened here.
The Resistance marks the second directorial feature of Peng Zhang Li, the kung fu master who also happens to be an aspiring filmmaker from China. Is this film an improvement over The Last Kung Fu Monk? Let’s find out together.

Release Info

Directed by: Peng Zhang Li Starring: Hu Sang, Peng Zhang Li, Jeremy Marr Williams

Language: Mandarin, English Original Title: 反抗者 Runtime: 85 min

Synopsis
China, the 1940s. After the massacre of Nanjing, the Japanese soldiers gradually took control over the Chinese territories while exploiting the local population. Steven (Jeremy Marr Williams) is an American journalist who was sent to China in order to uncover the truth about the war atrocities committed by the Japanese, but he is thrown into prison. Xiaoyu (Hu Sang) bears personal grudge against the invaders because they killed her family. As a result, she joins the Chinese Resistance. What is more, Xiaoyu acts on her own and becomes The Black Dress Killer. She single-handedly attacks the Japanese troops under the cover of the night. Her goal is to kill the ruthless General Takeshi (Peng Zhang Li).

The Vigilante’s Shadow
Whereas The Last Kung Fu Monk replicated the vibes of Bruce Lee/Jackie Chan flicks, The Resistance tries to mimic the war exploitation undertones of such popular films as Hapkido (1972), Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence (1983), and Ip Man (2008), sprinkling it with a touch of ninja theme taken straight from Samurai Spy (1965).

In terms of technical execution, this movie is a vast improvement over Peng Zhang Li’s debut feature. The editing, pacing, and the music score are much better. Nevertheless, the presence of rudimentary CGI has to be excused in view of the fact that the Chinese industry was at the early stages of implementing the technology back in 2011.

With regard to the screenplay, the plot line is coherent and understandable, yet it suffers from a few cliches (dream sequences involving a double twist, the General doing some pain-resisting exercise with scantily clad ladies). However, I enjoyed the nods to the aforementioned films (Hu Sang looks totally like Angela Mao from Hapkido, and the General character is obviously named after Takeshi Kitano).

When it comes to performances, Peng Zhang Li really tried to do his best as a rotten-to-the-core villain, but Hu Sang outshines him as the main heroine/righteous ninja. After this picture, the actress went on to have a steady career on television. My praise also goes to Johan Karlberg as the German officer Schultz. His part might be small, but it is indeed a memorable one. Interestingly, the actress Jenny Lin (who later had a big break with Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid (2016)) also has a small role in the film.

Recommendations
All things considered, The Resistance is a Chinese war exploitation film that tries to relive the glory of previous popular pictures of the genre. It may suffer from inadequate CGI and a very messy ending, but the viewing experience is definitely better in comparison to The Last Kung Fu Monk. You can check out the film on YouTube.Overall score: 5/10
Note: My thanks go to Johan Karlberg for sharing pieces of trivia about this film. You can check out his interesting making of featurette here.

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