Woman Revenger (1981) Review

A gritty and sometimes goofy Taiwanese martial arts revenge flick. As usual with these movies it has more than one title, one of these being The Nude Body Case in Tokyo but it was originally titled Woman Type Revenge. 

It was directed by Tsai Yang-Ming, who is responsible for other movies that could fit the blog such as Phoenix the Raider (1982), The Greatest Plot (1977) and Dragon Gate (1975). It stars the beautiful and skilled Yang Hui-shan, who has experience in the genre as she debuted in Five Pretty Young Ladies (1975) and also starred in the previously reviewed Deadly Silver Angels (1984) but she has many more credits, appearing in classics of action chick flicks like the fantastic Golden Queen's Commando (1982), The Country of Beauties (1981) and The Challenge of the Lady Ninja (1983). In 1987 Yang left the film industry to work on her glass art but movies like this one keep her cinematic legacy alive. 

The film revolves around Lingling, a kung fu lady and dance teacher who learns of the death of her friend and travels to Japan, to find her friend's sister (Meifeng) since she has been kidnapped by evil drug lords who force her into prostitution. We see Lingling investigating the whereabouts of Meifeng and saving her from the bad guys.

I will say that this is a very good movie overall. It's fast paced and goes by very quick, the choreography is quite solid and while the story is trite the script and the performances manage to make the characters likable and the plot keeps building up to a last third that's very exciting. The cinematography is good, they make splendid use of widescreen with its large framing and the shots are carefully composed, they achieve a beautiful look, particularly during the snow scene near the end. 

However, there are also some rather silly moments. Like when the kidnappers are handling some girls and it's just two guys (without weapons) pushing a bunch of girls around who could easily run or fight them. I know they aren't fighters and that they are probably stuck there anyways but it does seem too preposterous to suspend your disbelief. There's also a funny sumo scene that has Rocky music playing over it. I will say the main heroine doesn't even get an eye-patch until an hour into the movie, so the poster lies a little bit but her attire and her look are very iconic during these last sequences.

The second half is a super energetic and well directed stretch, ending in some of the best set-pieces in Taiwanese action cinema from the eighties. The appearance of the girls is pretty memorable and the battles are constant. Overall, I can recommend it to anyone looking for a neat little revenge picture. It doesn't offer much new but it's mostly entertaining. 

Villainess spotlight: Spider Lady from Superman (1948)

The first Superman piece of live-action media was this 1948 serial by Columbia and the first ever villain in live-action Superman was a female one. Yes, even in the boy's club that is genre cinema of the forties and fifties there was still room for an evil lady to battle against a hero.

The villainess in question is the dreaded Spider Lady, a mysterious crime boss who controls the underworld of metropolis. She is played by Carol Forman, her career is interesting because she specialized in female villains when it came to serials, as she played an antagonistic role in more Republic and Columbia series: Brick Bradford (1947), The Black Widow (1947), Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc (1948) and The Miraculous Blackhawk: Freedom's Champion (1952). Surely one of the icons in action girl media from her time. 

This cunning and menacing underworld boss is a beautiful and stylish woman who commands her goons to do her dirty work. The Spider Lady is first seen set against a spiderweb backdrop, one that she uses to electrocute and harm her victims. Usually seen in the dark, she keeps her hideout a secret and builds an intimidating appearance with her shadowy figure ordering her men and questioning her prey before torturing them. 

It's obvious that a human couldn't stand against Superman in a fight but her seedy plans manage to test the hero, pushing the superguy to his limits. The constant array of crimes and destruction she causes really keeps the show going before elevating things to an exciting ending. A pro at outsmarting her foes and causing havoc. She isn't the queen of the underworld for nothing. She even hurts Lois Lane at one point, she was close to killing her but she needed the reporter in order to continue her plans.

Throughout the show, she wants to get a scientist to help her get a weapon known as the reducer ray in order to destroy the Daily Planet building and harm Superman. She also gets kryptonite and challenges Superman to stop her. Armed with these devices, Spider Lady confronts the hero, but Superman outsmarts her: he wears a lead-lined costume that prevents him from being affected by the kryptonite. The Spider Lady panics and orders the scientist to turn on the ray but she is hit by the beam and stumbles upon her deadly web, destroying her. 

A brutal ending but considering her evilness, maybe it couldn't be any more fitting. 

Spider Lady would then come back in DC's Batman/Superman #16, part of the Infinite Frontier event. This time, Lois Lane is the villaness! Yeah, in this story of alternate realities Lois becomes the queen of the criminal underworld.

Batman and Robin try to catch her but the real Lois Lane slips through time and space, ending up in Spider Lady's timeline and meeting Batman. She then helps the dynamic duo catch her evil version. Turns out, Lois turned evil because Superman wasn't there to save her friends and partners when the Daily Planet was attacked. So she became a crime boss and used her forces to fight against Dr. Atom, the real villain. 

It's a cool storyline that I would recommend if you wanna read more about her. Very interesting plot with surprising moments and really solid paneling and artwork, good comic storytelling.