Warrioress

You have to go into this with low expectations. It's not a great movie by any stretch of imagination. It's a low-budget B movie with an unoriginal story and pretentious dialogue. The acting looks bad mostly due to the fact that it's hard to pull off this kind of dialogue without looking silly.

While fighting in most B movies is usually ridiculous, it actually looks real and functional here. Sometimes you can see the actors are too obviously avoiding hurting one another, but for the most part, it looks good. The little warrioress Cecily Fay (143 cm) certainly knows how to move around and fight. And that's what this is all about. The whole movie is just an excuse to see Cecily fight, and fortunately there's quite a lot of that in the movie.

I won't get into the story, because there's really nothing new there. A warrioress, a quest, an ancient prophecy, blah, blah... It's all a bit silly and predictable.

If you want to watch a good movie, skip this one. But if you like fantasy, medieval-ish setting, and fighting with swords, and if you know what you can expect, it's not too bad.

Sporting a total film budget of £48, it truly shows in many of the outdoor scenes. Simple trope dialogue, and unusually sloppy camera angles and cuts. Perhaps they found a local university compsci dept for the few laughable special effects.

Some of the acrobatic stunts and moves by Cecilia Fay are entertaining enough - have to remember that she is 4'8".

I read elsewhere that this film was a good watch for simple entertainment, however about halfway through I was forcing myself to reach the end to see if there was some kind of sensible and believable conclusion to give this film some merit. Turns out that there is none.

WARRIORESS misses out on a higher rating due to production shortcomings and an overdose of goofiness, but I can't help enjoying this film. If it's your purpose as a filmmaker to create a pseudo-medieval action flick with an air of cheesiness on a micro budget, this film ought to be your model. What it does right, it does better than many flicks with ten times its budget.

The story: In a post-apocalyptic future, a mighty warrior (Cecily Fay) embarks on a quest to fight a prophetic duel.

If nothing else, I am glad that the movie exists because it provides such an ample platform for lead star Cecily Fay, who is definitely among the top ten unsung film fighters of this decade. As an actress, she's passable, but as an on screen combatant, she positively stands out from her cinematic peers and forbearers. As the lead of most of the 19 fights, she and her unique fighting style stand out in both hand-to-hand brawls and swordfights – displaying impeccable coordination and flexibility. At worst, these matches are passable for their sheer physicality, but at their best, they shine for their long takes and ambitious choreography. Kudos also goes to costars Joelle Simpson and Helen Bailey for their own mighty contributions to these brawls.

I'm pleased that this film has so much fighting to its credit, as it distracts us from its shortcomings. Despite being shot well enough, the flick has that cheap B-movie quality to it, with occasionally interesting locations that are nevertheless clearly public property. Everyone looks a little too clean for this setting, particularly Cecily in her impractical, Frank Frazetta-inspired costume. Dramatic performances are on the good side of hammy. The film features several odd artistic decisions – including the frequent breathy voiceovers – and is clearly set up to accommodate a potential sequel, with the effect that the main villain (Will Brenton) can remain oddly detached from everything else happening in the story.

Nevertheless, the filmmakers successfully impose their own infectious energy on the movie, making it palatable to martial arts fans and lovers of indie niche. I can't recommend this to nearly everybody, but I have a feeling that the people who do like it will *really* like it.

Pros: The fight scenes are good and the actors actually know martial arts. The story line and concept are really good. Shes short and probably would beat you in a fight, makes for a unique character.

Cons: The acting is sometimes bad and laughable which still provides entertainment. The budget is low and it often shows, but a bit of imagination holds it together. Better establishing shots could be used for the scene with CGI at the evil dudes base. Also, wheres the ending? Did the budget run out or a sequel was planned but not made?

In Warrioress, two warrior women in skimpy outfits chase after a McGuffin, sorry, super important twin swords, and take turns dishing out beatdowns to fulfill a prophecy.

Right off the bat, there's an arena fight of "the best of their generation", though judging by these clowns, that generation must've been a total bust. And the "arena" is just a glorified 15-foot-wide circle with maybe 10 spectators sitting on tree trunks. Yeah, it all looks pretty pathetic.

Warrior Boudiccu defeats significantly bigger, bulkier dudes and gets chosen to wield the twin swords, which were definitely ordered off Wish. As the "Chosen One," she's supposed to embark on a quest and compete in more dumb arena fights - except she immediately loses the rusty katanas along the way. Yikes.

The other warrior, White Arrow, also hits the road and kicks major ass along the way. The women in this film go all out in the fight scenes. The punches and kicks look skilled and powerful, with acrobatic flips and all the bells and whistles. The men? Just cannon fodder.

What else do we get? Wehrmacht gear, random musical numbers, assassins, wannabe ninjas, and one guy seriously waving around a Bat'leth. A nice piece of fantasy post-apocalyptic trash to cleanse your brain in between.