Female Fight Squad (2016) User Reviews

But it could have been so much more...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 20 July 2019]

Well, "Female Fight Club" definitely had lots of potential to have been a great martial arts movie. But somehow all that potential was just carelessly squandered at the hands of director Miguel A. Ferrer.

While this 2017 movie was no contender to the 1999 "Fight Club" movie, it was on the right track, but then it got horribly sidetracked by writers Anastazja Davis and Miguel A. Ferrer setting out to want way too much with their storyline, and managing to deliver only half of such.

The storyline in "Female Fight Club" is about as generic as it comes for a movie of this type. So you know exactly what you are getting here when you sit down to watch it.

As for the acting, well I initially sat down to watch "Female Fight Club" because I saw Dolph Lundgren was in it. Little did I know that his role was so small that it hardly could be called a supportive role.

For a martial arts movie, then there were surprisingly little fighting going on actually. Sure, there were fight scenes, but I had expected heaps more, instead of all the family drama taking place on the screen. And to make matters worse, then the fight scenes weren't all that phenomenal.

All in all, "Female Fight Club" was a less than mediocre martial arts action movie. It had potential, but that potential never came into fruition at the hands of the director. As such, I am rating "Female Fight Club" a mere four out of ten stars, as it was mildly enjoyable and watchable, yes. But hardly an outstanding or memorable movie here.

Had lots of potential but end up pretty "ordinary"

[destroyerwod · 5/10 · 11 September 2018]

After having seen the movie Lady Bloodfight with Amy Johnston i imediately hunt down her second feature film as the lead wich is Female Fight Squad(or Club depending on where you live). Just as Lady Bloodfight i had to import this one.

Unfornunately i didn't had fun like i did Lady Bloodfight. Amy does a fine job in the movie but the script is a bit "meh" and the main problem is for a movie call "Fight Club/Squad", there ain't that much fighting in it, and the few of them are not much impressive or brutal.

I wouldn't say its "bad" but it let a lot to be desire. I am a huge fan of Amy ever since i discovered her early this year, but this movie is "average" at best. Not her fault at all.

Idea was good but too much bla

[edwinchoy · 5/10 · 28 February 2018]

There are a lot of fans of this kind of movies, but the idea was good, good fight, good real fighters, but the director and the writer were so stupid, waste of time and money, the idea really was good, but too much time bla bla bla bla almost the 70% of the movie, too much bla when is time to fight, the director wanted to be a Toro version cheap movie, no way, next time do it but good full fight full fight and leave the bla for other movies, good effort try again, i download and i will keep it. Good luck

OMG Dont Watch

[dnzspecop · 1/10 · 24 February 2018]

This is utterly a poor attempt to show women in a position of power and strength--which in turns does nothing but insults them. This is not a movie worth watching. The attempt to show that women can fight and be tough is a total miss in this film. I've seen other films that do a better job in portraying women as strong and battle ready. This film looks like a failed attempt to soft porn with poor acting. The dialogue is horrible, the 'anger', the 'sense of injustice' all is forced. The fight scenes---ugh--seen better fight scenes in a high school play! Don't waste your time.

worse movie ...

[tensang · 1/10 · 25 February 2018]

Worse movie worse fight i have ever seen in Decades .. just waste of time totally Garbage ...Honestly even 1 star is also too much .

Only because there is no ZERO

[dondayan-72666 · 1/10 · 15 April 2020]

Very poor acting with unbelievable fight sequences. A low budget action flick that just misses the mark.

Seriously?

[osorio200 · 1/10 · 8 July 2022]

This movie sets back womens rights 2 decades.

Stop trying to prove stupid things.

Stop copying something successful and then make it female.

Just stop.

Who Would Take This Bet?

[bemyfriend-40184 · 6/10 · 2 January 2021]

A man is managing a fighter. He bets against his own fighter. Would you take that bet? Well no one would. He could tell his fighter to lose. But his fighter WINS; so he loses the bet. And this guy is a "businessman"? Uh, no. And when the unstoppable little blonde comes to kill him with her bare hands; he doesn't shoot her. He fights her. He's not even a viable gangster. So, how was he a big deal for so long? I can't imagine. But I gave the film a six; because the women are pretty; and I liked to see them fight.

Starts out okay

[DongDiggity · 4/10 · 5 May 2022]

It's got some nice fights though the fight with dolph really stinks and looks really fake. The story isn't new but it does have a twist that usually doesn't happen which was nice though sad. My real problem with the film is the weak bad guy and how the film ends. For a female focused fight film it's one of the better ones though if it had better fights and more of them with a better ending it would have been much better.

Awesome

[tigerwhite-21987 · 10/10 · 3 December 2017]

I really couldn't be more grateful that Amy Johnston has made her way on screen. Loved the overall story line, and the fight scenes were not explosive, but they were convincing. I would watch this over and over, the story of two sisters melts my heart. I can't and will not compare this to Fight Club because they are two completely different movies. Keep on AJ, ignore the bad critics!!!

Daughter and father in action !

[saptesh786 · 7/10 · 15 March 2019]

This is another female fighting tournament film like as 'Raze'. Apart from 'Raze' this one is watchable with a well story and having many enjoyable moments which were rare in 'Raze'. Here Amy Johnston plays leading lady role. She looks beautiful and does martial art as well. Our Mr. Universal Soldier, ' Dolph Lundgren' is father of Amy and is in jail. The story is nothing new. But Amy and Dolph made you this one to watchable. Thread of Amy's niece was survived after her mother killed at gym, is an interesting point to connect you. End is also different from 'Raze'. Action stunts by Amy are excellent. I always praise her and want to see each of her movies. Finally my recommendation is that watch if you love Amy and Lundgren for their actions.

Down and Outright Confused

[daniel-mannouch · 3/10 · 15 August 2019]

Female Fight Club is about Rebecca, a former illegal pit fighter who gets pulled back in when her sister owes a ridiculous amount of money.

Female Fight Club, later retitled as female fight squad, is a feminist action movie filmed in 2015, but not released until 2017 that concentrates on the injustices women face in a male dominated environment that theatrically debuted in the United Arab Emirates. That's not fair though. It actually debut on TV and DV, in other very sexually progressive countries.

Female fight club in actuality plays out like a millennial closet misogynist's wet dream. It lampshades the sexual sadism involved in the spectacle of a female blood sport, but then it makes that common mistake of becoming what it beheld and un-ironically indulging in the same exact spectacle, culminating in a sex scene intercut with a fight scene as if this film even had the credibility to pull that off. This film makes Showgirls look like something that was released last year by peccadillo pictures.

But why care about a modern day genre film that is less politically aware than it proclaims to be? It's nothing new. Aesthetics no longer define politics. Aesthetics are nothing but politics now. There is no distinction. But, where the hell was i? Ah, yes, why should i care about a direct to dvd action film being hypocritical in it's message? Well because when the most entertaining fight scenes in your women's only MMA film star a fifty eight year old Dolph Lundrgen, then i gotta start asking questions somewhere.

Female Fight Club has the exact same problem that a film like Raze did. It tries to tell a story which features complex emotions and plot twists and all that crap, and does not have the caliber of screenplay or cast to pull it off. These women were cast for their athletic backgrounds, not thespian. It would be awesome if they had both, but few people have. The worst scenes are the scenes with people talking because they are flatly acted and photographed. They obviously had little investment put into them and therefore any message this film had, feels forced and patronising, undeserved.

Apart from a decent third act, Female Fight Club is an utterly mediocre fight film that displays less personality than a Bloodsport sequel.

I've sat through dumber Action movies

[jwerwin80 · 6/10 · 22 September 2023]

The only resemblance between this movie and Fight Club is in the title. The version I watched was called "Fight Squad" instead of Fight Club. Anyone who talks about politics in relation to this movie must have a very, very small ... feeling of self-confidence. Tiny!

The story follows a typical action movie arc. There are illegal MMA-style fights taking place in a warehouse. The fighters are all women. Our hero was champion, walked away, but returns because of danger to her family. There's a little more to the story, but deep down it's a slightly watered-down action movie.

Dolph Lundgren plays the father of two of the women. His role is minor, but his presence/charisma elevates the movie a lot.

The fights are ok. They're similar to the kind of fights you see in a Fast and Furious movie. Not great, but still kinda fun. I wish there were more of them.

It would have been nice if the villain had been more interesting. He's pretty dull. Also, no chase scenes. A couple of good chase scene would have made this a *lot* better.

I'll watch it again when I want a stupid action movie as background noise - something that doesn't require me to pay close attention but is kinda fun.

Pretty well made considering the budget.

[Hellmant · 8/10 · 10 August 2017]

'FEMALE FIGHT SQUAD': Four Stars (Out of Five)

The new martial arts action movie starring Amy Johnston (a veteran stunt woman turned action movie star), and Cortney Palm. The film is about a former fighter who reluctantly returns to the life of illegal fighting, in order to help her financially struggling sister. The movie costars Folake Olowofoyeku, Levy Tran, Jeanette Samano, Briana Marin, Michelle Jubilee Gonzalez, Rey Goyos, Sean Faris and Dolph Lundgren. It was directed by Miguel A. Ferrer and it was written by Ferrer and Anastazja Davis. The film was made on a budget of just $2 million, and it was first released (in Japan) under the name 'FEMALE FIGHT CLUB' last year. I really enjoyed it.

Becca (Johnston) is a former fighter that now works at an animal shelter helping homeless dogs. She's visited one day by her sister, Kate (Palm), who's in desperate need of a lot of cash to pay off some very dangerous people. After Becca talks to her incarcerated father, Holt (Lundgren), she agrees to help Kate, by training her, and some other female fighters, in illegal fighting. A life Becca desperately wanted to leave behind her.

Anyone that knows me well knows that I'm a huge Cortney Palm fan (she convinced me to go vegan), so I've been interested in seeing this movie ever since I heard her first promote it (like over a year ago). I thought the trailer looked kind of cheesy though, so I wasn't expecting much, but I actually really enjoyed it. I think Palm is great in it, and I'm also now becoming a new fan of Amy Johnston as well. I also think the other supporting actresses were good in their roles too (Olowofoyeku was also really good in 'DEATH RACE 2050', from earlier this year), and I'm a long time fan of Dolph Lundgren as well. The film feels a lot like a low budget martial arts action movie from the 80s or 90s (the kind that Van Damme and Lundgren himself used to star in), but with a female lead cast instead. It's also pretty well made considering the budget.

Watch an episode of our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/8sMDCYeQGPU

In the end, fans of Punchfighting, Dolph, and Amy Johnston will get the most out of this

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 26 October 2023]

Rebecca "Bex" Holt (Johnston) just wants to leave her former life as an underground Punchfighter behind. She now works at Waggin' Tails animal pound and dreams of moving to another animal sanctuary in Africa. However, when she's approached by her wayward sister Kate (Palm), and she tells Bex that she owes evil Punchfighting promoter Landon Jones (Goyos) $125,000, Bex is forced into a tough spot. Moving from L. A. to Vegas to help Kate, she ends up training not just her, but her fellow female fighters Winter (Olowofoyeku), Lisa AKA Spring Roll (Tran), and Gaby (Samano). Meanwhile, Bex reconnects with figures from her former life, such as old flame Potter (Faris) and trainer Zeke (Zito). But on top of everything else, she must iron out the issues with her wrongfully-imprisoned father (Dolph). Can Bex train and punch her way out of all her personal issues and demons? Or will another approach be required? Find out today...

In the pantheon of like-minded films such as Fight Valley (2016) and Chokehold (2019), Female Fight Squad is perhaps best of the three. It's even on par with fellow Johnston outing Lady Bloodfight (2016). It's certainly a heck of a lot better than Brawler (2011). If you like any or all of the above titles, you'll most likely warm to FFS. The look of the film is professional-low budget, so it's no strain on the eyes. Johnston is well-cast for a number of reasons: her fighting moves are top notch, her acting is improving, and she legitimately looks like she could be Dolph's daughter.

There are some classic and much-loved cliches on display here: not only does Bex not want to fight but eventually does, so do the FFS not want to listen to her sage and masterly advice. They initially mock and ridicule her for some reason, but, of course, they come around to her way of thinking. It's all very reminiscent of Cynthia Rothrock in American Tigers (1996). The Punchfighting goes on in the back of an import/export warehouse, and the FFS are all a ragtag, multi-ethnic Benetton rainbow. Bex's boyfriend is played by noted Himbo Sean Faris. His status as a Himbo, first noticed in The King of Fighters (2010), remains unchanged here.

But going back to actors who have markedly improved, we have one of Chuck Zito's best roles we've seen to date. He practically steals the movie, just like he did with Redline (1995). But for slightly different reasons. Now, on to the Dolphiness of this outing. He's not in it all that much, but, to be fair, he's not the main character. Perhaps they shot this around the time of Riot (2015), because he was stuck in jail in that one too. He gets a nice fight scene and a handful of decent moments. To be even more fair to the Dolphster, even the gals of the FFS aren't in the movie as much as you'd think - and it's called Female Fight Squad! The focus, naturally enough, is on the Bex character and her struggles.

It all comes to a head as Bex has to fight her way to Landon Jones, and then there's the inevitable final showdown with him. It's here that the movie really shines and there should have been more of that sort of thing. That being said, it's all done in a slicker way than you might expect and the drama is not bad, if it is a bit standard. It would have been a cool addition if Jones had an evil underling (or two or three) that Bex had to fight her way through in order to get to the big boss. But, still and all, Female Fight Squad is solid and entertaining.

In the end, fans of Punchfighting, Dolph, and Amy Johnston will get the most out of this, and they - and others with adjacent interests - are encouraged to check it out.

4.3 come on now.

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 9/10 · 27 May 2019]

This is a great movie. Why do people not like it. It has a good story line. It also had great acting. 9 out 10. This great movie. It was slow at the beginning but it got better. This is a good action movie.