“The Bodyguard” Poster
In 2024 director Qin Pengfei seemed to be channelling the work ethic of Chang Cheh at his most productive, cranking out an impressive 6 productions spanning everything from period kung-fu flick, to wuxia styled swordplay, to contemporary actioner. It’s hardly a surprise that in the following year he’d take a break, before returning in 2026 with Wings of Dread, offering up the enticing prospect of Ashton Chen versus Iko Uwais. It was ironic then, that the inflight bathroom brawl between femme fatales Hong Shuang and Qu Jingjing turned out to be the scene stealing highlight, and it was one of Pengfei’s earlier 2024 productions that gave Jingjing her own action vehicle with The Bodyguard.
Jingjing cut her teeth starring in web movie versions of bigger budgeted productions like 2023’s Ocean Rescue, as well as appearing in the soccer drama curiosity Magic Seven (also from 2023), which featured Manchester United legend Eric Cantona in the main role playing himself (and could be prime for re-discovery for those unimpressed with Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Soccer). Pengfei would get a taste of her talents when she clocked in a supporting role in Blade of Fury, which was all that was needed to have an action vehicle be crafted in which she’d play the lead.
In The Bodyguard Jingjing’s ex-SWAT team member turned quiet fish monger is hyped up to gratuitous levels – multiple martial arts champion, exemplary sergeant in the police force, best at what she did during her SWAT era, the list goes on. However after a 9-year-old hostage took a bullet during one of her last missions she’s now ridden with guilt – or at least, we’ll assume she is, since the breezy runtimes web movies come with have no time to spend with a character feeling sorry for themselves. So we get a minor role from Pengfei regular Ashton Chen (The Sin Trade, The Saint of Gamblers) playing the boss of a bodyguard agency, who recruits her to protect the son of a medical scientist for the 7 days leading up to a pharmaceutical merger. While initially reluctant, once she realises the payment will cover the surgery the 9-year-old needs to prevent her from becoming permanently wheelchair bound, she agrees to take the job.
Which brings me to one of my favorite quirks in the world of web movies, and one that Pengfei has been able to get away with up until this point – the fictional Southeast Asian country. The reasons why are clear this time around, with a story that includes a corrupt police force and gun fights aplenty, so it is we find ourselves in the city of Shuangta in Maualeng. I’m pretty sure The Bodyguard was shot completely in China though, with Pengfei left to raid the props room for any signage that indicates we’re in a tropical overseas location, the result of which sees shop fronts written in a random mix of Malay, Thai, and Indonesian. For added authenticity the extras consist of likely anyone who was in the vicinity of filming not of Chinese ethnicity. Basically all of the ingredients are present and accounted for to indicate we’re not in China, just another one of those infamous Southeast Asian countries where everyone speaks Mandarin.
Once Jingjing touches down in Maualeng her principal, played by Yuan Fufu (The Butcher’s Blade, The Rescue), is (as expected) unimpressed by the prospect of being protected by a woman, but thankfully it turns out the entirety of the staff who tend to the mansion he resides in are actually contracted assassins. The result is a one (two if you count Fufu’s limited usefulness) versus nine scrap as the suited and booted butlers of the house become determined to take out Fufu, while Jingjing gets to put her considerable skills to use. As a calling card action scene it’s a worthy one, with the sense of urgency palpable in the way every time Jingjing spends more than a second taking out one attacker, it means another has had the opportunity to bypass her and get their hands on Fufu. Bodies are thrown into inanimate objects, knives are plunged into hands, and bottles are smashed over heads. It’s a lot of fun.
The scene essentially establishes The Bodyguard as an 85-minute chase flick, as Jingjing and Fufu go on the run from both the nefarious villains who want to get their hands on the latest medical research (it’s never really mentioned for what), and a corrupt police force who are in the pocket of the hidden villain. It’s a structure that gives Pengfei’s regular action team – action directors Wei Zhang (Eye for an Eye) and Jian Shi (Black Storm) along with fight choreographer Yi Wang (Curbing Violence) – plenty of opportunities to do what they do best. Despite Ashton Chen’s limited screentime the chance isn’t wasted for him to throwdown against Jingjing (under the classic guise of him testing her skills before offering the job), however much like Jingjing’s bathroom fight turned out to be a scene stealer in Wings of Dread, here a similar scenario comes close to playing out, with a standout action scene not involving Jingjing at all.
Chunyu Shanshan (Unknown, Dragon Hunting King) is onboard as one of the few non-corrupt cops, and while escorting Fufu to a safehouse in an SUV, it becomes clear the 3 other cops riding along with them are in the pockets of the bad guys. What follows is an in-car brawl that very much feels like it’s paying homage to the in-car fight from The Raid 2, but does enough in terms of originality to stand on its own, with the close quarters nature again highlighting Pengfei’s reputation for filming action in confined spaces. When given a broader canvas to work with though it feels like the action may have been slightly over ambitious, with one scene in particular that sees Jingjing facing off against a small army of knife wielding lackeys not quite hitting the mark. The main issue is the sheer number of attacker’s, which often leaves many of them lingering on the periphery without much to do, removing the sense of danger. Sometimes less is more.
Thankfully The Bodyguard comes with a couple of villainous MVP’s, with Xing Yang getting to channel the same livewire energy that made her so much fun in Blind War, here decked out as a lollipop sucking, school uniform wearing, assault rifle totting psychopath (the latter element no doubt down to her popularity in the previous years The King of Sniper: Assassination). Her and Jingjing get to go at it twice, with their confrontation in the finale seeing Jingjing armed with a knuckle duster, and Yang with a rifle scope that she utilises as a makeshift baton. Their throwdown makes for an enjoyable throwback to the Girls with Guns era when the likes of Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima would regularly face off against each other, and doesn’t disappoint.
The Bodyguard is after all a Qin Pengfei movie though, and as such it wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from Liu Fengchao (Fight Against Evil 2, Eye for an Eye 2). I mentioned in my review for Curbing Violence how “in all the Pengfei movies I’ve seen so far Fengchao turns up as a pre-final boss opponent”, so it gave me great joy to see him finally enjoy final boss status here. I was even happier that his considerable martial arts talents are respected, as for all intents and purposes he wipes the floor with Jingjing, leading the fight to eventually segue into a three on one as she’s joined by Fufu and Shanshan to take him down. It reminded me a little of the way Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue and Jaycee Chan had to team up to take down Wu Jing in the finale of 2007s’s Invisible Target, particularly how Fengchao barely breaks a sweat during the whole fight. Needless to say when he’s eventually overcome, it feels well earned.
Much like Curbing Violence contained a cameo from Xie Miao as his character from the Fight Against Evil trilogy, in The Bodyguard we get to see Curbing Violence play it forward with a final scene cameo from Jiang Luxia, playing the same character from her headlining outing under Pengfei. Needless to say the prospect of a bodyguard team-up as a future sequel is definitely one that would be worth clocking in for. While Pengfei’s Girls with Guns revival doesn’t quite hit the heights of his best work, it still offers up 85 minutes of worthy entertainment, and for the discerning action fans amongst us, that should be more than enough.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10
