I love it when Donnie Yen gives us a hint of promise and delivers!
The movie starts at a police office where a bloodied up man named Hahou Mo (Donnie Yen) walks in a sits down in front of two officers. He then says “I killed people” and we’re off!
It sets a pace and we get little pumped up for this cool Kung Fu film. Donnie’s character is thrown in jail and seems to be doing pretty well in there. But when a murderer is reported as getting around killing Kung Fu masters with his own Kung Fu (no guns, etc) Mo does what he can to help with the investigation.
So naturally Mo is let out on bail, and before long they identify this Kung Fu killer (played by Baoquang Wang) and we go on a long chase to track this killer down and stop him from killing more people – something they fail at for some time….
The Kung Fu Killer!
So as the film progresses and unwraps very nicely, giving us pieces of information to keep the plot interesting, we see flashbacks of the Kung Fu killer fighting martial arts masters and beating them with his superior skill.
It’s a sort sick “martial arts for murder” ideal that the killer follows, and Donnie’s character Mo seems to be one step behind for sometime but as things unravel we learn that Mo had some contact before all of this happened and we learnt hat he is in fact the main target of the killer.
Donnie carries his presence pretty well and Wang does a good job playing the twisted killer and the two have a good hero/villain chemistry – at least one that seems to be better then what they had in Iceman Pt 1. It works pretty naturally and supports the action well.
The Action & Martial Arts
This what you’re really interested in isn’t it?
The quality is getting better again – the overall feel of the fights and action sequences are are starting to remind more of the Killzone/Flash Point days – but still not quite at that level.
The sounds effects are loud and impactful – bringing a harder edge to the action as every hit lands with a big ‘pow’. This surprisingly does a lot of good for the how the fights are perceived assisting the choreogrpahy, which also manages to match a good level of speed and intensity.
There’s nothing particularly unique or outstanding about the fights themselves, but they are entertaining and spread nicely throughout the film, featuring guys like Xing Yu, Louis Fan and others.
The best of the action is left for last as we see hero and villain fight it out on a busy freeway. With the two men fighting with Bamboo sticks, darting between cars, rolling under moving trucks and keeping the tension high, it’s a good way to finish off a pretty decent Donnie Yen film.
Trvial Note: Keep an eye out for an elderly Raymond Chow in this movie.
Overall?
Dead smack in the middle. Not one of Yen’s best, far from his worst but still carries a level of quality his films are known for. A Standard film from the man known for cutting edge martial arts action. I’ll be watching it again 🙂
