by Ed Travis
Over a decade after the first film’s release, Kill Zone 2 does a flying double knee drop onto big screens and VOD platforms here in the US. The wait was worth it.
Though not a direct sequel, Kill Zone 2 honors the tradition of the first film in several ways. For one thing, there’s a massive star caliber going on with this franchise. The first film saw Donnie Yen square off against the immortal Sammo Hung. This one pairs Thai action superstar Tony Jaa with up and coming Hong Kong leading man Wu Jing, who actually made a major impression on audiences in Kill Zone (while not playing the same character between the two films). Also featured in both films, and playing different characters, is legendary Hong Kong crime film staple Simon Yam. On top of some shared cast, and pairing huge stars, the films seem to have a thematic similarity as well. Both are hard boiled cop and criminal stories featuring life or death stakes and the ticking timebomb of terminal illness diagnoses to boot.
To be honest, the Hong Kong film scene has been fairly lackluster in more recent years, having dropped off significantly from the glory days of John Woo and Chow Yun Fat. These days I’m more accustomed to seeing watered down and censored Chinese fare which has been heavily sanitized by the nationalistic government. But the Kill Zone films are pretty hard-R, which is refreshing. There’s a darkness to the Kill Zone 2 plot, which involves an organ harvesting and human trafficking operation being run out of a prison, and a villain who’s willing to cut out his own brother’s heart as a replacement for his failing one, all of which feels very inspired by some of the dark and twisted crime films coming out of Korea. Add to that the swagger of Hong Kong action and the earnestness and knees and elbows of Jaa’s Thai films, and you’ve got a wonderfully multi-ethnic feeling film that harkens back to some of Hong Kong’s better days.
Jaa’s presence doesn’t feel forced, and in fact the language differences between our main heroes becomes an important part of the drama and thrills of the film. With the emotional stakes ramped up to one point twenty one gigawatts, the film is explosive with its action and generous with its melodrama. Jaa’s daughter has a terminal illness and needs a willing donor to survive. Louis Koo (playing “Obvious Villain”) is a crime boss willing to have his own brother killed in order to use his heart as they both have an extremely rare blood type. Meanwhile an undercover cop’s cover has been blown and he’s tossed into a Thai prison and forced into desperation by his circumstances. Wu Jing handles leading man status as the cop stuck in prison in a way that translates much better to my Western sensibilities than his earlier actioner Wolf Warrior, which didn’t really come together. While Koo is very much the Shakespearean villain of the film, Jin Zhang makes a killer impression as the dapper and ruthless prison warden using the cover of the facility as a front for a much darker operation.
All those character and story beats really do make a difference and create a memorable and stylish story upon which to build killer action set pieces. But it’s those action set pieces that are the true backbone of the film. Pou-Soi Cheang (whose previous directorial work I am unfamiliar with despite having directed over a dozen features) shines as an action director here, bringing the audience exactly what they are looking for. Unsurprisingly, Jaa and Jing’s characters team up in desperation to rescue daughters and clear names, respectively. They’ll square off against one another in a shocking one-on-one early in the film, Zhang demonstrates his ferocity in a hugely ambitious prison riot sequence featuring top notch camera work, and the final showdown doesn’t disappoint either. These kinetic action sequences can’t be done justice in a written review, but the good news is that they really do deliver the goods.
Black market organ donations, desperate circumstances, sweaty text messaging, and father/daughter relationships permeate Kill Zone 2, delivering drama worthy of the very best international soap operas. Jaa brings his strongest A game in ages and Koo and Jing further cement their places in the Chinese A list. Zhang manages to distinguish himself among these better known stars, and director Cheang ensures that Kill Zone becomes a must see franchise, carrying on the awesome star power and flying fists of the first film and improving on that formula with one of the better Hong Kong fight films in recent memory.
And I’m Out.
Kill Zone 2 hit theaters on May 13th and is currently available on VOD from Well Go USA