Striking Rescue

I feel like I've used that headline so many times. If these foreign martial arts movies could better figure out the non-fight scene aspects, these movies could be great. When they don't, it's just bad.

I have massive respect for Tony Jaa as a martial artist, so I give most of his movies a shot. And while the overall fight scenes are not memorable or anything I would rewatch, the artistry on display is apparent. It's always clear, easy to see and creative.

And many of the hits are ACTUAL HITS. They'll show it in slow motion or repeat the shot from a different angle. And it's warranted because I think they really punched/kicked a guy in the face. We've seen this before in other Tony Jaa movies. They intentionally get hurt for the sake of realism in the fights.

Everything else is bad. The story is generic and useless. And the dialogue is atrocious. It feels like a direct translation instead of converting it to the way an English-speaking person would say it.

Overall the movie is not worth your time. Maybe just watch the fight scenes.

(1 viewing, 6/28/2025)

Where to begin... The whole production looks cheap, actors don't know how to act, whole storytelling is a mess. The director may have wanted to make a fast paced film but what it really became is garbage. Even the action sequence looks like it was filmed by a monk/ey. I usually enjoy Tony Jaa films and I believe this film could have been tolerable is the director had any skill or competence. Not much else to say here. The background music, the dialogue, the filmography, every single thing in this film is wrong. Like there's not one thing in this film that I could say I liked. Even India makes better and coherent action flicks than this. What happened to Chinese action films?

This one is one where you can see the end from its opening, but it's well worth your time if you enjoy other action movies.

Feels very much like old school Hollywood action film that rarely got made nowadays. Some of the special effects is a bit weak but doesn't take you out of the film.

Fighting choreography is excellent, each hit feels connected. And most importantly, no crazy jump cuts on every moves, it does have a bit too much slow motion shots in my opinion, since it mostly a repeat of a previous move that's played in normal speed.

Story is fine, as it serves the action, what more do we need really?

Terrible direction, terrible acting, terrible voice lines. Decent fighting. That's the gist of it.

Don't try to understand the plot. Don't question the character's actions. Don't listen to what they say. Don't pay attention to the plot development and pacing. Then you'll be fine. Better yet, keep your hand on the keyword to fast forward to fight scenes.

My grandma would've made a better movie with half the budget. This movie would've been better as a fighting scene montage where all characters are mute. The visual looks too good for a movie this bad.

Tony Jaa managed to salvage the movie a bit, but he can only do so much.

After his wife and daughter are brutally murdered, Bai An is wrongfully accused of their murder and is on the run. His only mission is to avenge their death by killing the man responsible and all the clues point at He Yinghao, a top businessman. He Ting is his daughter and he has hired Wu Zheng as her protector. There is an attempt at kidnapping both He Yinghao and He Ting which is thwarted by Bai An rescuing He Ting. Now they two team up to find who kidnapped He Yinghao. One wants to kill him and the daughter wants to save her father. Who is really behind the kidnapping and is He Yinghao truly responsible for Bai An's loss, forms rest of the story.

Striking Rescue with it's basic storyline has efforts put in to narrate a gripping tale. It is a vehicle to glorify Tony Jaa, something which has been missing for a long time. It's an out and out Tony Jaa action film, focused on his stunts and how ably he can pull off his moves. The character arc of every other character gets sacrificed as there is simply no need for them to thrive. Wu Zheng is just like Bai An and that's it. As the climax is all about Tony Jaa, Wu Zheng gets sidelined. The screenplay and the twists are completely predictable. At this age, one cannot expect Tony Jaa to pull off Tom-Yum-Goong and the English dialogues were indeed painful. Overall, it's solely for Tony Jaa fans and has nothing worthwhile to offer for others.