Kill Zone 2

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SPL 2: A Time for Consequences (2015) (Chinese Action/Drama).

Tony Jaa has been on a streak of underwhelming movies lately. I have yet to see his collaborations with Dolph Lundgren, but I can say that "Ong Bak 3" and "Tom Yum Goong 2" were not up to his previously established levels of quality martial arts action. Thankfully, he's back in form here. Wu Jing's manager wasted his talents on middling films for the past half decade, but he's back on track as well. SPL 2 is here.

I'm sorry, but you can have your Batman v. Superman movie, because Tony Jaa v. Wu Jing is every contemporary martial arts lover's dream come true . . . and it friggin' delivers! A drug-addict (Jing) and prison security guard (Jaa) try to save themselves and/or loved ones while trapped within a black market organ theft organization. This film spends quite a bit of time developing the story and characters, and is mostly successful at doing so despite a few improbable coincidences. The performances are good all-around, and both leads give what is likely the best performances of their careers. But what about the action? Well, it's very impressive and plentiful enough to satisfy. The choreography is fast and precise, with only marginal use of wires. Watching Jing and Jaa fight within the same camera frame is both orgasmic and exciting.

...i'm not a big fan of any stars of this movie. ...but...surprisingly..it was a pretty good movie... ...an excellent one probably for fans of martial arts and action movies... ...has plenty of hand to hand combat and lots of gun-play too... ...had dramatic moments which were fairly touching..loved the little girl in this movie... ...the movie has Simon Yam in it...that's a bonus for any movie... ...excellent action in the first major set-piece in the hong kong boat terminal. ...fans of action movies will not be disappointed..guaranteed.. ...fairly good watch for just movie fans too....

When I think back on Tony Jaa's movies I remember mostly "B"/"C+" movies with "A" or "A+" moments. This is his first "A" movie. A majority of his movies in the past were really bad plots that led to fights where he demonstrates his talent as a stuntman, and his fighting style, which is always really tight on his ability to cut distance and overpower his opponents using his short strikes from long distances with his ability to tough out and withstand beatings that should kill him. This fight has all that but unfortunately it seems like they traded his stunt work for CGI...go Hong Kong... they did give him a scene where he and Wu Jing get into an amazing tight out of character fight, almost like an Iko Uwais scene, just still very Jaa. There was also a lot of character development and identity in the choreography, which is nice to see. This adds to my thoughts 15 minutes in when I was thinking about the maturity in both Jaa and Wu Jing. There are no elephants or statues causing a city to get terrorized in this one, it's all about family.

I agree that there were too many coincidences in the plot to consider it great, but I still found it all interesting and well done, up until the last ten minutes. At that point you could almost see the writers cutting the ribbon. None of this is as important as the work from Jaa, Wu, and Zhang.

This is the first non period piece that I'm going to get my girlfriend to try to watch with me. A scene that I predicted at the beginning of the movie made me tear up, and I think that even though she's not as into the action as I am, she'll enjoy it.

An unrelated sequel that sees Wu Jing and Simon Yam returning in new roles. Actually "SPL 2" had a strong cast with all round solid performances. For me Louis Koo stood out as he simply oozed of creepy menace as the mastermind of the major crime syndicate in urgent need of a heart transplant that only his unwilling brother could provide, causing the ripple effect to what was to implode.

To start off I was kind of lukewarm, but steadily the characters and story, which heavy on context and definition began to grow on me and eventually come on big. There's no trying to connect the dots, as each thing is laid out in front of you in a careful, deliberate manner involving undercover police operations, organ trafficking, kidnappings, corruption and a sick little girl in need of a bone marrow donor. This leads to everything coming around 360 degrees in a real twist of fate when all these pivotal elements collide beyond their control and the usage of the action felt more in line with the story.

The action choreography on the other hand won me over from the get-go. No camera tricky, and few quick edits in what was technically flawless in the picturesque framing of the high risk stunts, bone crunching martial arts, or hyperbolic shootouts and lethal blade work. Each exhilarating set-up seemed to up the ante, although for me it peaked at the midway point with the prison riot. But still the ballistic showndown finale between Tony Jaa, Wu Jing and Zhang Jin is nothing short than spectacular including the backdrop where it takes place. In spite of some clunky story-telling, it's riveting HK action cinema

I must admit that I was somewhat excited to finally get to sit down to watch "Kill Zone 2" (aka "SPL 2: A Time For Consequences" or "Saat po long 2"). But it wasn't before 6 years after it was released that I actually got to do so.

And I will say that this 2015 movie from writers Lai-Yin Leung and Ying Wong definitely boasts a rather impressive cast ensemble, especially if you are familiar with Hong Kong and Thai cinema.

But I am getting ahead of myself here. The story was fairly good, though the movie was oddly paced. It felt like the movie was much longer than it actually turned out to be. So director Soi Cheang didn't really manage to bring the movie safely to port in a wholly satisfactory manner for me. Sure, the movie was watchable, but it just felt prolonged and somewhat losing its momentum entirely a couple of times along the way. And that reflected poorly on the movie's overall enjoyment factor. And I will say that the writers actually set out to accomplish a bit too much, because the storyline was a bit too complex and didn't always had a clear red thread throughout it.

Now, there is a good amount of action and martial arts in the movie, which in itself actually adds a good amount of enjoyment to the movie.

As I mentioned earlier, then "Kill Zone 2" definitely has a great ensemble of casted actors and actresses, with the likes of Tony Jaa, Simon Yam, Jing Wu, Jin Zhang, Ken Lo and Louis Koo. So if you are familiar with Hong Kong cinema, in particular, then you are in for a good ensemble of well-established actors here.

Ultimately, then I felt like "Kill Zone 2" failed to really deliver all that it was setting out to do. Sure, the movie is watchable, but it ultimately was killed off by the pacing of the movie and a way too cluttered storyline.

My rating of this 2015 movie settles on a very mediocre five out of ten stars.