Brief Story Line
Some time after the events of the first season, Kai Jin (Iko Uwais - Stuber, The Night Comes for Us etc) together with Lu Xin (Lewis Tan - Mortal Kombat 2021, Into the Badlands TV series etc) and Tommy Wah (Lawrence Kao) went to Bangkok to search for clues on who murdered one of their own.
During their investigation, Tommy sought the help from his old acquaintance Preeya (Francesca Corney). Things got complicated when the person responsible was also being chased by Interpol led by Agent Zulu (Pearl Thusi - Queen Sono TV series etc).
So what was actually the reason for the murder? Find them all in this supernatural martial arts movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Even though I said that I immediately watch this film without finding out the synopsis, there was always a bit of skepticism on my part as I was not that big of fan of the series. In fact, I always thought the series was already cancelled as there was no information on it (or perhaps I did not check it out regularly). Anyway apparently my skepticism was justified as I did not enjoy this movie.
First of all, the movie started with something that tried too hard to be spectacular with very brief context which did not give any sense of personal attachment (likely due to the important scene was not shown as the producers could not get the cast involved). And then there was a very very strong B movie feel which was only enhanced by some of the cast whose acting were not convincing (read: bad). Plus there were too many songs that felt out of place and sadly only made the movie felt like a music video clip with few people fighting off each other.
The story itself was the average revenge plot with a standard twist. It did not bother me too much as I did not expect anything fancy anyway, especially since it was not executed well enough in the series. To me, the only good thing was the fight scenes as some of them were pretty good (like the ones in the hotel or in their hide out). Except that fight in the finale involving Kai Jin, Lu Xin and a bunch of bad guys which was awful and looked poorly staged like during a rehearsal for a show.
In addition to the 3 original cast of Iko Uwais, Lewis Tan and Lawrence Kao, the only other character was Zan (JuJu Chan - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny). The new cast unfortunately were not that interesting. Oh there was also the appearance of Thai's actress Rhatha Phongam and a familiar face Jason Tobin (Warrior TV series etc). Btw, the movie was having 96 minutes duration including closing credits that did not have any mid or post end credit scene. There was a bit of nudity and plenty of violence which explained the rating for 18+.
There is nothing else that I can say about this movie. The only surprise that I got was despite my low expectations, it still did not satisfy me. It was pretty disappointing looking at Iko Uwais and Lewis Tan who already had few good enough portfolio to be involved in this, especially Iko who served as one of the executive producers. Before I forgot, this movie was directed by Roel Reiné who did direct 2 episodes of the series plus few other series. Now I am not that particular about too many aspects in a movie and in general I could still enjoy even if other people say it's bad. But this one really did not entertain me. So if you are looking for a follow up on the series, then you can give it a try. For me personally though, this is more than enough.
Mike's movie moments rating: 2 out of 5 stars
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