Prisoner of War

Scott Adkins is, undoubtedly, one of the top five (5) best martial arts movie stars in the world today. He has the distinction of not just being a great martial artist, but a formidable actor, as well. Prisoner of War, a World War II martial arts action film gives Adkins the opportunity to have both fully on display. This film has great drama and martial arts action.

The story of Prisoner of War is set in 1942 during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. This occupation was the subject of one of the most notable and brutal demonstrations of the Japanese wartime cruelty, the Bataan Death March. In this act of cruelty American, British, and Philippine Prisoners of War were made to walk sixty-five (65) miles from one prison camp to another. Many soldiers died in this atrocity.

Adkins is a British soldier captured and imprisoned by the Japanese. He is not just an ordinary prisoner. He is skilled in the Japanese "art of the Empty Hand", as well as being proficient with a Samurai Sword. During this period it was considered forbidden for Asian practitioners to teach their respective martial arts to Westerners. This theme carried through the 1960's, when Bruce Lee was widely criticized for his teaching of the Chinese art of Kung Fu to Westerners.

His fighting skills makes him the subject of numerous, cruel, and deadly face offs at the hands of the Prison Camp's General, played adeptly by Peter Shinkoda. There is a race against time as Adkins fights to stay alive, and his fellow prisoners to notify the outside world of their existence in this cruel internment camp.

Adkins wrote, produced, and stars in this film.

The film smartly is set in one basic location; the prison camp. This provides a great setting for the telling of this dramatic story in a cost effective way. The film is small, but it doesn't seem that way. This is in part because of smart Directing by veteran film actor and tough guy, Louis Mandylor. Mandylor is a good character actor who also seems to have some chops as a Director. He may be the future Jesse V. Johnson, someone I am sure who has influenced his filmmaking style greatly.

Prisoner of War has some smart resemblances to some other good films. There is a strong sense that it was influenced by another Adkins' film, Savage Dog. There are also traces of the Ip Man films in this one. While they have influenced this film, it does not seem like a knock off by any means. It stands on its now.

As for the fights and choreography, they are top notch. This film starts out with an exciting martial arts fight scene and they exist throughout this action packed drama. The fights are well choreographed, well executed, and well filmed. These fight scenes include some great weapon ones. This is, certainly, a testament to Adkins' skill in this endeavor.

The supporting cast was largely unknown to me; however, they were all very good.

Prisoner of War is a great historical action and martial arts film.

The film is violent and brutal in parts.

I highly recommend Prisoner of War.

Ever since i saw him in Undisputed 2, i have been watching pretty much any movies he star in. I consider myself a Scott Adkins big fan. So when i heard about this movie, i was really hyped. Grabbed some beers, and was ready for an old school martial art extravaganza. Sadly i didn't connect much with the story and the fights, while competent, never really griped me.

The movie has a fun intro but it is set several years after the events of the actual movie. Of course there is a bit of "guys waiting their turn to engage" trope but otherwise its what you would expect from a movie like this. Then you get taken back and the actual story of the movie start with little introduction. James Wright (Scott Adkins) plane is shot down and he get captured.

My biggest issue is the movie then become more of a war movie than a martial art one. Yes there is several fight scenes, but its too often random Japanese soldiers with zero personalities doing 3 on 1 fights against Adkins just for the sake of aknowledging we watching a Scott Adkins movie.

You never get the exitement, or the feeling of anticipation, for him to overcome the next fight or next vilain if you prefer. Normally you would expect the next opponent to be bigger, badder and be more of a struggle, but its not the case. The movie kinda even pull a "switcharoo" on this. Its like it want you to care more about "The Great Escape" part.

While the side characters who are also POW do have some personalities and distinctive looks, i never really cared for any of them. I think this is probably my biggest issue with the movie as a whole, i didn't care much about the characters and the main vilain seem to switch back and forth between cruel and evil to honorable.

Overall its not a bad movie or anything. If you like Scott Adkins you should find entertainement in it. I did to a degree. I didn't "dislike" the movie. But i guess i was expecting this movie to be more of an 8 and it turned out more of a 6.5/10.

That said, i do think the movie was made on a very small budget, so they still managed to make something decent with what they got.

I am gonna round it up to a 7 by IMDB's notation system. I actually enjoyed it more than several movies i gave a 7. But i think because my hype was much higher, i felt disapointement more than if i watched a random movie i had no expectations for.

At least Scott Adkins seem to pump out these low budget martial arts/action movies quite frequently, so its fine if i don't absolutely love them all. Ill be looking for the next one.

Old fashion adventure movies are getting back to the trend!! Special effects are hilarious and the plots even more! But we'll all agree that a hilarious movie will be always worth a visit to our vintage comic movies.

Very enjoyable at the beginning for the scripts most less when it comes to true meaning.

Prisoner of War is a refreshing entry in Scott Adkins' filmography-one that blends martial arts action with the grit of a World War II survival story. Adkins plays a British POW forced into brutal fights against Japanese soldiers determined to break his spirit, all while plotting to escape the camp.

The movie feels like a clever genre mash-up: part The Great Escape, part martial arts tournament film, and part survival drama. It works because it doesn't get lost in the crowd of generic action flicks-there simply aren't many (if any) World War II tournament-style prison escape movies out there. That uniqueness alone makes it stand out.

What really sells the film is its solid storytelling. The objectives are clear, the characters are compelling, and the stakes feel personal. It's not just another flashy martial arts showcase-it's a down-and-dirty survival tale, with echoes of The Deer Hunter's intensity and the grit of Bridge on the River Kwai, but scaled to fit the kind of stripped-down storytelling that suits Adkins' best work.

The action is thoughtfully staged, with wide takes that let you appreciate the choreography. When Adkins faces multiple opponents, it feels grounded and believable rather than over-the-top. At the same time, the emotional hooks run deep-particularly the rivalry between Adkins' character and the Japanese camp commander, which gives the fights weight beyond just physical spectacle.

Ultimately, Prisoner of War is one of the stronger Scott Adkins vehicles in recent years. It balances genre-blending with tight, impactful storytelling, making it not just one of the best Adkins films but also one of the strongest direct-to-video action releases of the year.

Scott Adkins wrote the story himself - it's a good one. What you can see in the movie is another part of him you'll rarely see - that he can indeed act not only as an action badass, but as a different kind of character. True, he is a fighting machine here as well, but I hope I made my point clear, because "Prisoner of War" has a bit of drama, a bit of action, a bit of survival. Whether it's historically accurate, as some argue in their reviews - there isn't much here for historical accuracy.

The movie gets a star more, because there was no DEI here in any aspect: blacks or characters with *exual deviations. I don't see any reason why it can be ranked with something like the usual 4 to 5 stars most of his action movies get - true, they are simple and rely solely on the greatness of his skills, but it's not the case with this one and Scott deserves different roles, because he can fit.

It is a slow movie, there is no clarity of why the people are in that camp and eventually get moved to another, nor why Scott's character was treated this way, so this could be seen as a weaker spot, but not that weak, because at the end of the day - it is a prison camp in Japan and they are weird (not in a positive way, or at least not always) people.