SPL: Kill Zone

What do you get when you pair two martial arts legends against each other, throw in a dark, gripping, sadistic story and a boat-load of action? Well, that's simple: you get one of the best Hong Kong action flicks of recent memory. "SPL" brings it all back home and it does in violent fashion. Donnie Yen leads a cast that also includes Sammo Hung, Simon Yam and Wu Jing. I loved everything about this movie. I thought all the actors were great. I thought the story was good. The action was just brilliant! Donnie Yen's fight choreography is some of the best work he's ever done (check out the alley fight scene against Wu Jing). He mixes traditional kung fu with a little UFC grappling which I thought was pretty cool. Seeing Donnie and Sammo face off for the very first time was quite astonishing. Some of you may agree, some might not, but I think Donnie Yen is the most underrated action actors of them all. I love Jackie Chan and Jet Li, but they're like Van Damme and Seagal. They play the same character in every film. Donnie, on the other hand, is a much more versatile actor who's willing to play supporting roles or even villainous roles. It's really a shame that he can't get the Hollywood leading roles that often go to Jackie or Jet. But that could change soon. In the mean time, check this movie out! You'll love it.

This is a low budget movie about good intentioned cops taking the law into their own hands to take out the bad guys. With some kung-fu fighting mixed in. When it came to the cops trying to frame and wipe out the bad guys, it just wasn't all that interesting. Nor was it all that entertaining to watch. In another words it just wasn't one of the great Hong Kong crime syndicate movie or anything like that. So I just wanted to get to the fight scenes. Which is very very few in this movie. There is two main things that stands out about this movie. The first, is the fight between Donnie Yen and Wu Jing. The second is the ending, which I just didn't expect. Besides that this is a watchable flick, but not really a stand out movie.

6/10

Definitely nihilistic and gritty Sha Po Lang is a good mix of cop drama and action film. I thought the direction was was quite nice although it seemed inconsistent, sometimes wandering into "art film" territory. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but I don't know that it worked 100%. Overall I thought the movie was 'alright'. The plot was seriously stretched thin, you don't really get into the characters or care much for them; Audience members laughed at scenes that were supposed to be touching or sad but every criticism I could lay at the movies feet is fairly much washed away by the fight scenes.

Donnie yen did a spectacular job with the choreography and MMA fans will be glad to know there is an energetic mix of all types of fighting styles including Jiu Jitsu complete with take downs and arm-bars. One of the main fight sequences is the most spectacular upon first viewing and then more-so on reflection as you find out that Donnie Yen and Wu Jing had no rehearsal and no direction; simply, they were told to "go for it". To this point, the baton that yen wields in this fight scene was replaced three times as it was broken on Wu Jing's head while filming.

Sammo is fantastic and I still marvel at how he moves at his age. I've always been a fan of Donnie Yen and this is definitely a great fighting film for him. Wu Jing is a relative unknown but trained in the same opera company as Jacky Chan and Sammo Hung,being taught by Wo Ping. during the Q&A, Wu Jing said his next film will likely be a prequel to Sha Po Lang.

I took a photo of the stage assembly and thought I would include it here if anyone wants to see it. They were exceptional and patient at answering questions. even the slightly embarrassing ones.

http://virtuafighter.ca/downloads/SPL01.jpg

left to right: Translator for Wilson Yip, Wilson yip, Announcer guy, Sammo hung, Wu Jing, translator for Wu Jing.

I love eastern cinema. Be it Hong Action movie or quite a few of the recent South Korean efforts (and of course Kitano). Since Tony Jaa came onto the screen (and therefor into many peoples lives), pure action movies do have a difficult stand. Ong Bak (the first one) set a new bar concerning action scenes. They even set the bar higher with Tom Yum Goong. Story-wise on the other hand, both those movies had not that much to offer.

And the same can be applied here. Though the movie tries to have a coherent story, it never got me involved into anything. But the action is more than decent (even when compared to the Jaa-Mayhem). So watch this for the action and try not to mind the story too much.

Inspector Ma Kwun (Donnie Yen) must make some difficult decisions when he discovers that Chan (Simon Yam), the police detective he is about to replace, and his loyal men have been bending the law in order to convict ruthless gangland boss Wong Po (Sammo Hung).

Donnie Yen first smashed his way onto my screen over twenty years ago in the excellent Hong Kong fight-fests In the Line of Duty 4 and Tiger Cage II; sadly, subsequent roles in some less than memorable films saw him slowly slipping off my radar during the 90s (with only Iron Monkey making any lasting impression on me). However, having just seen S.P.L. (AKA Kill Zone), a powerful crime drama enlivened by some amazingly brutal action, I'll be sure to track his every move from now on.

Admittedly, with both Yen and Hung on board, I would have loved to have seen a little more fight action, but I found the story compelling enough to hold my attention until the inevitable bad guys/good guy showdown, at which point all hell breaks loose and kung fu fans finally get to enjoy some blisteringly fast and bloody battles. Also serving to make S.P.L. slightly more memorable than your average Hong Kong cop drama are the inclusion of a really loathsome assassin (played by Jacky Wu) and writer/director Wilson Yip's relentlessly grim approach which offers little hope for any of the characters and culminates in a real downer of an ending that left me speechless.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.