Kill Zone [DVD] [2005]

'Kill Zone' is a martial arts crime-action movie, which had a theatrical release in Hong Kong in 2005 and Direct-to-DVD releases both in the UK and America. On its release, the movie was a box-office hit and critically acclaimed, hailed as a return to the classics of Hong Kong action cinema.

The lead actors in the movie are as follows, Sammo Hung (starred in Wheels on Meals, Project A & Dragons Forever), Donnie Yen (starred in Ip Man, Flashpoint & Dragon Tiger Gate) and Simon Yam (starred in Election 1 and 2).

The movie is known in Hong Kong as 'SPL: Sha Po Lang', which is short for three stars in Chinese astrology. 'Sha' means Seven Killings and is the Power Star referring to Sammo Hung, 'Po' means Army Breaker and is the Ruinous Star referring to Donnie Yen and 'Lang' means Greedy Wolf and is the Flirting Star referring to Simon Yam.

The movie tells the story of Detective Chan (Simon Yam) who resorts to illegal methods to bring down Wong Po (Sammo Hung) who is a fierce triad boss. During this time Detective Ma Kwun (Donnie Yen) joins Chan's squad as a replacement for Chan who is retiring soon.

'Kill Zone' has a straight forward story that we as an audience have seen so many times before, this however is a flaw that does not take away anything from this entertainer. What makes this movie different is the jaw-dropping action sequences, slick camera work, cool background music and the tense face-off between the heavyweights of Hong Kong cinema, Hung and Yen. The movie is also character driven when it needs to be and adds a touch of emotion, making it more than an action feature.

The first half of the movie is all about the perfect build up of tension between the good guys and the bad guys. Once this has been accomplished we as an audience witness an explosion of adrenaline filled action. The movie then climaxes with a shock ending that I never saw coming, I was left GOBSMACKED, even long after the end credits had finished.

The veteran Sammo Hung (actor/action choreographer/director) performs brilliantly as the ruthless villain. It is unbeleivable to see how flexible and agile he is in the action scenes, taking his heavy build. Donnie Yen is cool as ice in the movie and steals the show from everyone when it comes to martial-arts action. What I noticed, when I saw him fight was his raging facial expressions, which got my heart-thumping. Simon Yam is competent. Wu Jing plays a deadly assassin who strictly does his talking via fighting and does he fight.

The action choreography is directed by Yen who comes up with some fresh ideas making the actions sequences real and phenomenal. Yen deservedly won the 'Best Action Choreography' award at the 2006 Hong Kong Film Awards. He achieved this by using mixed martial arts in the scenes, making them fresh and heart pounding. There are two back-to-back fights in the end and they are two of the finest martial-art scenes ever filmed. The first one is in an alleyway between Yen and Jing (watched it over and over numerous times) and the second one, which is real as it gets, is between Hung and Yen. Both scenes, which were allegedly improvised are outstanding and a treat to watch. Overall, intense scenes that pack a punch.

The first-rate direction is provided by the extremely talented Wilson Yip who specializes in complete martial-arts action entertainers, which includes the cracking Flashpoint, the enjoyable Dragon Tiger Gate and the fantastic Ip Man. All of these movies star the directors favourite, Donnie Yen. Every actor has one director who can bring out the best in them, in Yens case, it's Yip.

The background music score, which is provided by Ken Chan and Chan Kwong-Wing is amazing and gets you in the mood for the furious paced action. The music, especially in the Yen and Jing fight was fantastic. The cinematography is stylised and is provided by Lam Wah-Chuen.

The picture and sound quality of the DVD is excellent. The language options in the DVD are Cantonese and English. The quality of the English dubbing is average. I personally prefer watching the movie in the original language with English subtitles. The commentary provided by Bey Logan is insightful and the interviews of the lead actors in the special features are enjoyable.

'Kill Zone' is slick, stylish and gritty cinema that is a must-watch for action fans.

After some excess hyping of the film (more well known as "Sha Po Lang") I thought that we are going to get a movie that has some subtle Hong Kong 'hokey' feel to it and some cool fights. I was quite right.

The plot in Kill zone is gritty and has almost hauntingly isolated feel about it; while there is enough character development here, I felt that it wasn't the main point in the film. In the end, it's your less ordinary cop movie with some great american night cinematography (I love it) and some cool plot twists. Simon Yam is a great actor and seeing him here just act was a nice move. Music fitted the mood very well as well. A watchable movie in it's own right, but nothing I'd watch up from scratch anyday.

Then the action. Much of this was hyped by it's collaboration with action aficionados/veterans like Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung and a wushu protege Wu Jing (aka Jackie Wu). There is not a lot of it, but what's there is spectacular. Some short showcases from ever so cool Donnie Yen are a treat as always, yet I think that it's the bad guys that still manage to steal the show somewhat; Sammo has some real charisma here and he can move very well. Wu Jin is a tour de force with his trusty killer knife. A great part from him as well as a psychopathic killer.

The real beef comes towards the end, when Donnie and Wu Jin duke it out at an alley at night. Donnie swings a metal baton against Wu Jin and it's a four minute spectacle that has to be seen to be believed. A much better fight than almost anything Tony Jaa's newer films have in terms of intricate choreography. Everything is excellent from editing to camerawork. One of the best and most mesmerizing fight scenes of the decade by far.

The final encounter with Donnie and Sammo is expectedly very good as well, with some UFC-style ground fighting and brutal thwows. Donnie even seems to have perfected his spectacular triple side jump kick, of which seeing was easily worth the price of the movie alone. Hwang Jang Lee would have been proud.

I was satisfied. The movie is OK like i said, yet the fighting and things based on it worked great. Less quantity, great quality. Let's hope that contemporary Hong Kong cinema does not die, when they still have skills to produce action with some real soul in it. As Donnie Yen said in an interview, HK people still do the best in choreography department.

If you're into lightning fast martial arts combined with organized crime fighting, this one is sure to entertain you. You can't help marvelling over the complex fighting scenes and how they were done. This movie does not break any ground story-wise though, it's pretty run-of the mill in that regard. Yet, there is definitely enough story there to support the martial arts wizardry, and the actors are just impressive, whether they speak or are eloquently silent.