Sha po lang 2 (2015)

A little misleading with Tony Jaa on the poster. He plays a prison guard whose trying to get help for his sick child, but his character is not as forefront as you'd expect, but it's all good cause Jaa brings the heat.

Most of Jaa's movies are designed like video games, with Jaa fighting a few random henchmen and then fighting the master of the level (sometimes more like a fighting game where Jaa fights one kung fu master, after the other). In this movie he's more dramatic than action oriented, which is why he keeps the marshal arts real basic.

But basic turns out to be good. Not brushing off what a huge fan I am of Jaa, but there is a certain gimmick he's going for in films like Ong bak as he showcases all he's capable of, but there was something about Jaa just doing the basic kicks and punches that felt more electrifying.

Plus he got to show that he has slightly a little more acting skill than we think (although the love he shows for his daughter is no different than the love he showed for the elephants in the Protector)

As for the rest of the film, it was certainly a well done crime drama. It's a very complex story filmed well and with great action sequences that keep you interested. Good watch.

Fmovies: I was super excited to watch this film after seeing the action packed trailer. Flying knees, elbows and shoot outs seem like a no brainer for any action fan. After the initial opening you will come to realize it isn't just any run of the mill martial arts film and you get a sense that they try to inject story behind the punches being thrown. The film itself is outstanding to watch but you cannot dismiss some of the flaws in storytelling, plot and pacing.

The story follows two main characters and many sub characters. Chai works as a Thai prison guard trying to support his ailing child suffering from leukemia. Kit is an undercover cop from Hong Kong investigating a black market operation of organ theft. Their paths intertwine and eventually they uncover the importance of how they need each other's help to save Chai's daughter Sa. It seems simple but how this concept is presented is a bit confusing. During the intro they focus on Chai and then switch to Kit. As you get invested in Chai's emotional desperation to help his daughter you get pulled away and presented with Kit's story and his own battle against his inner demons. Then sub plots with sub characters get their time to shine afterwards and the story loses its focus before fully developing the main characters. To make matters worse the director uses flash back sequences and the locations of Thailand and Hong Kong randomly jumps making you confused of the language change and locale. It can also be argued that Chai's character is a bit selfish as he seems only to care about saving his daughter at the expense of others. Kit's character is generally just recovering from his drug binge so neither character has a strong hold on the viewer. As a martial arts movie I generally don't take story too highly into account since your here mainly for the action but since a huge chunk of the run time focuses on plot it cannot be ignored.

The action can be brutal and some crazy wire work is involved but most of the choreography is realistic. You won't see people flying across roofs and running up walls and all the main combatants bring their A game. The fights are beautifully shot and the ending battle is one of the best I've seen. Some things that pull you away and can be quite distracting is that characters will often suffer injuries where you believe that they will be critically disabled, but those said characters will be in the next scene without any problems. It pulls away from the immersion and doesn't make sense when you knew for sure that person had died or should've died.

Kill Zone 2 also suffers from pacing issues. Some areas of the story can be very slow since they are trying to flesh out the characters. You can probably tell they didn't do a superb job of it and so for the first half of the movie you get a little action and a lot of dialogue. Then the movie starts to pick up and for the ending they kind of said eff it and threw non-stop action with very little story.

Kill Zone 2 has everything a martial arts fan can ask for. Story, top action stars and beautifully shot battles make it for a thrilling viewing experience. You just can't help but feel that this could've been a true classic if some the story plots were ironed out and connected you better with the main stars. The pacing may turn off action junkies for the first half but as the pace picks up it won't let you go.

I'll keep it short because you shouldn't be reading this you should be watching SPL 2! Like the first it has a genuinely good plot; though this time the story is much more heartfelt and intricately woven. It manages to seamlessly blend the narrative in and around action sequences that will have you battered and bruised from merely watching them! The characters are well written and superbly realised by all actors involved. It was great to see some returning characters from the first film, though it's the new characters that really breath life into this incredible sequel. Tony Jaa really shows his range as an actor in this, becoming more than just an incredible fighter. Jing Wu, Louis Koo and Zhang Jin's performances are brilliant especially Jing Wu; the co-protagonist alongside Jaa. In short; this film can stand confidently beside Ip Man, The Man From Nowhere and The Raid films (the latter being a clear inspiration for some of the scenes in SLP 2) as a modern martial arts classic! Go watch it!

Sha po lang 2 fmovies. 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.

I'm guessing a lot of hate for the movie is coming from western audience (although I'm reading Slavs like it).

First, the good news.

Hong Kong movies are infamous for mediocre and derivative stories. SPL 2 is an attempt to be more, and I think it succeeded for the most part. Was the narrative unnecessarily convoluted? A little bit, but the overall motivation somewhat justified the plot. It can feel long-winded but not insufferable.

The action is top class. Tony Jaa, Wu Jing and Zhang Jin all displayed some real top class martial arts choreography that would humiliate feeble Hollywood action sequences. The reason is, Hong Kong movie industry understands pain and violence; every hit an actor gives or receives is expressed with realism through their motion and their countenance. Every facial feature is captured so that the audience can see that our hero/villain is suffering, and we love it.

Special mention must be made to the Knife Assassin for a great knife scenes in the stairwell and his fight with Wu Jing at the hospital reception.

In fact, the best thing about SPL 2 are the bad guys. Zhang Jin is just delicious as the Chief Warden of Thai Penitentiary, portraying the final boss with great relish and panache as well as even learning Thai language to make his role more authentic. His final fight scene with both Tony Jaa and Wu Zhing, in an all white hall room with dramatic classical music playing, is masterfully executed.

Yes, I also have to mention the really good stages and locations. Scenes from the airport, the prison riot in Thailand and the Hospital are all very well built and captured. All in all the production quality here is also solid.

Now the not-so-good news.

The pacing could've been better. The beginning and middle of the film was devoted to plot and if it wasn't for the action scenes, it would've been completely boring. The editing and screen write could've have been more polished, considering that they had a budget of USD 23 million, but like all Hong Kong films, they never take put in the effort to make a cohesive fluid narrative.

Which is why I think many Westerners won't like this show, especially with IMDb's snobby, pretentious reviewers who think they are Roger Ebert. But screw 'em.

The show is a good Asian action film, and Asian action films are like Marvel summer blockbuster films. You want to see people kicking butt, this is well recommended.

Note: Check me out as the "Asian Movie Enthusiast" on YouTube, where I review tons of Asian movies.

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.