After the daughter of a mysterious mute, Wang Wei (Xie Miao), is kidnapped by a criminal network and he receives no help from the corrupt police, Wei sets out on a rampage to find her himself.
I do not watch a lot of martial arts movies, so if you are like me, you have to accept the conventions to enjoy it. The participants of the fights sustain huge amounts of violence without being incapacitated. Wang is run over by a speeding truck but gets up and dusts himself down and one of the bad guys is repeatedly battered in the head with a sledgehammer and is fine after a little snooze! Also, events would be concluded much quicker if just one of the hundreds of expendable henchman carried a gun.
But, putting that to one side, there is a lot to enjoy in Kenji Tanigaki’s thrill ride. The fight scenes are relentless: bone crunching, bloody and breathless. There is also an undercurrent of humour, as if Tanigaki is winking at the audience, though I am not sure if he intended the English dubbed dialogue to be as funny as it often is.
Away from the fights, the plot is minimal but serviceable and Joe Taslim manages to bring some emotional depth as Navin, a journalist searching for his missing wife, who teams up with Wang.
This is frequently silly but also fast moving and extremely violent.
Rating: 7 out of 10