Kill Zone 2

The first thing to note about Kill Zone 2 is that Kill Zone 2 isn’t its actual title. Its actual title is SPL II: A Time for Consequences, in which “SPL” spells out to “Sha Po Lang,” a collective Chinese phrase that refers to a trio of stars used in methods of fortune telling. “Sha” signifies power, “Po” destruction, “Lang” lust—but you’d think that at least one of them would translate roughly to something along the lines of “Tony Jaa and Wu Jing kick your ass.” Kill Zone 2 isn’t about astrology, it’s about two in-shape, highly skilled martial artists teaming up to crack skulls, snap limbs and pummel leukemia.
The second thing to note about Kill Zone 2 is that it’s a sequel in name only to 2005’s Kill Zone, so if you missed that one—well, no problem. Cheang Pou-soi’s follow up to Wilson Yip’s original is its own picture, a sprawling action thriller split into three separate but interconnected plotlines. In plot A, Chatchai (Jaa), a guard working at a Thai prison, struggles to care for his young and endlessly precious daughter, who is in dire need of a bone marrow transplant. She’s the only thing that keeps him from piping up about the naked corruption and shocking brutality he is witness to every day at the office. In plot B, undercover Hong Kong cop-cum-junkie Kit (Jing) is in way too deep with a black market organ ring run by Hung (Louis Koo), who by chance happens to be the star of the film’s C plot.
Like Chatchai’s daughter, Hung is struggling through terminal illness. He has a bum ticker, and he has to have heart replacement surgery to stay alive. (He’s kinda like the Tin Man, except he kidnaps people and butchers them for their organs.) Kill Zone 2 sets these men on an intercontinental collision course staged through exaggerated emotion. Call it melodramatic. Call it operatic. You could also just call it a Hong Kong action flick and save yourself the time. Grandeur is a hallmark of great Hong Kong action cinema, and Kill Zone 2 paints in broad brushstrokes of sentiment and sensation through use of sight and sound alike. One moment you’re in awe at the sounds of “Lacrimosa,” the next you’re overwhelmed by cinematographer Kenny Tse’s agile camerawork, though he puts his lens to best use in Kill Zone 2’s jaw dropping fight scenes.