A sequel by name only to the hit Donnie Yen action film SPL, with Jing Wu, the knife assassin in the original, taking the lead role as an undercover cop who gets betrayed and thrown into a Thai slammer where he teams up with kickboxer Tony Jaa. The convoluted plot involves a human organ syndicate and all manner of contrivances, including that age old plot device of having a young daughter needing an organ transplant badly to gain audience sympathy .
Unfortunately, ramping up the melodramatic content doesn't have the desired "epic" effect, as the leads are mainly not dramatic actors. So we are all left waiting almost an hour before the first major setpiece (a free for all brawl in a prison) arrives. After that, it's a pretty long slog until "The final confrontations" including a two on one fight between Wu, Tony Jaa and the chief baddie , and a prelude fight with a new knife assassin; these action sequences are superbly executed and extremely satisfactory.
The movie runs at 2 hours and is a full 30 minutes longer than the original, and all that melodrama just bogs down the action. It is still a pretty good movie, but although the action beats are similar to the original, this sequel doesn't hold a candle to the original SPL, or "Flashpoint".
Unfortunately, ramping up the melodramatic content doesn't have the desired "epic" effect, as the leads are mainly not dramatic actors. So we are all left waiting almost an hour before the first major setpiece (a free for all brawl in a prison) arrives. After that, it's a pretty long slog until "The final confrontations" including a two on one fight between Wu, Tony Jaa and the chief baddie , and a prelude fight with a new knife assassin; these action sequences are superbly executed and extremely satisfactory.
The movie runs at 2 hours and is a full 30 minutes longer than the original, and all that melodrama just bogs down the action. It is still a pretty good movie, but although the action beats are similar to the original, this sequel doesn't hold a candle to the original SPL, or "Flashpoint".