![]() Pou- Soi Cheang's Kill Zone 2 is an action packed, high octane crime thriller that delivers not only on excitment, but also thematically, being a surprisingly well-designed examination of the fine line that can exist between good vs evil, when ones own loved ones are threatened. Without going into plot details, Kill Zone 2 is the story of that at first feels very convoluted, offering up a host of character perspectives early one with very little explanation. There is Kit, a Hong Kong cop caught deep undercover, his uncle, Wah, who feels responsible for his nephew's newfound incarceration by the hands of the crime syndicate he was attempting to bring down, and lastly Chai, a Thai Prison guard, whose daugher desperately needs a bone morrow transplant after being diagnosed with leukemia. While Kit and Wah are attempting to bring down Mr. Hung, the leader of a major crime syndicate, Chai is a man caught in the middle of this conflict. The narrative becomes more straight-forward as the film progresses, but that is also when the film becomes fascinating thematically, with nearly every character in this film, good and bad, being pulled in some capacity by allegiances to their own family. Wah is attempting to save his nephew, while Chai wishes to help cure his dying daugher, and the contrast between their paths and that of Mr Hung, the antagonist, is a fascinating one when considering he is dying himself from a bad heart. While the protagonist characters wish to save their family members, Mr Hong seeks to destroy his brother, taking his good heart in a utterly selfish attempt to keep himself alive. With Chai's daughter's death hanging in the balance, Killzone 2 sees this character's morality tested, as Mr Hung attempts to pit Chai and Kit against each other due to their outstanding allegiances to their family. Killzone displays the difference between good and evil, with Chai unwilling to cause death or destruction for the sake of his daughter's life, a man unwilling to go to same level as people such as Mr. Hung who selfishly kill for personal reasons. Killzone is a story of hope and faith in this regard, as Chai must not do something amoral for the sake of his daughter, realizing that going against his own moral code to do so would make him no differnent than Mr Hung, as this type of action would be going against his personal beliefs centered around hope and having faith. For those uninterested in the film's more thematic intentions set around morality, fate, and hope, Kill Zone 2 best attribute still remains it's engrossing set pieces. Featuring kinetic cinematography and a camera that seems to never stop moving, the filmmakers have created a grand orchestra of carnage and violence, with action choreography that is brutal and utterly unpredictable in the framework of it's fight sequences. Killzone 2 is a brutal and violent crime epic that is sure to appease fans of the Hong Kong action genre, but what stood out to me is the film's interesting thematically centered around morality and hope, with the film capturing just how little control humanity truly has over life.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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