That plot summary sounds horrible. I'll maybe catch this on Netflix for the fights but will pretend it is a totally unrelated movie (which it seems to be anyway).

http://www.dddhouse.com/v3/product_d...roductID=14985

Will be released on Blu-Ray in Hong Kong October 8th.

$18.72 + shipping at dddhouse.com

http://www.yesasia.com/us/1045289235-0-0-0-en/info.html

YesAsia is a little more expensive. $23.49 + shipping. Free shipping if you buy $39 of stuff or more.



http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rev...quences-801496

The Hollywood Reporter gave it a good review back in June.

Man, I'm glad dddhouse is still around, I imported my first DVDs from them (Shaolin Soccer and God of Cookery back in '01).

Saw this at TIFF a few days back. The original is still the leaner (by almost 30 minutes), meaner show, but this one holds its own, especially thematically. It's more densely plotted, and more reliant on coincidence (or perhaps the alignment of the stars? ) to unite the two characters that most need to be brought together by film's end. The language barrier, for once in a multi-language Asian film, is handled in a logical fashion rather than just dubbing everyone into whichever language for whichever market. Jaa finally gets to broaden his acting chops in this one. The fight scenes, when they arrive, are up to the standards of the original, and tricked out with wirework here and there, mostly for emphasis. I've never understood the criticism of this technique frankly, since it's been a legitimate part of Hong Kong screen fighting since the silent days (seriously). Yes, sometimes it's a little obvious, but always has been considering the human body can only do so much and fly so far before your brain simply tells you something's not possible without assistance. Nice to see Ken Lo still getting in a few good licks, too.

Worth noting: during the fight scenes there are brief moments where a fist or a foot will fly directly at the camera lens, occasionally in slow-ish motion, before a cut delivers the blow. And the sets seem designed to have lots of stationary objects and/or extras passing between the characters and the audience as the camera swoops in all directions. Well into the end credits, I spotted several entries related to a 3D conversion. Apparently I must've been the only one to spot them, since no one in the audience brought it up during the Q&A afterwards. However, one viewer did ask if there would be an SPL 3 (answer: yes) and another asked if it would be in 3D, to which amusingly drunken producer Paco Wong excitedly pointed out that SPL 2 was released in 3D, but only in mainland China. This appeared to surprise even TIFF programmer Colin Geddes.

I know most here probably don't care about 3D, but I do, and I enjoy seeing movies that way IF they received such treatment in post or were shot 3D to begin with or, like this film, feature fight sequences clearly designed with 3D in mind. Failing that, it's always nice to have the option of a combo pack with both versions available. Knowing the film was released flat in HK, and that the upcoming HK Blu is also flat, and being hesitant to buy mainland DVDs because of censor cuts to films like this one (though in fairness, the version screened at TIFF featured a vaguely "happy" ending that seemed like it could be taken literally on the mainland or metaphorically in the rest of the world), I suspect I'll just have to do without when the time comes for a U.S. release.

On IMDB it has a 7.0 rating. Not that it means much...


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3197766/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

Thanks. I'll probably go the DDDHouse route. I don't have high hopes, but these days even a mediocre HK action flick is still superior to most decent US action films.

That's what I gave it there. A high 7, in my mind. I hovered over an 8, but that two-hour run time is something of a liability. I think if this film was made prior to every production having to kiss the ass of the mainland market, and was purely a Hong Kong-financed production from back in the glory days, it would've easily been tightened to about 90-100 minutes. Mind you, as the previous poster noted, it's still miles above many similarly-themed and budgeted U.S. action films these days.

I want to watch it for Wu Jing. I really liked what he did in the first one but he really hasn't done anything to impress me since then. Hopefully, this one does.

I broke down and bought the BD from DDDhouse....Overall, it's a decent film. I pretty much agree with Brian T's assessment of the film. Definitely could have been shorter and the choreography (at least for me) isn't as good as the original film.

Broke down and purchased this tonight off YesAsia.com. $23.49 each. They don't really have the best prices, but I figured why not.

I purchased 2 copies, 1 for a friend for Christmas and there's no tax and free shipping. If I bought it off DDDHouse, I would have to pay international shipping charges.

Just to follow up

I watched the BD for this last night. Thought it was pretty entertaining and had some good fight sequences, but it definitely wasn't as good as the 1st movie. Had the potential to be a pretty sinister crime thriller, but it relied a little too much on coincidences and pushed a more deeper story than just an action flick. Could have been edited better and tightened up. Some of the subplots were never fully explained.

Even though there was a language barrier between Wu Jing and Tony Jaa, I thought they had some pretty good scenes together.

Zhang Jin, who played the Warden in the Thai prison was IMO the highlight. He was a pretty kickass villain. And the fight choreography in his scenes was pretty amazing. I also liked that they used some of the same score from the 1st movie.

I'd give it a B-, but mainly for the fight sequences.

For the record, this is only available on BD and DVD in HK or maybe your local bootleg Chinese video store in China Town. I won't be surprised if Well Go USA or Magnet releases this at some point next year.

Watched this on a flight to Vegas (Delta has the most eclectic free movies, which included Pitch Perfect 2, SPL2, Assassination Classroom (live action), Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno, Attack on Titan Pt 1 (live action), and other various titles). It wasn't what I was expecting, but wasn't bad.

Poster for the U.S. release. Coming May 13th to theaters and on demand.




Renamed "Kill Zone 2" to tie into the American name of the 1st movie with Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen.

Trailer:

It's pretty good, actions scenes as you expect rock

But the plot has so far fetched coincidences, a bit stupid

Gee, thanks so much, Bey.

As long as they don't cut it, crop it, dub it, remix it, overlay it, or screw up the subtitles, they can put whatever they want on the box.

Well, now that he has no influence over these decisions anymore, we should hopefully see a lot less of that. Hopefully.

I remember how he defended the UK cut of Ong Bak and saying the score change was much better than the original. I guess you have to say that if you work for the company.

I still like him for doing the best ever commentaries on the HKL DVDs. The ones he did for the Bruce Lee movies were as entertaining as the movies themselves.

For anyone looking to see this in (limited) theaters the weekend of May 13th, WellGo have posted theaters that will be screening this!

http://www.wellgousa.com/theatrical/killzone-2

Are you sure those are weekend screenings? Perhaps I'm not using their site properly, but it looks like those were one-time only screenings -- dumped mid-week! -- in four U.S. and one Canadian theater. Why they chose Ottawa over Toronto is anyone's guess. At least here, they MIGHT have had a shot at attracting some folks from our massive Asian communities.

I suppose it really shows you what "In theatres and on demand" means for a lot of import movies like this one these days. An unceremonial, contractually-obligated one-day burial in as few arthouse theatres as possible, a line to justify same on a poster, and then straight to VOD which was the intent all along. Probably would've gotten a slightly more noticeable North American release if it had been handled by one of the Chinese-American companies, which usually book shows for at least a week (such as Chongqing HotPot and New York New York, which are both actually opening here this weekend).



I suppose, but he went along quite willingly as long as it meant more exposure for Bey. He's an inveterate self-promoter if nothing else (you should hear/see him pumping Crouching Tiger 2). Seeing the movies he actually makes, however, rather than the already-made ones he often "shepherded" for other distributors, gives one a much better idea of where he stands in terms of the creative process and respect for same.


I'll never deny he brought something to the table in that regard, but there were others who should have -- and could have -- brought all that and more, but Logan (and to a lesser degree Ric Meyers) too quickly positioned himself as the go-to guy and few ever questioned it like they should have.

Not sure and the release date is so far off that there are no showtimes yet. May 13th is a Friday, so who knows.

I'll probably post an update to this thread once showtimes show up.

My bad for assuming this was a mid-week dump. I was looking at April's calendar instead of May's, but I still think these tiny rep house theatrical burials seem a bit redundant when VOD is the intent all along. Still, I suppose "theatrical release" will still sound impressive on a sell sheet when they start pushing the Blu-ray and DVD.

Well Go USA is releasing this on Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital on July 19th

http://www.wellgousa.com/kill-zone-2

I finally got a chance to watch this film. As others have already mentioned, it's not as good as the first film. The plot was a bit silly but the action scenes were solid. I agree on the film being a bit too long, it tends to meander through the plot since there are so many players.

Zhang Jin and Zhang Chi were the highlights of the film for me. Though the stairway scene with Zhang Chi doesn't top Donnie Yen & Wu Jing's encounter in the first film, it's still ridiculously bad-ass.

Bump

FYI for those who haven't seen this yet, it's now available on Netflix. But, it's under the title:

"Kill Zone 2"

This is a total popcorn martial arts action movie. It's worth seeing if you're a fan of the genre.