Kill Zone

2005 [CANTONESE]

Action / Crime / Thriller

26
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 80% · 5 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 80% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.9/10 10 13842 13.8K

martial arts neo-noir

Plot summary

Chan, an articulate senior detective nearing the end of his career, is taking care of the daughter of a witness killed by ruthless crime lord Po. Martial arts expert Ma is set to take over as head of the crime unit, replacing Chan who wants an early retirement.

Director

Wilson Yip Photo
Wilson Yip

Top cast

Donnie Yen Photo
Donnie Yen as Ma Kwan
Danny Summer Photo
Danny Summer as Kwok Tsz Sum
Wu Jing Photo
Wu Jing as Jack
Simon Yam Photo
Simon Yam as Chan Kwok Chung
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
851.32 MB
1280*714
Cantonese 2.0
NR
Subtitles cn  
24 fps
1 hr 32 min
Seeds 3
1.71 GB
1920*1072
Cantonese 5.1
NR
Subtitles cn  
24 fps
1 hr 32 min
Seeds 28

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by KineticSeoul 6 / 10

One stand out fight sequence, but besides that...

This is a low budget movie about good intentioned cops taking the law into their own hands to take out the bad guys. With some kung-fu fighting mixed in. When it came to the cops trying to frame and wipe out the bad guys, it just wasn't all that interesting. Nor was it all that entertaining to watch. In another words it just wasn't one of the great Hong Kong crime syndicate movie or anything like that. So I just wanted to get to the fight scenes. Which is very very few in this movie. There is two main things that stands out about this movie. The first, is the fight between Donnie Yen and Wu Jing. The second is the ending, which I just didn't expect. Besides that this is a watchable flick, but not really a stand out movie.6/10
Reviewed by Leofwine_draca 8 / 10

Action thriller with a dark heart (and superb fight-filled climax)

Mucho ass-kicking abounds in this Donnie Yen thriller, but not until an hour in. Before then, we get a surprisingly taut, black-as-night police procedural thriller that depicts a hidden war between a gang of corrupt cops and a drug kingpin. These factors make KILL ZONE far more than the typical action thriller: it's actually an insight into the mind of a cop who will literally stop at nothing to see his man arrested. I enjoyed the way the film refuses to preach or paint characters in black or white; it's a film where dark alleyways are just as murky as morals and violent death is just around the corner.It's also got an extremely dark, downbeat tone – I'd even call this film nihilistic. Despite all this, Donnie Yen insisted on inserting a couple of fight scenes in at the film's climax to appeal to fans, and they're the best you'll see out of all the films made in 2005. The first sees our hero tackling a brutal assassin in a famed 'alleyway fight' in which the blood literally flies and the choreography is top notch. Then Yen goes head to head with Sammo Hung, who's lost nothing of his skill over the years (even if he is bigger than he ever was before, physically). This final fight is by far my favourite, with elaborate fight choreography and bone-breaking stunts that never hold back.Yen's character – more of a supporting role for much of the movie – features the actor at his most likable, with none of the pretentiousness I've witnessed in other movies. Simon Yam, a brilliant actor in my opinion, occupies plenty of screen time as the tormented, dying cop and gives a typically great performance. Hung, too, is multi-layered as the bad guy. The supporting cast is unusually developed – especially the aforementioned corrupt cops – and Jacky Wu has a stand-out, scene-stealing turn as the assassin.I've now seen three films pairing Donnie Yen with director Wilson Yip. DRAGON TIGER GATE was the most disappointing, relying on special effects and wire work too much. KILL ZONE is the most adult, and probably the best made, with an original storyline for once. My money's still on FLASH POINT as the most purely entertaining, though.
Read more IMDb reviews

10 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment