Martial-arts action makes up for plot in ‘Kill Zone 2’

The Chinese martial-arts film Kill Zone 2 has a serpentine plot that doesn’t just verge on the incomprehensible, it practically celebrates it.

Watching it gives you the feeling that you must have gone to get popcorn, called a few long-lost friends from the lobby, and taken a nap in your car, thus missing entire chunks of the story — even though you’ve been sitting in your seat, awake, the entire time.

But never mind that. What makes Kill Zone 2 remarkable is the head-pounding martial-arts action, a ballet of brutality that makes up in murderous choreography what it lacks in narrative cohesion. No one goes to a movie called Kill Zone 2 for plot anyway.

Thai martial-arts star Tony Jaa (Ong-Bak) is Chai, a prison guard whose daughter has leukemia and is waiting for a bone marrow transplant from undercover cop Kit (Wu Jing), who’s out to expose a crime organization dealing in human organs.

The syndicate is run by Hung (Louis Koo Tin-lok), who suffers from heart disease, and plans to harvest his brother’s heart to survive. Kit’s cover is blown and he is tossed into a Thai prison run by the evil-but-sharp-dressing warden Ko (Max Zhang Jin).

This is the broad outline and any more would just make your brain hurt. But the action set-pieces — like the fierce battle between Jaa and Jin — are breathtaking displays of moviemaking muscle. This is Jaa’s best role since the original “Ong-Bak” movie.

Pou-Soi Cheang, who has 17 films to his credit stretching back to 2000, may not be as well-known as some of his Hong Kong action contemporaries. But after this movie, he deserves broader recognition.

In Cantonese and Thai with English subtitles

Exclusive: AMC Grapevine Mills; video-on-demand

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Martial-arts action makes up for plot in ‘Kill Zone 2’."