‘Kung Fu Games’ VOD Review
Stars: Jose Manuel, Caitlin Dechelle, Mark Strange, Jade Xu, Miguel Peralta, Lathrop Walker, Matt Goodwin | Written by Ryan C Jaeger, H. Daniel Gross | Directed by Ryan C Jaeger
The trailer for Kung Fu Games boasts that it’s from one of the executive producers of Halloween: Resurrection. For those who don’t remember, that’s the one where Michael Myers gets beaten up by rapper Busta Rhymes. The fact that they thought a connection to that film was something to boast about should have been all the warning I needed.
Instead, I found myself watching a group of confused people wake up in what looks like a subway car as lights flash and sirens sound. A door opens, and they run out into what looks like a fog enshrouded bamboo forest, where one of them gets impaled with a spear and the rest get attacked by fighters who rappel down from the clouds.
Once back in the room where they woke up, we find out that the group includes a “cancelled” action star, Graham Gunner (Jose Manuel; The Fist of the Condor, Dispatched), Sarah Ludlow (Caitlin Dechelle; Chinese Zodiac, Teen Wolf) an MMA fighter who killed someone in the ring, and ex military type Mike Fischer (Mark Strange; Hounds of War, Avengement). Rounding the group out are Maly (Jade Xu; Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Black Widow) and Alex (Miguel Peralta; Seized, Shadow Fist 3: The Final Chapter).
Kung Fu Games is the fourth and last of the recent martial arts films from Tiger Style Media. Director Ryan C Jaeger directed another of them, The Lockdown, he and co-writer H. Daniel Gross collaborated on that film as well as Art of Eight Limbs. Gross also has a story credit on the fourth film, Lady Scorpions, so you should have a good idea what to expect here.
And indeed we soon find out the fighters have been kidnapped to fight, to the death of course, for the amusement of billionaire Calvin Prince (Lathrop Walker; The Penitent Man, ECCO). He’s brought in his old friend Eric (Matt Goodwin; The Treasure of Painted Forest, Rocktards) to help him turn this proof of concept into an ongoing deadly reality TV show. In other words, it’s an upscale version of The Lockdown’s plot, let alone of all the other films to have used it.
The fights are themed to resemble scenes from martial arts films, one location is referred to as resembling the set of a Shaw Brothers movie, and that’s before they see the stuntmen on wires. Another is a recreation of the subway fight in The Raid 2, complete with a pair of hammers serving as a power-up. The problem with that is that no matter how good the action you stage, it’s almost guaranteed to look inferior to the original.
And that is the case here. The fight scenes are quite good, stunt coordinator Sarah Chang (The Trigonal: Fight for Justice, Mon Mon Mon Monsters) delivers not just hand-to-hand fighting but quite a bit of weapon work as well. Staffs, swords, nunchucks, and as I mentioned hammers, all see action here which is a nice change of pace. But good isn’t good enough when you’re invoking memories of classic films, and despite being the best in any of the Tiger Style Media quartet, the fights in Kung Fu Games suffer by comparison.
The highly derivative and predictable plot and decent action scenes tend to cancel each other out for much of the film, leaving Kung Fu Games the best of its batch. Not that that’s saying much. Unfortunately, it badly miscalculates its final scenes and ends on a rather sour note. It’s still watchable if you’re looking for a martial arts film fix, but you’d still be better off waiting for it to land on Tubi or somewhere similar.
**½ 2.5/5
Kung Fu Games is available on Digital Platforms via Paramount’s Republic Films division.
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