If audiences are looking for a fun spectacle where attractive people do their best playing cool, badass characters and who handle their fights like intricate dances, then Fistful of Vengeance is will satisfy on that front. Watching Wu Assassins will greatly improve viewers’ experience as this is a follow-up to the series, which is conveniently available on Netflix as well. However, one doesn’t need to be a fan of Fistful of Vengeance so long as viewers have an open mind and heart for an old-school action flick that blends modern filmmaking and technology to enhance its core attraction: the fights. If anyone expects the film will be critically lauded or considered for awards, well, you need to temper those expectations, quickly.
The film opens with Tommy (Lawrence Kao) essentially recapping the end of Wu Assassins — the series precedes the events of the film — and setting up the narrative for a new story in Fistful of Vengeance. Tommy, Kai (Iko Uwais), Lu Xin (Lewis Tan) are in Thailand to seek revenge. They are looking for whoever was responsible for the murder of Tommy’s sister Jenny. So for the next 90 minutes, the gang is on a high-octane race against the clock as they hunt down her killer, all while being hunted as well.
Fistful of Vengeance has a lot of style and it is reflective of a new stage in the evolution of the traditional Hollywood martial arts movies. The fighting is well choreographed, with many of the scenes utilizing the techniques that make martial arts films so entertaining. However, the film’s editing diminishes the kinetic energy of the fights as it leans into more basic Hollywood fare. The camera doesn’t hold onto the action long enough, opting for quick cuts to artificially create a sense of danger or suspense. The best action sequence comes at the end, which bolsters the film’s best use of camera movement and editing to highlight the fight choreography.
There is a distinct difference between how the fights are shot in Fistful of Vengeance and Wu Assassins. A quick glance at IMDb confirms this — most of the show’s behind-the-scenes team is not listed as having worked on the film. Neither is cinematographer John S. Bartley, whose absence is the most notable. For the most part, the people responsible for the look and feel of the show aren’t present for this film, which is odd. Luckily, Iko Uwais remains consistent. He proves once again that Hollywood may have absorbed the genre but not the most important ingredient: an action star. Uwais, following the path of many great martial arts stars and who exploded into the pop culture zeitgeist with The Raid, is excellent and magnetic. His movements are fluid, full of energy, and precise. He makes a deadly art form look like graceful dancing. And with very few words actually spoken, he has an effective screen presence when he is not in action mode. His performance, however, is a bit stilted, which can be partially attributed to him still growing as an actor.
The cast does their best, but a lot is lost with the leap from series to film. Many of the characters have been dwindled down to just generic action lines. There is no sense of a relationship between any of the characters and very random romances blossom from out of nowhere. Lawrence Kao is perhaps the best among them, with his character carrying the brunt of the emotional impact of Jenny’s death. Uwais is given little dialogue and is the standard stoic action hero. Lewis Tan is presented with bad boy quips and a persistent attitude that gives off the sense he will fight an old lady if she looks at him sideways. Tan has good looks and natural athleticism, but acting is not his strong suit. His character, like most of the returning cast’s, has been stripped of nuances that give the actors something to work with. When they don’t have ten episodes to settle into and flesh out a narrative, the actors struggle.
Pearl Thusi joins the cast as Zama Zulu and is coming off of her excellent, but recently cancelled Netflix spy series Queen Sono. Zama is an Interpol agent with a romantic past with Lu Xin. However, their romance doesn’t pop and seems to be included just for the sake of having Tan and Thusi disrobe; the lack of buildup makes it unnecessary. This coupling is just one example of the flimsy connections between these characters. There is a lack of heart in Fistful of Vengeance that makes the revenge story feel hollow. The audience might know why they are on their journey, but the movie never slows down long enough to provide real character moments. In a scene that attempts to engage with the emotional core of the film in the third act, a frustrated Zama shouts at the three men, “You say you are a family. You’re not acting like a family…” This is essentially the reason why one should watch the show as that background knowledge helps. Anyone coming into this fresh will just witness an action film that has no interesting characters and no emotional backbone.
The characters aren’t the only ones who suffer from the jump to film. Fistful of Vengeance has an interesting color palette. Often, films or TV shows that have characters go to an Asian or a Middle Eastern and North African country, the scenes become saturated with a yellow hue. This is a long-held tradition that many have complained about. It is simply a coded message, and the yellow filter signals the characters are in a lawless, backwards place. The choice to have the yellow filter in Fistful of Vengeance is an incredibly strange choice, especially since the show didn’t have this filter and it’s jarring. Perhaps Dutch director Roel Reiné, who also serves as the film’s cinematographer, has an unconscious bias. All told, it is certainly a choice not to hire Asian talent to work on the film behind-the-scenes as Wu Assassins did.
Fistful of Vengeance, with all its flaws, is still a fun hang. But even with an amusing soundtrack, returning characters, and some exciting action scenes, it plays more like an extended music video than an engrossing film with a narrative. At some point, the story gets lost and all there is left are fights and vibes, which is disappointing if one’s way to this film was through the series. It may be strange to say, but Fistful of Vengeance is a fun diversion from the show if it were to get a second season. It is easy to follow, doesn’t ask much of the audience, and doesn’t raise any emotional stakes — it’s just 90 minutes of mindless fun.
Fistful of Vengeance is available to stream on Netflix as of Thursday, February 17. It is 90 minutes long and is rated TV-MA for violence, nudity, and language.
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