Low-budget though slick action flick, ‘Striking Rescue’ glides by on the impressive fight skills of its leading man, who cuts loose in a truckload of blistering action scenes.
Tony Jaa plays An Bai, who is in China attempting to track down the drug traffickers that killed his wife and child. Thinking a known dubious businessman (Philip Keung) is the culprit, Bai sees a chance to strike back at him by (sort of) kidnapping his wayward daughter Ting (Chen Duoyi). However, things are not as they first appear, as Ting, forming a shaky alliance with Bai, insists her father is no drug dealer. It would seem her father is being controlled by some dangerous drug dealers (Michael Mao and Xing Yu), who are the actual killers of Bai’s family. Full of fierce vengeance, Bai then cuts his way through the drug empire’s never-ending army of goons, determined to take revenge and reunite Ting with her father.
Offering no real narrative surprises, a surfeit of both wonky acting and CGI, and all the subtlety of a house brick to the face, ‘Striking Rescue’ may not be refined or intricate in character, but it certainly delivers the action goods. Giving Tony Jaa a lead role and another chance to deliver ‘Ong Bak’ levels of dangerous bone-breaking destruction, ‘Striking Rescue’ piles on the crazy action and striking choreography. Several scenes of Jaa taking on multiple assailants at once (giving Donnie Yen a run for his money!), an awesome scrap with a double axe-wielding assassin, and a great one-on-one with Xing Yu are just some of the highlights. At a good 110 minutes in runtime, the film packs in a lot of action (it’s barely five minutes into the film before Jaa has already delivered multiple flying knee kicks!), which is a good thing as the bits in between the ferocious fighting threaten to derail proceedings.
The overacting from some of the supporting cast is through the roof, the villains are so OTT it almost becomes farce, and there really are too many characters for what is, essentially, a streamlined plot. Proceedings dip into exploitation with a few (unnecessarily) nasty scenes, including the mistreatment of children, which also mars things somewhat: the film obviously trying to go for a darker edge. However, Philip Keung brings a bit of gravitas, and Chen Duoyi is also excellent as the troubled young Ting (arguably acting everyone off screen). Tony Jaa mainly looks pained and strained throughout, though his character (while capable of Herculean feats of martial arts action) refreshingly becomes more broken and beaten the longer the fighting goes on.
While not reaching the heady heights of Jaa classics ‘Ong Bak’ and ‘Warrior King’, ‘Striking Rescue’ does at least offer Tony Jaa ample opportunity to display his still impressive fight skills. On those simple terms of the great screen fighter delivering damage to those who deserve it, ‘Striking Rescue’ entertains.
