Fistful of Vengeance: Netflix Delivers Fun But Flawed Action
Netflix’s 2019 series Wu Assassins introduced a wild concept: blending supernatural martial arts with a Buffy-esque vibe, starring The Raid‘s Iko Uwais as Kai, a San Francisco chef imbued with the power of 1,000 monk spirits. Tasked with battling elemental warlords tied to the Triad, Kai wasn’t alone; his Scooby Gang included friends Lu Xin (Lewis Tan), Tommy (Lawrence Kao), and Tommy’s sister Jenny (Li Jun Li). While the series suffered from plot and dialogue issues, its undeniable fun factor, solid action, and cast chemistry left many wanting more. Instead of a second season, Netflix opted for a feature-length follow-up, Fistful Of Vengeance. This movie promised to lean into the cheesy action flick aesthetic, potentially streamlining the story and focusing the budget on fights and effects – a seemingly win-win scenario.
Picking Up the Pieces: A Confusing Start
Fistful of Vengeance serves as a direct sequel, carrying over both the strengths and weaknesses of its predecessor series with almost uncanny fidelity. Unfortunately, it seems few lessons were learned from the show’s shortcomings. The dialogue remains clunky, though the actors’ charm still shines through, and the soundtrack works hard. The core action is often impressive, but sometimes hampered by overly flashy camerawork. The established mythology regarding monk ghosts is largely sidelined, replaced by a new chapter in the Wu Assassin lore that feels equally underdeveloped. However, the plot remains the most significant issue, starting with its very premise. The action shifts from San Francisco to Thailand, where Kai, Lu Xin, and Tommy are hunting the person responsible for Jenny’s death. This is immediately jarring for viewers of the series, as Jenny was very much alive at the end of Wu Assassins. A rewatch confirms this – the season finale ended with cliffhangers involving Kai’s ongoing duties, his mentor Ying Ying’s (Celia Au) ambiguous nature, and the villainous Zan (JuJu Chan Szeto) seeking allies in Macau after killing Uncle Six. Plenty of threads were left for continuation.
Instead, the movie’s writers (Cameron Litvack, Jessica Chou, and Yalun Tu, all veterans of the show) opted to kill Jenny off-screen between the series and the film. Her death, where she supposedly grabbed a mysterious pendant, becomes the catalyst sending the team to Bangkok. This creative choice feels like a clumsy “fridging” trope, sacrificing a key character merely to motivate the male leads.
New Threats, Familiar Formulas
The mysterious pendant leads the crew to Ku An Qi (Rhatha Phongam), a powerful figure in Thailand’s criminal underworld described vaguely as embodying chaos. Her twin brother, tech mogul William Pan (Jason Tobin), provides exposition linking their existence to the original Wu Assassin. This new layer of mythology ultimately serves the same function as the old: positioning Kai as the only one capable of stopping another world-ending threat. The narrative convenience is palpable – Kai stumbles into this destiny only because Jenny was killed, or perhaps he was deliberately led there.
Iko Uwais, Lewis Tan, and Lawrence Kao ready for action in Fistful of Vengeance
The plot twists that follow feel as underdeveloped as the initial setup. Pan enlists Kai and his friends to stop Ku An Qi, aligning conveniently with their quest for revenge. Once this flimsy justification is established, Fistful of Vengeance barrels towards its primary objective: delivering action. The narrative often feels perfunctory, a mere framework to connect fight sequences.
The Main Event: Action Takes Center Stage
Where Fistful of Vengeance truly finds its footing is in its action sequences. Pairing Iko Uwais and Lewis Tan, two highly skilled martial arts performers, pays dividends. When they unleash their skills, the film becomes undeniably entertaining. Director Roel Reiné approaches each action set piece like a high-energy music video, packed with stylized visuals and driven by a pulsating beat. This approach yields some spectacular results. A standout sequence involves a prolonged confrontation in a hotel, seamlessly blending a shootout, a car chase, and Uwais’s signature close-quarters combat. The camera dynamically shifts focus, capturing the chaos across multiple locations from balconies to the parking garage and lobby. Another memorable scene features a street fight in an outdoor market, where the heroes improvise weapons from stalls and food carts. This allows Kai a unique moment to blend his culinary background with his Wu Assassin abilities, wielding twin meat cleavers with deadly proficiency.
When Style Hinders Substance
However, Reiné’s directorial flair doesn’t always enhance the action. Sometimes, the elaborate camerawork actively detracts from the performers’ skills. The film’s climax features a highly anticipated fight between Kai and a mind-controlled Lu Xin – Uwais versus Tan should have been the absolute highlight. Instead, the camera employs dizzying 90-degree rotational swings around the combatants. This forces the actors into a stilted rhythm, hitting marks and pausing for the camera rather than flowing naturally. The result makes the fight look choreographed for the camera’s movements rather than showcasing the performers’ incredible abilities, making punches look pulled and impacting the sequence’s intensity. The focus shifts from the martial arts mastery to the director’s technique, a questionable choice given the talent involved. A franchise built around a fighter powered by a thousand monks might not embrace “less is more,” but it should certainly prioritize getting out of Iko Uwais’s way.
Echoes of Wu Assassins: Strengths and Weaknesses Persist
Ultimately, Fistful of Vengeance isn’t a conventionally “good” movie, much like Wu Assassins wasn’t a conventionally “good” show. It inherits the series’ DNA entirely – the charm, the exciting action, the appealing cast chemistry, but also the weak plotting, awkward dialogue, and occasionally misguided execution. If you enjoyed the original series despite its flaws, you’ll likely find similar enjoyment here. For newcomers curious about the Wu Assassins world, the movie serves as a condensed, action-packed sample platter. Its shorter runtime and self-contained (albeit nonsensical) plot make it an accessible entry point. The saving grace for both the show and the film is their lack of pretension; they embrace their nature as fun, disposable entertainment.
Conclusion: Worth the Stream?
While Fistful of Vengeance is a fitting, if unimproved, follow-up to Wu Assassins, it represents a missed opportunity to refine the formula. As a fan, it’s disappointing that the creators didn’t address the series’ more glaring issues. Yet, the film remains difficult to dislike entirely. Its status as a majority Asian production in a Hollywood landscape with few comparable offerings (like The CW’s Kung Fu or Cinemax’s Warrior) adds a layer of significance. There’s hope that the film’s performance could lead to further installments. The cast, particularly Uwais and Tan, deserve stronger material, and the Wu Assassins universe still holds untapped potential. Until that potential is realized, Fistful of Vengeance stands as a perfectly fine, often fun diversion. If you enjoyed the series or are simply looking for some stylish martial arts action without demanding plot coherence, give it a stream. In the vast sea of Netflix content, you could certainly do far worse.
