He
is like a Matthew Star for generations that have no idea who that was. Unlike
most teenaged boys, David Lee is not phased by girls or academics. It is the
PSTD-flashbacks that trouble him. They are so bad, there is even an empty room
in his uncle’s flat for his freak-outs. However, he will have a target to vent
his frustrations on when agents of the shadowy cabal come kick the hornets’
nest in James Mark’s Kill Order (trailer here), which releases today on DVD and VOD.
Usually
philosophy class is boring, but not when a squad of black-clad SWAT troopers
comes crashing in. A special thanks goes out to Mr. Henderson for immediately ratting
out Lee. Nevertheless, Lee manages to take down his would be-captors, once his special
powers kick in. You can tell when that happens, because his eyes start glowing
blue.
It
turns out Lee was a subject in a series of experiments that used power from a
different dimension to fuel Universal Soldier-style fighting machines. Lee was
particularly amenable to the power in-take, but he was unusually resistant to
the brain-washing. His supposed Uncle Andre Chan was in fact one of the
researchers, who had a change of heart. He hoped to help Lee live a normal
life, but it doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon now that the bad
guys are out to get him. It seems to be a rather factional conspiracy, with the
titular head, Shiro Fujitaka openly suspicious of his underlings.
Mark
hints at something downright cosmic going on, but that is only tease for what he
obviously hopes will develop into a franchise. The whole point of Kill Order thus far, is the butt-kicking,
which is quite impressive. It was also obviously conceived as an opportunity
for top Canadian stunt talent to get a proper turn in front of the camera—although
ironically, Alain Moussi, probably the best-known cast-member thanks to the Kickboxer reboots, remains faceless
throughout his appearance, due to his SWAT helmet.
Kill Order is maybe not quite
a breakout for Chris Mark (brother of James), but he shows plenty of potential
as Lee. As Uncle Andre, Daniel Park holds up the dramatic end quite well, in a
performance that is arguably much better than what he could have gotten away with.
More to the point, Jonny Cairnes, Jennifer Li (Kelly Marie Tran’s double in The Last Jedi), and Adrian Persad all
impress in their vigorously choreographed and nicely-framed fight sequences
facing off against Lee.
