When
a martial arts cult takes its name from the Greek god of the underworld, it is
safe to expect major villainy from them. Factor in their commitment to Japan’s
Imperial militarism and you know they are in for a bruising in Law Wing-cheong’s
The Wrath of Vajra (trailer here), which releases today on DVD and Blu-ray from Well Go USA.
According
to Kawao Amano, the founder of the Hades cult, even if the Japanese military
conquers territory, they will never defeat the spirit of the Chinese people
until they see their regional champions publically humiliated by superior
fighters. To accomplish this task, Hades kidnapped young children to be raise
as fighting machines. K-29 used to be one of them, but he broke with the Hades
cult when it was temporarily disbanded for being way too nuts. With the war
going badly, the Emperor eats some crow and gives Hades the go ahead to open up
shop again. One of their first orders of business will be challenging K-29, who
has taken up robes in a Shaolin temple.
Forced
to turn himself in, K-29 finds himself reunited with Bill, another former
involuntary Hades inductee, who commands a captured American military unit. The
rules of Hades death tournament are simple. K-29 will have to fight his way
through a series of cult leaders, starting with the towering Tetsumaku Rai,
leader of the Violence Clan, to get to his nemesis, Daisuke Kurashige (a.k.a.
K-28). Sure, no problem. Along the way, he will work through his guilt for
accidentally killing his brother way back when and reawaken the conscious of Amano’s
daughter Eiko, a journalist reporting on Hades tournaments for the Japanese
public.
So
yeah, guess who wins and guess who loses. Frankly, Vajra is considered subtle anti-Japanese propaganda, because K-29
never gets political. Instead of greater China, he fights for the captive
children. For what its worth, Eiko is also a sympathetic figure and the
Americans are on the side of the angels. Still, Vajra is not exactly shy about playing to anti-Japanese sentiment.
Regardless,
Shaolin monk-turned action star Xing Yu (a.k.a. Shi Yanneng) is pretty legit as
child assassin-turned Shaolin monk K-29. He has the moves and his everyman
presence wears well during the course of the film. Usually a supporting player
lending authenticity to films like Ip Man, Shaolin, and Bodyguards and Assassins, it is nice to see him get a turn in the spotlight. Ya Mei
(Zhang) also convincingly portrays Eiko’s evolution from militarist to
maverick. Jiang Baocheng and “Poppin” Nam Hyun-joon (a Korean hip-hop dancer) certainly
have the right looks for Rai and the herky-jerky Crazy Monkey (leader of the
Zombie Clan), respectively. In fact, they essentially upstage (Korean American,
not Japanese) Steve Yoo’s down-to-business K-28.
