While he recently had a supporting role in Expend4bles (2023), it has been quite a while since Tony Jaa has had his own starring vehicle. Sure Monster Hunter (2020) may have featured him prominently but he was still playing second fiddle to Milla Jovovich. You would probably have to go as far back to SPL II: A Time for Consequences (2015) before you would find him as the bonafide lead.
Seemingly coming out of nowhere, his recent actioner Striking Rescue puts the focus squarely back on him, with him getting involved in countless violent beat-downs during the films 105 minute runtime. With Jaa now reaching the age of 48, it would be foolish to expect his recent films to come close to something like Ong Bak (2003). However, thankfully it isn’t Ong Bak 2 (2008) either.
Made for streaming service Youku, Striking Rescue is clearly a lower budgeted affair than the majority of Jaa’s filmography. Even so, director Siyu Cheng puts all the money on the screen. It may be lacking in the script department which I will come to later, but this is a professional looking production helped no end by some terrific cinematography and well-choreographed fight scenes.
We are quickly introduced to the mysterious An Bai (Tony Jaa), reeling after a family tragedy that left his wife and daughter dead in its wake. Highly skilled in martial arts, Bai goes on a relentless mission of revenge to bring those responsible to justice. His first port of call is a local businessman played by Philip Keung. Directing his anger towards him, he plans on kidnapping his young daughter in order to get him to confess.
Things don’t exactly go according to plan, with Bai finding himself becoming the young girl’s protector after rescuing her from an attack from a drug cartel. The young girl, He Ting (Chen Duo-Yi) proposes a plan that she and Bai team up to find out who was really behind the murder of Bai’s family with the hope that Bai will help her now missing father. Through this unlikely alliance, both of them have to trust each other if they are to survive.
Fans will be happy to see Jaa is at his fighting best. He may not be as sprightly as he once was, with there even being the odd use of a stunt double on occasion, but he still shows a considerable amount of flexibility and power through the numerous set pieces he takes part in. There is no shortage of elbows and knees crashing into heads and faces as Jaa’s character tracks down who was responsible for the death of his wife and daughter.
A motorbike chase come fight scene and a hotel lobby brawl are two of the set pieces that stood out for me. Both are particularly brutal, showing off the skills and dedication of action director Guo Yulong and his stunt crew. Occasionally the action is somewhat over edited but for the most part it is clearly shot, allowing each of the performers to show off their skills.
For most of the film Jaa delivers his lines in broken English, which results in some poor line readings throughout the film. This isn’t a fault of Jaa’s, as English isn’t his main language. It does become somewhat ridiculous though when he is delivering his lines in English only for his co-stars to speak back to him in Mandarin, which a lot of the time it appears his character understands.
This wasn’t exactly a deal breaker for me, as having watched countless Hong Kong films throughout my life, this aspect of the film didn’t appear all that strange. One only has to watch a Michael Wong film to get a taste of this, with him speaking a different language than the rest of the cast but inexplicably there being no confusion in communication.
To be honest, most of us aren’t tuning in to see Jaa’s skills as a thespian. Instead we want to see him busting heads and Striking Rescue has plenty of occasions of that. As well as martial arts, Jaa even takes part in a little bit of gunplay during the finale which was unexpected.
Jaa isn’t the only performer in the film that manages to impress with their action skills. Xing Yu a.k.a Shi Yanneng plays the main villain of the piece, facing off against Jaa in the finale. It’s a shame that this is the only fight scene he is afforded as Xing has proven time and time again to be a quality martial artist, although recently he seems to become relegated to portraying the villain in films relegated to streaming. As disappointing as this was, Xing never phones it in, making for the type of scenery chewing bad guy a film like this needs.
Hong Kong movie legend Philip Keung also lends the film some definite class in his limited role as the apparently corrupt businessman Jaa initially points his vengeance towards. Of all the performers, Keung easily walks away with any acting award, even if his screen time is limited. His relationship with his daughter actually gives the film a much needed injection of emotion, with Keung easily conveying the difficulties and confusion of bringing up his estranged daughter.
The other co-stars aren’t as prolific, at least to Western viewers, but they still manage to make an impression. Eason Hung does particularly well, with him getting his own fair share of the action. All sinewy muscle, Hong shows a considerable flair for both martial arts and gunplay. The attempted kidnapping of He Ting is a clear highlight for Hung, with him taking out an assortment of villains in what appears to be one uninterrupted take. The only let down is some sub par CGI that is utilized during the transitions to make it appear as if it’s one long shot.
To be honest, it wasn’t just the fact Striking Rescue starred Tony Jaa that made me want to see it. My interest was piqued more by noting that it was directed by Cheng Siyi who had impressed me previously with his film Desperado a.k.a. Thug In A Suit (2024). Overall I would say that was a more enjoyable film, with it giving Danny Chan the rare chance to play the lead in what turned out to be a quirky and action packed crime thriller. This isn’t to say he doesn’t bring the same skills to Striking Rescue.
Striking Rescue has more than enough action to keep genre fans entertained. Whilst it isn’t a game changer, offering up nothing we haven’t seen before, the well choreographed action scenes bring the required level of excitement required. However, Cheng is unable to cover the clear issues the film has in terms of the script and plot as well as the sometimes obvious budgetary limitations.
There isn’t much in the way of character development, with it being sometime into the film before we are even informed why Jaa’s family was targeted. Jaa’s character also has very little in the way of development. He is every inch the bad ass but the film doesn’t delve into how or why until late in the day. The filmmakers assume its audience will just accept him as the hero mostly because he is Tony Jaa. To be honest they aren’t wrong, but some context would have been nice.
The remaining characters are painted in broad strokes, with there being very little nuance to their characters. When it comes to the main plot, Cheng obviously recognizes that it doesn’t bear close scrutiny, with it being a mashup of the likes of Taken (2008) and Extraction (2020). Cheng manages to overcome this by keeping things moving along at a good pace, with there never being too long to wait until another quality action scene.
It may not be cinema level in terms of quality but Striking Rescue manages to be a more memorable endeavor than many of the similar themed action films hitting streaming at the moment. This is mostly due to the quality work of the main cast as well as that of Cheng and his team behind the camera
The one advantage Striking Rescue has over the earlier Desperado is that it gives audiences a chance to see Tony Jaa shine once again. With there already being plans for Striking Rescue to be released in Jaa’s native Thailand as well as in the U.S. courtesy once again from the good people at Well Go USA, it is only a matter of time before we see Jaa grace our screens once again.
Plot: 2.5/5
Acting: 3/5
Action: 3.5/5
Overall: 3/5