Lawless Kingdom (2013)

Four detectives, each with supernatural powers, dedicate their unique and special skills to solving crimes and apprehending powerful criminals.

Director:

Gordon Chan

Writers:

Gordon Chan, Koon-Nam Lui

Stars:

Chao Deng, Yifei Liu, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong

Cast

Credited cast:
Chao Deng	...	Leng Lingqi (Coldblood) (as Deng Chao)
Yifei Liu	...	Shong Yayu (Emotionless) (as Liu Yi Fei)
Anthony Chau-Sang Wong	...	Zhuge Zhenwo (as Anthony Wong)
Collin Chou	...	Tie Yourda (Iron Hands)
Ronald Cheng	...	Cui Lueshang (Life Snatcher)
Ken Lo
Xiubo Wu
Yiyan Jiang
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bingkun Cao	...	Cheng Xiang
Yuki Li	...	Feng Ming
Awayne Liu	...	Jiang Lei
Angela Qiu	...	Dragonfly
Emma Wu	...	Ding Dong

Storyline

Four detectives (Emotionless, Iron Hands, Life Snatcher, and Coldblood), each uniquely skilled with their own individual superpowers, are sent to investigate a murder outside the city. During the investigation, they unexpectedly stumble across clues to an unsolved murder from 12 years previous that hits close to home for one of them. Suddenly, the investigation becomes all too personal, and the detectives must put their lives on the line to solve this crime!

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Plot Keywords:

3 dimensional | supernatural power | chinese | china | wuxia | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some bloody violence

Details

Country:

China Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin Cantonese

Release Date:

1 September 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lawless Kingdom

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$28,599,970

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Follows The Four (2012)

User Reviews

Much better than the first

The second installment in a trilogy, if you've not seen the first film, you may struggle to get to grips with who the characters are but, given 20 minutes, you won't be worrying... actually, it may even make this more fun, since one wouldn't know of the visual treat to come.

What's good about The Four 2 is that, though it jumps straight into both the story and action, it doesn't leave gaps like the first one did or leave the viewer wondering what was the point in certain scenes; instead, it filters out minor players to make for a more compact viewing, and with the main plot events coming via the actions of characters introduced in this film, it works almost perfectly as a stand-alone product.

With a plot designed to intrigue the viewer as to whom is lying and about what, it's difficult to reveal much, but it was novel to see such tools introduced into a sequel, as in-fighting amongst team members would have come far more naturally than the forced time-fillers that took part in The Avengers or the awful dog "joke" that cued the bout in the Part I.

There have been some who complained that the ending was just a set-up for the third part, but really, it isn't - all questions are answered and had I not known that there was a Part III to come, it wouldn't have ruined the ride for me in any way.

Enjoyable.