Zero Tolerance (I) (2015) User Reviews

"I didn't think you were this [...] stupid"

[The_Phantom_Projectionist · 5/10 · 2 December 2015]

Director Wych Kaos could only improve after releasing the awful TEKKEN 2, and while he does just that with ZERO TOLERANCE, he's still not making the movie that most viewers actually want to see. Talk about unmatched expectations! This film – a thriller disguised as an action feature - is probably the best movie that Kaos has ever done, but that's still not saying much.

The story: When the estranged daughter of an ex-CIA operative (Dustin Nguyen) turns up dead in Bangkok, he and his ex-partner (Sahajak Boonthanakit) delve into the city's underworld to uncover the young woman's shady past and unmask her killer.

To be fair, I don't think that the movie was ever explicitly advertised as a martial arts feature, but when the names used to promote it include Dustin Nguyen, Scott Adkins, Gary Daniels, and Kane Kosugi, one cannot help but expect a lot of hand-to-hand action. Disappointingly, the film does not even provide the bare minimum. There are two full-length brawls, only one of which counts as an actual karate fight (the Nguyen/Adkins showdown), and neither of them are very good – they could have been shot with anybody, with no need for some of the best on screen fighters to get involved. The action content in general is meager, with only three shootouts to otherwise tide viewers over. One of these – a close-range affair in a crowded room – is pretty enjoyable, but breathtaking action clearly isn't this film's objective.

This is a character-driven thriller, and in that regard, the movie isn't bad. Dustin and his costars all generally excel at playing morally ambiguous characters in a sleazy setting. The movie's pacing is infinitely better than the director's previous picture, and though this is not exactly SE7EN, I felt engaged and anxious to find out who the killer was. The eventual resolution is a serious matter of taste – either you'll find it ironically apt or a complete cop-out – but it highlights the earthy tone of the movie that may turn off people who are used to lighter fare. The subject of prostitution is questionable enough for some folks, but there's an odd, uncomfortable strain of chauvinism running through the picture, with abuse of women by both "good guys" and villains being a common occurrence despite the general anti-trafficking sentiment.

Apparently this movie was edited from an unreleased film, with the footage of Adkins and Kosugi shot a couple of years later. It's integrated pretty well – practically unnoticeable unless you know what to look for. This feat of seamlessness is easily the most impressive part of the movie, which otherwise ends up being relatively unremarkable. ZERO TOLERANCE isn't the debacle it could have been, but it's also not nearly as cool as I'm certain most people were hoping for. Know yourself well before considering anything more than a rental.

A mediocre crime thriller with poor camera work, and Scott Adkins shoehorned into a few scenes.

[quincytheodore · 3/10 · 13 February 2016]

You have to commend Scott Adkins' tenacity, he's been churning out movies regularly by the months now, although none as compelling as The Undisputed, one that made him staple action hero. His role here is minimum and seemingly plastered for the draw of his name. The core story is a father sets out for vengeance, its simplicity could work better if not for the awful camera display which often too close or sporadic to be enjoyable.

When the news of his daughter's death reaches him, Johnny (Dustin Nguyen) goes on a part investigation and part rampage throughout Thailand. For almost the entire part, this is the main story and the performance is fitting for rough Asian crime drama. The characters seem like the veteran cops that have street smart. However, the screenplay is disjointed, they would interrogate a person, get into a fight, then resume investigation randomly, the continuity is far from smooth.

There's an attempt to build intimate sympathy for Angel, the fallen daughter, yet the movie lacks any sophistication to make her beyond plot device or basic motivation. Simple conversation is presented with fast cut editing, changing from one face to another with extreme close-up. This is really distracting since it could've been shot in one continuous framing instead, and these dialogues made the bulk of the movie, yet audience would only see the character staring each other with rigid expression.

If the camera is shaky in simple scene, it goes horribly wrong in fighting sequences. People would get punched off screen or someone would fire a barrage and the visual zooms in the wrong way, it barely has any clear focus in the critical fights, which are so few and far between. Despite having decent roster for action, the combat is unsatisfying as it only presents a couple basic fisticuffs. Furthermore, sound effect and the spark effect from gun would be off like dud of firework.

It's not all bad though, the cinematography for scenery looks good and the display of nudity is not as hackneyed as one would think, the ambiance would benefit more from these exotic locales. However, there are too many faulty elements for the crime thriller to be appealing, and its expected action draw is disappointing as well.

Fails to ignite the screen

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 3 September 2016]

2 GUNS: ZERO TOLERANCE was originally by all accounts a no-star Thai thriller called ANGELS which did very badly on release. So some money-savvy producers decided to re-edit the movie by bringing in a number of foreign martial artists and re-releasing the film as an action thriller. The problem is, the foreigners in the movie are little more than cameo actors and there's a dearth of action in the film which renders it sleep-inducing to all but the most faithful of movie fans.

The main thrust of the plot is a murder mystery featuring the impassive Vietnamese actor Dustin Nguyen. Somebody murdered his daughter and he wants to find out who, so he goes on a rampage of revenge. Or at least that's what they want you to think. Instead, like most Thai films, this is indifferently acted and poorly shot, lacking verve and vitality in every scene, and the (few) brief fights are so poorly handled as to be worthless. Mostly it's all talk, and poorly spoken English, and dialogue that makes little sense.

Poor old Scott Adkins is given prominent billing on the cover but barely appears in the film - he has about five minutes of screen time in a generic role. Japanese star Kane Kosugi is on screen even less. Gary Daniels is here too, but it feels like all of his scenes were shot in a single day because they don't amount to much. ZERO TOLERANCE is one of the most insipid Thai films I've watched, and a good example of that film's lack of current talent when it comes to basic film-making principles.

Don't Be Deceived by the Cover Photo on "Zero Tolerance!!!"

[zardoz-13 · 1/10 · 26 March 2016]

If you're a Scott Adkins' fan, watching Thai writer & director Wych Kaosayananda's "2 Guns: Zero Tolerance" is going to definitely disappoint you. I enjoy Scott Adkins epics, but this was a total letdown! Basically, Scott appears in something like three scenes, and he plays a slimy villain. This action thriller concerns two tough guys, Johnny (Dustin Nguyen of "Heaven & Earth") and Peter (Sahajak Boonthanakit of "No Escape"), searching whoever killed Johnny's daughter Angel (newcomer Nina Paosut) after her body is discovered in a river. "2 Guns" is really a messed up movie. Initially, it was released as "Angels" in 2012, and then Kaosayananda reedited this crime thriller and added new footage of Scott Adkins. The irony is that Johnny and Peter learn that Angel had become a prostitute and died when she overdosed on cocaine while participating in a threesome. She drowned in the pool where the three of them were frolicking. Now, Johnny and Peter wipe out half of Bangkok in their efforts to determine who killed his daughter. Nobody, it turns out, killed her, but a lot of villains in the Thai underworld suffer the wrath of Johnny and Peter before they learn the truth. The most striking thing about "2 Guns" is the resemblance that Dustin Nguyen bears to late action icon Charles Bronson. He is a dead ringer for Bronson. Don't squander your time on this half-baked actioneer. Let's hope that Scott made some decent dough with his second version. Kaosayananda is known for "Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever" and "Tekken 2." Don't be taken in by the deceptive cover photo on this DVD.

Scammes

[dreamingwolf-01253 · 2/10 · 17 March 2021]

I watched this because I am a huge scott adkins fan. Boy was I dissapointed. Great action but Scott is barely in it.

for the first time in my life, left the cinema before the movie ends

[amira_hassan_fouad · 1/10 · 12 September 2015]

Horrible movie! Why would anyone make a movie like that?!! why did they even bother wasting there money on its production?!! Why would this movie be in English? its all about Thai people they referred to them speaking only English to the fact that they were spy's in the US Army for 10 years?!!

There was no connection between the scenes awful conversations and scenario. Really don't understand how it got 7.5 rating when I got the tickets.

The camera angles were poor and the scenes chosen in the movie were also very poor,too many close shots on the face of the actors which had no expression on them, time wasting experience, the movie was pointless and they tried to fill the time line of the movie with any junk so they can have a full movie time. during the action and fight scenes you could not understand what exactly was going on. the sound effects were also poor, the gun shots sounded like something falling on a pillow not a gun shoot at all

Less tolerance for a switch and bait movie

[Prismark10 · 2/10 · 3 May 2019]

This is a lifeless action thriller. It was reedited form an earlier film with some footage of current B movie action stars such as Scott Adkins.

In fact there is not much action in this lurid tale of two former para-military guys Johnny (Dustin Nguyen) and his police detective friend Peter (Sahajak Boonthanakit) who hunt the Bangkok underworld to find the people who killed Johnny's young daughter Angel.

Peter and Johnny kill indiscriminately for the search for Angel's killers, although both men spend time mostly talking about Angel.

There is a hint that Angel's life and death may just had been sleazy and Johnny was not much of a dad.

This is not an action film, the promotion featuring Adkins and Gary Daniels is just a cheat.

Bad movie and very misleading!

[Brooklynsmagicmike · 2/10 · 20 April 2020]

This movie isn't action movie at all. Sure it has some shooting scenes but theres zero hand to hand combat in it which is usually expected from this cast.

Scott adkins on the cover is highly misleading he plays very small role in this and is not lead. The movie simply did that for promotional purposes.

The premise is not bad but direction is slow, draggy, dull, and overall boring. More I watched, more I got a headache.

Diddn't enjoy this movie and dont think many will.

Possibly the most misleading representation of a movie I've ever seen!

[derek-a-charette100 · 1/10 · 7 April 2021]

It always amazes me as to how a movie can have a well known, quality A List actor cast as a leading roll, while only having a few seconds of screen time. This is so deceptive and disrespectful to the viewers. I came to watch Scott Adkins kick everyone's ass, in his incredible fighting scenes as he normally does in his other movies... Instead, I watched a psychopathic, self righteous, narcissistic clamshell prancing around and murdering people by the dozen, while not being caught This fool was such a scumbag nutcase that I thought he was the villain and Scott would be the hero fighter that would come and eliminate this psychopathic clamshell in the middle of his mass shooting rampage, but Scott was nowhere to be found. HORRIBLE!

Poorly directed action sequences and not enough Scott Adkins

[a_chinn · 3/10 · 28 December 2023]

This was my first Scott Adkins letdown of a movie, but I think that's because even though he is featured prominently on the cover art for the film, he's barely in it and only has about two fight scenes. The story is basically a DEATH WISH setup that takes place in Bangkok, with an ex-covert operative, Dustin Nguyen (the Asian guy from the original 21 JUMP STREET series) hunting down the people responsible for killing his daughter. I had hopes for this movie since it featured an interesting cast that included martial arts regular Gary Daniels (THE EXPENDABLES), Kane Kosugi, the real-life son of 80s ninja movie mainstay Shô Kosugi (ENTER THE NINJA, REVENGE OF THE NINJA, NINJA III: THE DOMINATION, NINE DEATHS OF THE NINJA, etc.), and also Adkins (ACCIDENT MAN, JOHN WICK 4, who I have been binging on lately. The fight scenes are well choreographed but poorly shot, with too many cuts and not giving the audience a clear picture of what's happening. Unless you're a die-hard 21 JUMP STREET fan or a Scott Adkins completionism, skip this one.

Out of (his) mind

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 12 March 2016]

The movie might be easy to spot and you probably won't be too surprised by the ending. But it's still nicely made, if you don't expect a martial arts romp that is. It seems that some people thought, that with all the names attached this would be a lot of hand-to-hand action and fighting. And while there is a certain amount of action, it's mostly "gunplay"/-fighting that is going on.

A fair warning (or whatever you want to call it): there is a lot of nudity in this movie, though it's almost entirely in the first 2-3 minutes. After that we see Mr. Adkins, but he's not the lead in this, so don't get confused by that either. It's a man on a mission, a different take on ... Taken.

An Awful Film In EVERY Way

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 1/10 · 7 April 2017]

Oh dear lord, this really was a waste of talent. I find that on the whole most martial arts experts can be quite wooden when it comes to acting, this is probably because the director is focusing on the fight sequences and not too overly bothered by the story or the acting skills of their cast. This movie has so much wood the DVD player got splinters and was crying out in pain to play me this film.

The only good aspect of this film is Gary Daniels who actually proves his acting ability, which isn't too hard.

The bad thing is I have great respect for, not only Gary Daniels, but the rest of the cast Dustin Nguyen, Scott Adkins, and Kane Kosugi. So to watch them in something this dire was sad.

I'm going to rest the blame for this travesty on the writer and director Wych Kaosayananda, who's story is drawn out, boring, and depressing; filled with one-dimensional characters who nobody can relate to or empathise with. His direction is worse than his storytelling. There is one scene where he shoots upwards at three actors; this means you only see them from the groyne upwards. Eighty percent of the shot is sky and he even burns this. Had this been a blue sky with clouds, a fly-by by a plane or a group of birds might have made it artistic; however, it's lazy and badly planned.

It's so bad they even tried a rebranding from Zero Tolerance to leech off the success of the Denzil Washington and Mark Wahlberg film 2 Guns, by adding it to the beginning of their title. But BEWARE this is NOT a sequel or prequel... it has nothing to do with 2 Guns whatsoever. Naughty Naughty!!!

If you see this on telly or on a dirt cheap DVD don't be conned into watching it like I was - turn away and run. There's so much better out there to watch than this.

Misleading Marketing actually makes this worse

[damianphelps · 3/10 · 22 August 2020]

Ok first off, the link to Denzel's 2 Guns is non existent.

Second despite the cover, Adkins is in this film for about 15 minutes.

Without the false pretenses caused by the marketing department, this movie could be a 4 or even a 5. It's ok, not great, but ok. The 2 actual leads are watchable. BUT because you come into this expecting something else it never really gets a chance. You end up feeling robbed!

Makes You Think!

[alanclarke-78565 · 4/10 · 26 March 2018]

I was looking for a couple of hours of switching off my brain but found myself trying to work out why Angel's coffee machine was rigged as a bomb, why they were tied to chairs and one of them shot, how they knew the mad killer would be going to a train station, why an early lead they had didn't tell them that the death was an accident, and then after the end trying to work out why Angel was bound and thrown into the river to make it look like a murder.

Not only that I'm still trying to work out why one reviewer here asked "Why would this movie be in English?" - that comment does make some critics who get paid seem quite intelligent and objective.

All in all, quite thought provoking...

get bored after 8 minutes

[Venom_81 · 4/10 · 1 June 2016]

I have to say that i was quite surprised by this movie, it's really strange if i want to say it politely. In my opinion the best part of this movie is the color correction because direction, acting and editing looks very poorly. Don't waste your time and look for another title since this looks like a very badly TV drama. I have to say that since the opening title you can understand the quality of this movie. And there are some quite scene of nudity, so be aware of that. Some of the actors simply forget to change expression during all the movie and some takes and shot looks a bit weird, editing too..sometimes missing continuity with the shot before and after so really look for something better

Lol. Maybe use this in film school as an editing term project...

[emortland · 3/10 · 6 February 2021]

All the people in here were pretty cool, never heard of Mr Nguyen before, and Mr Adkins has about seven total minutes of screen time before his exit. I first thought this was an Indonesian martial action film with a Vietnamese star. Apparently it's Thai. Cool.

So Mr Nguyen is a mysterious man with special skills, out to avenge the murder of his daughter. She was a prostitute, but very smart & well liked by both her clients & pimps. Mr Nguyen kills a bunch of bad people, but at the end sees a movie - along with us - that his nude daughter was very attractive but died from a heart party and wasn't murdered. He seems very sad. Well okay then.

You know martial arts scenes where they attack the hero one by one and get their ass kicked? Well here entire gangs shoot at our guy one by one, so he just shoots back and picks them off one by one. You always wonder why ten of them don't shoot simultaneously.

I dunno, this film will kill some time for you, and the point of my title is I'd be curious to see what a current film class could do with if they were given all the footage. Couldn't be any worse that what we got now.

Ad(t)kins diet...

[kirkendog · 2/10 · 17 February 2023]

As others have mentioned, they barely had Adkins in the movie & he was sort of expected to be a bad guy in all of this, as these types of movies always portray this type of person as evil, while the holier-than-thou people in the E are superior.

Main character kills over 20 people because he thought they had something to do with the killing of his daughter. Never mind his daughter chose a dangerous way of life & paid for it.

At the end you find out she took drugs & had a bad reaction to it so essentially she killed herself. Oops, I guess my bad I shouldn't have killed all those people but they deserved it anyways because they fought back against me.

Zero Talent

[brendanhk · 1/10 · 11 July 2021]

Another stinker by a hack director called Wych Kaos Why this guy is allowed to make films is anyone's guess Its boring Predictable Acting sucks Dialogue is infantile.

It's probably a one-time watch for Adkins and Daniels fans.

[tarbosh22000 · 5/10 · 12 October 2023]

When a girl named Angel (Paosut) turns up dead, Bangkok cop Peter (Boonthanakit) travels to Ho Chi Minh city to track down her estranged father, Johnny (Nguyen). Together, the two men go back to Bangkok and proceed to search the seedier areas of the city in search of answers as to Angel's death. Along the way, characters such as Steven (Adkins), Sammy (Daniels), and Kane (Kosugi) come and go, but will the mystery of Angel's death be revealed?

Well, we had to see this movie for the cast alone. While Adkins and Daniels don't share any scenes together (and there's a good reason for that that we will get to in a moment), they are both here, as is Kane Kosugi, action stalwarts all. And while the film is reasonably professionally directed and shot (if some scenes are underlit as many modern films tend to be), it loses focus and direction a lot of the time. It also could have used a heck of a lot more action, but that makes sense, because...

If the presence of Scott Adkins in the film seems a bit out of joint, there's a very good reason for that. Apparently, Zero Tolerance started life as a film called Angels (2012), and you can still see this version if you want. It was a passion project for director Kaos, and more of a drama. Then some of the money people told him that this Angels movie, as good as it may be, would be a tough sell in the film marketplace. So footage with Adkins was integrated into the pre-existing Angels film, and a total re-edit was done, and in the end a completely new film was fashioned called Zero Tolerance.

Just exactly why this movie is called Zero Tolerance, we don't exactly know, especially because few movies can compete with the awesome Robert Patrick Zero Tolerance (1994). So, if you name your movie after a superior film, you're just asking to look worse by comparison. Nevertheless, there are some bright spots along the way, such as Peter's young tot of a son proclaiming, "the lead singer of our band sucks!", the classic warehouse deal gone wrong featuring some of the Adkins footage, and Gary Daniels's wild Hawaiian shirt. This seems especially at odds with the intense dramatic performance Daniels gives, which ranks highly as one of his best acting moments ever. Yes, we would have liked some classic Daniels fights, but at least he got to shine in the drama department.

Director Wych Kaosayananda, alternately known as Wych Kaos, or, in the case of his Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever (2002), simply just Kaos, has been working with fan favorite Mark Dacascos a lot lately, in such films as The Driver (2019) and, of course, One Night in Bangkok (2020), which also features Kane Kosugi. Despite the...interesting...history regarding Zero Tolerance's editing process, he manages to turn in something watchable. But that's all. It's not great and there are a lot of problems here. So, in the end, it's probably a one-time watch for Adkins and Daniels fans.

Better than expected

[wyattonline-44144 · 7/10 · 7 August 2020]

I am a fan of revenge action movies. This is a good revenge movie, and I recommend it. Both leads are good action actors and believable. Fight scenes are well designed, well executed. Scott Adkins is a very peripheral character, but still interesting. Even a little twist ending.

But WHO blew up the coffee maker???

[sarastro7 · 4/10 · 19 November 2023]

Well. Hardly any Scott Adkins, hardly any Gary Daniels, as good as no martial arts, and a plot that makes virtually no sense. A girl is murdered, and several people who know how but won't say are killed by her angry father. Turns out at the end that she wasn't murdered, but just OD'ed. So WHY did those who knew about it choose to die rather than just tell her dad that she OD'ed? Makes NO sense at all!

What bothered me the most, though, was that the people who were with her when she OD'ed got blown up by a bomb-rigged coffee machine (I kid you not!) long before we knew what their part in the girl's death was. And the movie NEVER tells us who rigged that coffee machine!!! Jesus H. Christ! I suppose it could have been either Sammy, Steven or the noodle girl, but we don't hear anything about it! Gah.

Otherwise I thought it was a fairly decent movie with fairly decent acting, but, man, the story needed a LOT of work to pass muster. I doubt I'll ever watch it again unless it's to show people how bad it is.

Shameless attempt to free ride on Scott Adkins and on 2 Guns

[sofiaumenyora · 1/10 · 19 August 2022]

Terrible movie, with an awful lead and a rotten plot, where it's hard to root for anyone or anything.

Scott Adkins is featured first and centre on the poster, but in reality has a very small role.

The alternate title 2 Guns: Zero Tolerance suggests they tried to pass the film as a 2 Guns sequel as well.

Not bad, but cover is misleading

[cordelialeite · 6/10 · 12 August 2020]

Not a bad movie. The actors that play the 2 main characters convinced me. But the cover is really misleading. When the viewer see that image he/she thinks Scott Adkins will be the other guy's partner, but you won't see him much, only appearing in few scenes.

Now the ending ruined the movie. I don't mean the reason why the girl died, but how they chose to show it. What kind of grieving father wants to see a video of her daughter dying while participating in such a type of party? He committed his mistakes as a father, but I don't think he wasn't that type of man, who is ok in watching such a spicy video of his own daughter. That other girl could have just told it and his friend would watch it and confirm its veracity. It was very strange him watching that video, and I mean strange in a bad way.

Good movie BUT...

[dexterhsu-08861 · 6/10 · 23 October 2021]

If you come for Scott Adkin , don't blink , otherwise you might miss him.

I was then told he was added post production of the movie to attract more audience but it was really poorly executed. Overall story is pretty good I like it ..

The ending will leave u speechless...

[SpanishDann · 7/10 · 17 January 2019]

...Okay, well not speechless, but it's a nice twist on the whole revenge action movies genre. In the end the father realizes no one murdered his daughter but she dies because of her own choices and a bit of guilt perhaps as the father realizes that his daughter's choices were at least partly due to the choices he made not to be in her life.