“Kung Fu Killer” (also known as “Kung Fu Jungle”) is a hardcore martial arts movie starring Donnie Yen (“Flash Point”, “Shanghai Knights”). It takes itself very seriously and reminded me a little bit of “The Raid”. There’s nothing wrong with it as such but it could have been substantially better.

A vicious serial killer (Baoqiang Wang “Mr. Tree”) is murdering martial artists. Hahou Mo (Yen) is a prisoner that believes he can help the authorities find the man responsible for the grisly crimes. To find the killer, one must understand the mind of a true martial artist. A deadly game between warriors has commenced.

I really do like Donnie Yen as a martial artist because he has some truly impressive skills. His performances are not quite as enjoyable as those given by Jackie Chan (“Rush Hour”) or Jet Li (“Fist Of Legend”) but he usually does a reasonable job. I think the problem with his character here is that we either get too much information or too little. Either make him a mysterious figure or really help us to get behind him. The villain is rather forgettable. The police characters are a little dull. Everybody does a good job during the fight scenes.

“Kung Fu Killer” has a somewhat interesting premise and with Donnie Yen in the lead, this could have been a terrific movie. The fight scenes are very intense but very few of them are memorable. The plot and the characters also had the potential to be a lot more engaging. The only thing that’s really bad is the special effects for the trucks during the final battle. The rest of the movie is okay but it leaves you wondering about what could have been. This is clearly a film made by people that love the martial arts genre as we see posters of Bruce Lee’s “The Big Boss” and Jackie Chan’s “Drunken Master” plays on a television in one scene.