''Fistful of Vengeance'' is a 2022 American supernatural

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

Roel Reiné Roel Reiné (born 15 July 1970 in Eindhoven) is a Dutch film director. Occasionally he uses the alias John Rebel (''Bear'', ''Wolf Town''). His production company is called Rebel Film. Career Starting off directing television series and films ...

, and written by

Cameron Litvack Cameron Litvack (born 23 September 1980) is an American television producer and screenwriter. Career Litvack was born in Los Angeles, California. As a producer, he has worked on sixteen episodes of ''V 2009, V (2009)'', sixteen episodes of ''Ug ...

, Jessica Chou and Yalun Tu. The film serves as a follow-up to the first season of the television series '' Wu Assassins'', and stars Iko Uwais,

Lewis Tan Lewis Singwah Tan (born 4 February 1987) is an English actor and martial artist best known for portraying Lu Xin Lee in Netflix's ''Wu Assassins'', Shatterstar in ''Deadpool 2'' (2018), Gaius Chau in AMC's '' Into the Badlands'' and Cole Youn ...

, Lawrence Kao,

JuJu Chan JuJu Chan Szeto (; born Juliana Chan; 2 February) also known as JuJu Chan (), is a Hong Kong-born American actress, martial artist, singer, and writer. Chan pursued martial arts at a young age, an interest she kept up with into adulthood. She s ...

Pearl Thusi Sithembile Xola Pearl Thusi (born 13 May 1988) is a South African actress, model, and presenter. She is known for her roles as Patricia Kopong in the BBC/ HBO comedy-drama series ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'', Dayana Mampasi in the A ...

, Francesca Corney,

Jason Tobin Jason Tobin, credited in Chinese as To Jun Wai (杜俊緯), is a Hong Kong-British film and television actor best known for his work in the lead role of Young Jun in the Cinemax series ''Warrior''. Early life and education Tobin was born in Hon ...

, Rhatha Phongam and Simon Kuke. The film was released worldwide on February 17, 2022, on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

Plot

Kai, Lu Xin and Tommy travel to Bangkok to hunt down the killer of Tommy's sister Jenny, having found on her body an ancient talisman that leads them to Thailand. There, biotech billionaire William Pan approaches them, requesting that they bring to him his twin sister, underworld boss Ku An Qi, a

jiangshi A jiāngshī, also known as a Chinese hopping vampire, is a type of reanimated corpse in Chinese legends and folklore. The characters for "jiāngshī" are read goeng-si in Cantonese, cương thi in Vietnamese, kyonshī in Japanese, and gangsi ...

who has been consuming massive amounts of qi to expand her supernatural powers in order to take over the world. William explains to them that he and Ku are descendants of

Pangu Pangu (, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology who separated heaven and earth and became geographic features such as mountains and rivers. Legends The first writer to record the myth of Pangu was Xu Zheng during t ...

, the being who had shaped the universe, whom the first Wu Assassin killed after he went mad with power and whose essence is now contained within two talisman: one in the possession of William and the other Tommy had found on Jenny, which had formerly belonged to Ku. William tells them that Ku had killed Jenny while searching for Kai, the current Wu Assassin, but lost her talisman in a fight with her, and that now he can use both talisman to depower Ku and restore order to the universe. The trio agree to help William. Joined by Tommy's friend Preeya, the group plan to kidnap Ku from a meeting with the city's Triad bosses. However Ku uses mind control to make everyone in the building attack the group, while Kai is ambushed by long-time foe Zan, who is also working for Ku. They escape with the help of Zama, an

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

agent also after Ku and Lu Xin's former lover. The group eventually make their way to the safety of Preeya's village, where the village

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...

tells them that William is actually secretly working with Ku to attempt to reform Pangu so they can remake the world in their image. To do so, they require both talisman and Kai's qi. William and Ku persuade Preeya to steal the talisman from Tommy by offering to bring her dead family back to life, and she uses it to absorb some of Kai's qi. The village is attacked by Ku's men but Kai, Lu Xin, Tommy and Zama escape. The group tracks down William and Ku to an archaeological dig site where the first Wu Assassin fought Pangu. A remorseful Preeya helps Tommy and Zama defeat Ku, while Kai fights and kills Zan. However with Kai's qi William manages to reform Pangu, who takes over his body and pits a mind controlled Lu Xin against Kai. Kai is able to snap him out of it and the two defeat Pangu, trapping a dispossessed William underground. The group celebrates their victory with a day at the beach, but Kai tells them that he has to battle a

necromancer Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events ...

next.

Cast

Production

On February 26, 2021,

ordered a 90-minute film project titled ''Fistful of Vengeance'', acting as a follow-up to the first season of '' Wu Assassins''.

Living Films Living Films is an international film production company based in Thailand. They have produced feature films, documentaries, commercials, and television series including ''The Hangover Part II,'' ''Shanghai (2010 film)'', and ''Changeland''. Its ...

was involved in the production of the film, after serving in the series.

directed the film, whilst Cameron Litvack, Jessica Chou and Yalun Tu helmed the screenplay. After the film announcement, it was confirmed that Iko Uwais,

, Lawrence Kao and

will reprise their respective roles from the series in ''Wu Assassins: Fistful of Vengeance''. Additionally, it was confirmed that

, Francesca Corney,

, Rhatha Phongam and Simon Kuke were cast in the film. Filming took place in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

in early 2021. Speaking on the film's connection to the original series, Kao states:

Release

The film was released on February 17, 2022, on the streaming service

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 44 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

''Fistful of Vengeance''
on

* {{Roel Reiné 2022 films 2022 action thriller films 2022 crime thriller films 2022 martial arts films 2020s English-language films 2020s supernatural thriller films American films about revenge American action thriller films American crime thriller films American martial arts films American supernatural thriller films English-language Netflix original films Films based on television series Films set in Bangkok Films shot in Thailand Films directed by Roel Reiné Films scored by Toby Chu Triad films 2020s American films