Bullet Points: Kill Order

I love watching guys and gals who are normally known as stunt performers get their opportunities to be the lead in an action movie. No one does action like them. There is a reason that we hear so much about actors like Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise doing their own stunts. It’s a big deal when an actor can do anything more than look pretty. I won’t say that Chris Mark is pretty. Hell, I’m not the kind of guy to call any man pretty, especially after watching him beat the crap out of a bunch of guys. But I am more than willing to give him a shot to take Tom Cruise’s spot as the “short action star in grey t-shirt”.

Synopsis: High school student David Lee (Chris Mark) sometimes has violent visions that cause him to freeze in panic. The visions take on a whole new meaning after a group of armed men attempt to abduct David until his vision turns him into a teenage ass-kicking machine. David finds himself on the run from a mysterious and dangerous group with nefarious plans for his “gifts”.

• You’re short: The first thing I noticed about Kill Order was its short runtime. At only 77 minutes, it was either going to be the quickest movie I’ve watched in a while or one that truly understands that not every action movie needs two hours of the actors staring off into the distance.

• You’re also short: Chris Mark is better known for his stuntwork in movies like The Hunger Games, Suicide Squad, and Pacific Rim but that doesn’t mean that he can’t lay down some acting of his own. Mark plays the young David is often times catatonic and confused. Like most young kids, he is experiencing new things with his body and thoughts that sometimes seem fantastical. Unlike most kids his age, these changes aren’t hair in new places but instead glowing blue eyes and martial arts skills that would make the Wu Tang Clan spooge their pants. When the action starts, don’t look away because you’re likely to miss some pretty incredible moves from the guy.
• Not a good look: A group of gunmen that resemble a SWAT team break into the classroom of David Lee and attempt to take him away. He goes into berserker mode like Wolverine and annihilates the dudes without a problem. It means that Davis is on the run from the group for the rest of the film. Again, the action is very well done but just the sight of the armed men entering the school was a bit jarring.

• Nameless cannon fodder: As David runs around hoping answers to his problem will just fall into his lap, he’s attacked a few times by what I considered “thrift store ninjas”. From what I gathered, they were others who were similar to David; highly trained in martial arts and weapons, partially brainwashed to do their master’s bidding, and not very threatening looking. The moments lead to some really good fight scenes between David and the black-clad foes but there still wasn’t much in the way of story exposition. I was fearful that the movie would turn into one long chase/fight scene…which isn’t the worst thing in the world to be.
• I wear my sunglasses all the time: The main bad guy, whose name I honestly don’t remember, wasn’t the most imposing physical specimen. He is obviously more of a Lex Luthor kind of villain than a Bane kind. We don’t see him strutting around kicking the crap out of guys but others clearly fear him. That’s more than you can say for many movies like this and it’s a welcome sight for Kill Order since we don’t get much time with the evil dudes and it’s crucial for a movie like this to make David’s struggle as difficult as possible.

• A weak finish: David goes on a bit of a rollercoaster ride throughout the film. Well, I guess a rollercoaster would suggest he has ups as well as downs but David’s story is mostly downs, to be honest. Shit just seems to worse for him as he continues to run and fight and run some more. It’s like a really rad Spartan Race where they throw in a few martial artists every couple of miles to try and kill you. Trademark that! Unfortunately, the movie fails to finish strong. There are a few scenes where I totally checked out and I was almost as confused as David’s character by the end of it.

I would never order you to do anything but you might want to check out these Bonus Bullet Points…if you want:

• I watched the movie on Hulu with my son sleeping upstairs. It was so quiet that I found myself blasting the volume during all of the non-violent parts. It was very annoying trying to listen to the movie so I eventually turned the closed captioning on.
• David hits a sweet german suplex through a coffee table.
• David runs around with a girl from his school. Why she cares about him at all is anyone’s guess.
• The faux SWAT guys throw a smoke grenade of some kind into a room with David in it. Then they just run in there themselves without any breathing apparatus. I assumed it was some kind of gas grenade but if that was the case then they just gassed themselves. Apparently these guys just threw in a smoke grenade for the cool nightclub effect.

The Verdict: Kill Order was a mixture of good and bad. It’s a short indie film with a young actor not known for his acting skills. That isn’t the bad. That was more the good. Chris Mark did a fine job with the material and the fight scenes were really good. You should watch the movie solely based on the fight scenes alone. Where the movie lags behind is in the story. I was never drawn into it and found myself just waiting for the next fight scene when Mark would get to show off his skills. The ending also left me with a sour taste in my mouth, but I still found enough in the short 77 minute runtime to enjoy the watch. Great fight scenes and visuals, a good performance from most of the actors, and a lackluster finish make this movie a decent choice for a weekend night.