‘2 Guns: Zero Tolerance’ VOD Review
Stars: Dustin Nguyen, Scott Adkins, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Gary Daniels, Prinya Intachai, Kane Kosugi, Ammy Chanicha, Steven Clarke, Natalie Lorence, Yuhkoh Matsuguchi, Damian Mavis, Charlie Ruedpokanon, Ron Smoorenburg | Written and Directed by Wych Kaosayananda
Ahhhh, movie marketing – that most venerable of fib-tellers… 2 Guns: Zero Tolerance is the latest movie from writer/director Wych Kaosayananda, who previously helmed Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever and Tekken 2 (which I liked a lot more than most it would seem). Now when I say latest, it’s the latest VERSION of this film released. You see, 2 Guns: Zero Tolerance has something of a troubled history. Not only does this film have nothing to do with the Denzel Washington/Mark Wahlberg film 2 Guns; it also doesn’t really star Scott Adkins!
For 2 Guns: Zero Tolerance, aka Zero Tolerance, started out life as the 2012 action movie Angels, a crime drama about two friends – one a cop in Thailand, the other formerly in special forces – who hunt down the murderer of the police officer’s daughter. Now Angels apparently had an official release in Vietnam of all places (at least according to my research) but Kaosayananda found it difficult to sell the film elsewhere due to being more drama than action. So, jump forward to 2015 and the film has been re-cut, re-edited and had Scott Adkins thrown into the mix, for all of 10-15 minutes in a fight scene with hero Dustin Nguyen, in order to use his growing action-movie reputation to sell the film to unknowing and unsuspecting audiences (like me – I bought and paid for the film on iTunes, I’m so not getting that £7 back!). And for those on a Kosugi kick (after all, there have been plenty of Sho Kosugi films release in the UK recently), prepare to be disappointed… Kane Kosugi – son of Sho and another of this films top-billed stars – is in the movie for LESS time than even Scott Adkins!
As it exists now, 2 Guns: Zero Tolerance tells the story of Johnny (Nguyen) who is informed that his daughter, Angel, has turned up dead in Bangkok by detective Peter (Sahajak Boonthanakit), who also happens to be the girls godfather! Travelling to Thailand Johnny teams up with Peter to track down Angel’s killer, taking down anyone – including drug pusher Steven (Scott Adkins) and pimp Sammy (Gary Daniels) – who stand in their way.
Hold on, did I just mention Gary Daniels? Indeed I did. You see, not only does this film feature Brit martial arts star Adkins, but also his compatriot Daniels – in a role that wastes his talents too… For Daniels character is reduced to appearing in dramatic scenes only, meaning he doesn’t even get to flex some arse-kicking muscle as is typical for his films! Which to be fair SHOULD be expected, give that despite being advertised as an action movie, 2 Guns: Zero Tolerance is actually more a detective movie of the “HK crime drama wannabe” variety.
And that’s the whole story with 2 Guns: Zero Tolerance. It’s a waste. A waste of the talents involved; a waste of the distributors time and money pressing discs; and most definitely a waste of the audiences time, who would be better served tracking down ANY of Adkins’ or Daniels’ other films to see them in much better roles. in short. AVOID.
2 Guns: Zero Tolerance is out now on DVD and VOD from 4Digital Media.