Triple Threat (2019)

Triple Threat (2019)

Starring: Tony Jaa, Tiger Chen, Iko Uwais, Celina Jade, Michael Jai White, Scott Adkins, Michael Bisping, Ron Smoorenberg
Director: Jesse V. Johnson
Action Director: Tim Man

 

Triple Threat comes across as being the East-Southeast Asian equivalent to The Expendables in terms of onscreen talent. It started life as a vehicle for Chinese martial artist Tiger Chen (Man of Tai Chi and The Kung Fu Traveler films) called The Makeshift Squad. That project did not go forward, but eventually evolved into this film, teaming him with Thai action sensation Tony Jaa and Indonesia heavy hitter Iko Uwais (Merantau and The Raid movies). Michael Jai White, who had previously worked with Jaa on The Skin Trade, joined the project, as did Scott Adkins. Frequent Adkins collaborator Jesse V. Johnson—Green Street Hooligans 2; Savage Dog; Accident Man; and The Debt Collector—took on directing duties and needless to say, expectations were high. The project was announced in 2017 and had wrapped up production the following year. It saw theatrical release in China in early 2019 and got an American DVD release shortly afterward.

The film is set in the fictional Southeast Asian nation of Maha Jaya (played by Thailand). Rampant criminal activity has posed a threat to the hardworking Chinese community there, thus giving us a subtle-but-visible pro-Chinese message. This prompts a filthy-rich heiress, Xiao Xian (Celina Jade, also of The Skin Trade), to give up her pampered lifestyle and dedicate herself to ridding the country of the criminal element and boosting the local economy. Obviously, not everybody is going to like this sort of humanitarian mission.

Switch to the jungles of Maha Jaya, where a team of mercenaries led by Deveraux (White) is searching for prisoner camp. Assisting them are two trackers, Long Fei (Chen) and Payu (Jaa), former military officers. When they reach the camp, a Predator-esque shootout commences and the mercenaries make short work of the opposing soldiers. Among the dead is the wife of one of the guards, Jaka (Uwais). He scuffles briefly with Payu before being knocked out by the concussive force of a grenade explosion. We learn that the “women and children” that the two trackers thought they were rescuing are in fact a ruse: the mercenaries came to free one of their number, Collins (Scott Adkins). Colllins is “rescued” and the camp is destroyed. Only Jaka remains and he has only one thing on his mind: revenge.

Jaka forms an uncomfortable partnership with Long Fei and Payu, whom we learn were betrayed by Deveraux and his men. The Indonesian soldier starts manipulating both groups in his bid for revenge. Meanwhile, Collins and his team have received the order to kill Xiao Xian. Through a series of mishaps, she ends up on the run with Payu and Long Fei. Sooner or later, this is going to translate into some Grade-A mayhem.

Much like The Expendables, the plot of Triple Threat is a thin, frail creature that exists only to get some of the best martial artists in the business into a single film. Evil mercenaries? We’ve seen that a dozen times. Former associates (or comrades) getting betrayed? A dime a dozen. Survivor of an ambush seeking revenge? Pretty standard fare. Anyone expecting anything resembling a thoughtful plot will come away disappointed and would best abandon such expectations from the outset. In fact, you may argue that the movie doesn’t even get its thin plot right: several characters are introduced, but have little bearing on the story, like the Chinese ambassador and Michael Wong’s “only Asian crime boss in Asia who doesn’t speak an Asian language.” Heck, we never even learn the real motives of the femme fatale ordering the hit on Xiao Xian in the first place!

The acting is all over the place. Adkins and Jai White are veterans of this kind of thing, so they’re always fun to watch. Of the three Asian leads, Iko Uwais gives the best performance, demonstrating a knack for drama that his two co-stars visibly lack. Tony Jaa was a charisma vacuum in his earlier years, but has developed a sort of goofy charisma through his work in Hollywood (see xXx: Return of Xander Cage for a good example). That serves him better than when he’s being dead serious like in his Thai films. Tiger Chen is easily the most wooden member of the main cast, although he makes up for it in his fight sequences.

Speaking of which, the action scenes were helmed by Tim Man, best known for his work with Scott Adkins, including the stellar Ninja: Shadow of a Tear. The action is more or less evenly split between 80s-style “bodybuilder with a machine gun” sort of action and the martial arts brawls that most viewers hope to see. There are three big gunfights: the aforementioned scene in the jungle; the assassination attempt on Xiao Xian; and lengthy Terminator-esque sequence in which the mercenaries lay waste to an entire police station. These sequences are definitely more Commando than The Killer, but gorehounds will surely get off on the squibs on display.

The fight action starts off low key, but gradually improves until it reaches “epic” levels at the climax. Tony Jaa has arguably not looked this good since Ong Bak 2. Following the end of the Ong Bak trilogy, his career has been marred by thankless cameos (Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy), unnecessary wire assistance (SPL 2: A Time for Conseqeuences); and general lackluster choreography (Paradox). I’m happy to say that Jaa gives us some of his best fighting of his career, even surpassing the Ong Bak movies in some regards. He doesn’t reach those films in terms of mind-boggling stunts, but he gives all of his best moves—double cartwheel kicks; flip kicks; flying knee smashes, etc.—within the framework of intricately-choreographed exchanges of more basic hand and foot techniques. The crowning achievement is the final fight with Scott Adkins, which starts out as a vicious one-on-one battle, becomes a two-on-one when Iko Uwais joins in, and then ends with Jaa taking Adkins on by himself again. Adkins’ patented flying tae kwon do kicks are all there and the two combatants just put on a great choreography clinic.

Tiger Chen, the Man of Tai Chi himself, gets the second most number of fight scenes. After the opening shootout in the jungle, we meet Chen and Jaa participating in underground fights. Chen gets to fight an irate Iko Uwais in this sequence. Both men participate in a complex exchange of hand techniques, with Chen’s wushu skills getting a nice workout. He also gets to perform a nice jumping double back kick against Uwais, who uses more conventional silat moves. Later on, he gets to face off with British UFC champion Michael Bisping in a more conventional fight. There is some brief wire assistance in one of the grappling moves, but nothing that would take you completely out of the movie. The two have a rematch at the end, which is more of the same, but even more brutal. Once more, Chen is given more opportunity to show off his Northern Longfist handwork and applied tai chi techniques.

Finally, Iko Uwais probably gets the least opportunities to strut his stuff, even if he ultimately the dramatic anchor of the film. Uwais throws down with both Jaa and Chen in the first act. During the big firefight at the police station, Uwais has an all-too brief scuffle with Chocolate’s Jeeja Yanin. Both of them throw a few decent, if unremarkable, kicks before Uwais kills her in a rather excessive way. At the finale, Uwais faces off with Michael Jai White. Although White does not use a lot of his patented aerial kicks, he kills it with the powerful handwork. The Merantau veteran, however, has his best moments in the aforementioned kerfuffle with Tiger Chen. Viewers expecting the next The Raid or Ong Bak will undoubtedly be disappointed with the results of the action. But those who disliked The Expendables 3 because it didn’t have enough violence, fight action, and real action actors, should find a lot to enjoy here.