Welcome to Sudden Death (2020) - KUNG FU KINGDOM
Martial arts action legend Michael Jai White stars as “Jesse Freeman”, a former soldier working as a security guard. A genuine martial artist known for his disciplined approach to training, MJW holds eight black belts in a variety of styles. As an accomplished actor he has delivered memorable performances in movies such as “Tyson”, “Spawn”, “Universal Soldier: The Return”, “Exit Wounds”, “The Dark Knight”, “Black Dynamite”, “Blood & Bone”, “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing”, “Never Back Down 2 & 3”, “Falcon Rising”, “Accident Man”, “Triple Threat” and many more.
Canadian actor Michael Eklund plays CIA agent turned terrorist “Jobe/ Alpha”. He has featured in several movies and popular television series including “Battlestar Galactica”, “Intelligence”, “Arrow”, “Bates Motel”, “Continuum”, “Altered Carbon”, “Wynonna Earp”, and “Van Helsing”, to name but a few.
Making up the support cast are Sabryn Rock as “Diana”, the wealthy target of the terrorists’ demands, Anthony Grant plays “Milli” a hip hop star, with Gary Owen appearing as “Gus”, the stadium maintenance man.
Gary Owens stars as Die Hard fan Gus
Bringing their fighting skills to the table for Team Bad Guy are Michael Jai White’s wife Gillian as “Gamma, and the acclaimed martial artist, trainer and choreographer Marrese Crump as “Omega”.
Jesse Freeman is a former special forces soldier and explosives expert now working as a security guard in a state-of-the-art sports arena.
Trouble erupts when a tech-savvy cadre of terrorists kidnap the team’s owner and Jesse’s daughter during opening night.
Facing a ticking clock and impossible odds, it’s up to Jesse to not only save them, but also a full house of fans.
A highlight is a three on one battle
Looking in as great a shape as he’s ever been, Michael Jai White plays U.S. soldier Jesse Freeman, who has been captured by a non-descript Middle Eastern enemy. The main titles have barely finished before he uses his impressive martial arts skills to escape his brutal torturers.
Fast forward to the present, and Jesse is now working as a security guard at a sports stadium. A simple situation dealing with a couple of unruly spectators demonstrates that Jesse still has a few tricks up his sleeve as he easily restrains them.
It’s not long before our bad guys are demonstrating their own skills and it’s immediately obvious that they’re ruthless killers. Unfortunately for them they have taken the wrong security guard’s daughter hostage.
Michael Jai White’s first encounter turns a weights room into a bruising battle arena. He also has a particularly vicious MMA-style fight with Gamma, played by his real life wife Gillian – hard hits and kicks are obviously a family trait!
Freeman methodically works through the bad guys as he makes his way around the stadium in search of his daughter Mara. He rarely uses anything but his fists and feet as weapons to bludgeon his opponents.
A highlight is a three-on-one fight in the changing rooms as Cypress Hill’s “How I Could Just Kill a Man” plays in the background, that builds to an excellent mano y mano duel with Marrese Crump. It’s the one time in the movie where I felt Freeman was actually facing an opponent of at least equivalent ability, and therefore posed a genuine threat to his health!
Jesse is taking his kids to the game of their lives
For the most part the fights are slickly choreographed with MJW performing authentic-looking fighting skills, with plenty of his favoured Kyokushin Karate thrown in. A few of the supporting cast occasionally look a little out of their depth in comparison to Michael Jai White, with the action looking at it’s best when stunt doubles take their place.
The original “Sudden Death” was one of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s better efforts, following a trend of “Die Hard on a Battleship”, “Die Hard on a Passenger Plane”, “Die Hard on a Speeding Bus” etc. that dominated many nineties action films. This iteration even jokingly refers to the series of classic Bruce Willis films!
Comparisons with JCVD’s original are going to be inevitable. In the nineties version, Van Damme felt like an everyman, blue collar guy, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jesse Freeman on the other hand looks physically superhuman and fights with such skill that you never doubt that the bad guys are in for a hiding!
Freeman will whoop everyone who stands between him and his daughter
The main villain in the original was played by a scene-chewing Powers Boothe, who took the ridiculous premise and just had fun with it. Michael Eklund plays it a little straighter, slightly unhinged, but ultimately less threatening and certainly less entertaining. To be fair to Eklund, it was a tall order to live up to.
Where this film excels over the original is the fight scenes.
There are many of them, all allowing Michael Jai White to play to his strengths. Particularly impressive in the action scenes is Marrese Crump as the cold and brutal bad guy “Omega”. I would have happily watched more featuring him. There is a great accompanying hip hop soundtrack that plays over the fights too.
Forget the original version exists and just enjoy watching Michael Jai White whooping everyone who stands between him and his daughter. With a running time of around 70 minutes, this is an uncomplicated fix of non-stop, slick martial-arts action.
Interview with Bren Foster on his new martial arts films “Mexicali” and “Beast” along with…
Blades of the Guardians delivers epic wuxia action, starring Jet Li, with Yuen Woo-ping’s masterful…
The debate around kung fu vs MMA sparks constant discussion in martial arts communities —…
Sanda is gaining recognition in MMA. Learn how this Chinese combat sport blends striking and…
Outsourcing shredding helps martial arts gyms protect member data, cut clutter, save staff time, and…
News feature on the trailer for the upcoming Hong Kong martial arts action ensemble “The…