20 great movies from the past 20 years: SPL 2: A Time for Consequences

I’m counting down to the 2025 best-of-the-year season by recommending 20 of my favorite movies from the past 20 years. Here are the previous entries, if you want to catch up:

2005: Caché
2006: Undisputed II: Last Man Standing
2007: Sunshine
2008: Speed Racer
2009: Vengeance
2010: Unstoppable
2011: The Three Musketeers
2012: Eega
2013: Rope A Dope
2014: Hill of Freedom

Because I write and talk a lot about martial arts movies, I often get asked for recommendations from people new to the genre. One of my most frequent go-tos is SPL 2: A Time for Consequences, also known as Kill Zone 2. (Yes, it’s a sequel, but in name only – there are no narrative or character connections to the first movie). That’s because while the fight sequences are excellent, Soi Cheang’s scintillating crime thriller has so much more to offer: great performances from an all-star cast of action luminaries, gorgeous cinematography, and deep emotional stakes built around characters choosing to do the right thing (or not) in hard times. 

After going too deep undercover while infiltrating a brutal organ trafficking crime syndicate, Hong Kong cop Kit (Wu Jing) is framed and sentenced to life in prison in Thailand, run by a brutal warden (Max Zhang). There, he meets prison guard Tak (Tony Jaa), whose young daughter with leukemia needs a bone marrow transplant. Unbeknownst to both of them, Kit is a bone marrow match for Tak’s daughter. Meanwhile, the leader of the crime syndicate (Louis Koo) is desperately looking for a match for a heart transplant with his rare blood type, and will stop at nothing to get it – even if the only match is his own brother. 

The all-star cast, filled with Hong Kong luminaries and some of the biggest martial arts stars in the world, delivers. Wu Jing undergoes a full transformation in SPL 2, from dejected addict to full-on action hero. Tony Jaa completely sells his desperation as a father searching for any hope for his daughter, and that desperation pulsates through his fights in the movie. Max Zhang is absolutely terrifying as the warden. All slicked-back hair and fancy clothes, the design of his character works well in tandem with his general emotional detachment, but he’s so quick and precise that I believe he could kick a bullet out of the air without breaking a sweat. He’s a high-kicking, acrobatic terminator.

SPL 2 is an action movie about health: Failing bodies and the drive to fix them is what sets all of its gears into motion. It’s a great fit of subject and form, as the action genre itself is also about bodies – what they can do, what they can take. 

Action director Li Chung-Chi is one of multiple Jackie Chan Stunt Team veterans working on the movie, and along with director Soi Cheang, they make the most of the incredible skillsets of the stars and stunt team. The action is at its best when it matches Jaa’s propulsive Muay Thai (featuring the hardest-hitting elbows and knees in the business) against more responsive styles like Wushu, resulting in a fun mesh of Hong Kong and Thai action filmmaking. There are big, intricate set pieces in an airport, in the prison, and in a luxury hospital straight out of a Hitman level. There are gun fights, knife fights, and big falls. Crucially, SPL 2’s action is not empty – there are real emotional stakes for every fight, and for just about every character.

But SPL 2 is also a movie about jobs and family, and the choices we make because of them. When Kit’s uncle and supervisor, Wah (Simon Yam) discovers his nephew has been kidnapped and sent to a Thai prison, he ignores his orders and does whatever he can to save him, even directly saying “I’d rather lose my job than my nephew.” Tak works as a guard at a brutal prison, but his boss is good to him, giving him envelopes of cash to pay for his daughter’s medical treatment. But when Tak is confronted with the depths of the prison’s cruelty, he can’t just sit by and feign ignorance, especially after his boss offers an imprisoned child as a bone marrow donor for his daughter. He is compromised because of his job, but still retains his strong and unshakeable moral principles. 

“How far would you go to save your loved one?” is a common action movie theme. But unlike others, SPL 2 establishes a hard line of “not there.” It’s a movie about the lengths you’d go to ensure your loved ones’ safety in an unjust world, what it takes to stand true to your values in the face of that unjustness, and making sure you can still feel worthy of your loved one’s respect on the other side of it all. Tak’s storyline works especially well in contrast to the leader of the crime syndicate, who is trying to kill his own brother to steal his heart and justifies the many deaths he’s caused because of how many lives he’s saved through his organ trafficking ring. There’s no line he won’t cross for his own well-being, even if it means the end of a loved one. 

The seedy underbelly of SPL 2’s criminal world is shot by cinematographer Kenny Tse with dark tones without sacrificing visibility, contrasted with the brighter tones of the cities during the day, and light shines in through the windows of the prison to support the arcs of the characters. Director Cheang also has his moments of directorial flair, but not so much that it is distracting – a person’s wrist is cut and the camera focuses on the beads of their bracelets falling to the floor, a group of security guards are blocked facing away from what their boss is doing so they don’t have to confront the depravity of their job, attempted breakouts in a prison and hospital are cross-cut together.

SPL 2: A Time for Consequences is a tight, well-constructed martial arts melodrama with fantastic fight scenes, great performances, and a strong emotional core that drives it through some tough questions. Unlike other action movies, it doesn’t back out with easy answers, facing the hard truths of our world with courage while still managing to be an extremely entertaining thrill ride. Whether you’re a martial arts movie enthusiast or someone new to the genre, it’s a must-watch.

SPL 2: A Time for Consequences is streaming on the Criterion Channel, Prime Video, Hi-Yah!, free with a library card on Hoopla, and free with ads on Pluto TV.