With an Expendables like get together of some of the top martial-art genre movie stars, Triple Threat brings in the promise of a lot of bone crunching fun. Scott Adkins, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Tiger Chen and veteran Michael Jai White team up under the guidance of director Jesse V. Johnson, who did some good work in his previous exploits with Adkins in Accident Man and The Debt collector. But does the sum total of the cast deliver a better punch than the individual brilliance we have seen from these actors before? Unfortunately not. Triple Threat builds up on its promise but starry cast does not shine as much as any fan of the genre would have liked.

The premise of the plot is simple and it does not waste any time to get the action going. The movie begins with Scott Adkins being freed from captivity from a MI6 black site by his fellow group of assassins who take the help of local guides Payu (Tony Jaa) and Long Fei (Tiger Chen). Both of them work under the misconception that they are helping out the good guys. As they attack the camp, the carnage kills the wife of Iko Uwais who is left injured in the destroyed camp. Jaa and Chen are also left for dead but they survive and plan for revenge. They are joined by Uwais who initially blames them for his wife’s death. After some initial complications, the plot centres on a billionaire Chinese heiress (Celina Jade) who become the target of the Adkins and his team, including Michael jai White and Michael Bisping.

The overall plot lacks logic and coherence but when all you are looking for is a magical combination of kicks and elbow strikes, such shortcomings can be overlooked. The screenplay makes it difficult to focus on the much awaited hand-to-hand combat as gunfire occupies a major part of the first half. The gun-play is very practically staged but in the presence of so many top martial artists from different styles it seems out of place. The director does insert some fights in between but none of them are exciting enough. The movie takes its time to set up the stage and rewards with some good fight choreography in the third act. It creates space for all the stars to face up with each other but the intensity of the fights that we have seen in the previous movies from these actors is sorely missing.

Another stumbling block of the movie is the English pronunciation of the leading stars, especially Jaa and Chen, which makes much of the dialogue seem forced. Uwais does slightly better but his motives throughout the movie are strangely deprived of logic. Some of the dialogues are breezy and that is one of the entertaining aspects of the movie. Uwais nonchalantly taunting Adkins and White as out of shape martial artists was definitely one of them. Scott Adkins steals the show with his bad guy portrayal and Michael Jai White is commanding in every scene he is present in.

The action choreography is done by Tim Man who did a stellar job in Ninja Two. But somehow Triple Threat lacks that nimble and fluid choreography that makes such movies a delight to watch. On the whole the fights lack the excitement that they deserved and some of them are rather underwhelming. If you are expecting something in the level of The Raid, the Undisputed series or Ong Bak, you will be disappointed. For Iko Uwais, things does not even move into Headshot level and he spends most of the movie getting beaten up. Michael Jai White remains underutilized in the action department which is a pity. action department which is a pity. Tiger Chen shows some spark in bits and pieces. It is Adkins and Jaa who deliver the best fight sequences and at last we get to see some of the aerial kicks which are trademarks of these two. In these few moments, the movie offer glimpses of how good it could have been.

As a VOD title, Triple Threat is a fun watch for just seeing the cast working together but it is unable to capitalize on the talented cast. For fans of the genre, waiting for Ip Man 4 is perhaps the next best option.

By: Joy Jovani

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