THE WRATH OF VAJRA

Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven

Coming to DVD from director Wing-Cheong Law and Well Go USA Entertainment comes the story behind THE WRATH OF VAJRA.

This film tells the story of K-29 (Yu Xing) whose name is Vajra. As a child in 1930’s Japan, Vajra was sent by the Imperial Army to a place run by Amano (Yasuaki Kurata) that trained children. In the art of Hades he was trained to be an assassin along with many other children. One day while wrestling with his brother an accident kills the young boy and Vajra wants revenge.

Once an adult, Vajra returns to China and enters into a Shaolin Temple with the goal of protecting people from invaders. As the Hades cult is reestablished in China, they leaders begin buying children to once again train as assassins.

Vajra takes it upon himself to try and free the children only to discover that the Leader of the Hades (Steve Yoo) is a brother he trained with. The only way to save the children and avenge his brother is by defeating Tetsumaku Rai, Crazy Money and the Leader – and it’s too the death.

He must take one step at a time if he is to save them all!

FINAL WORD: Xing as Vajra stars in his first major film role and what a role it is. As Vajra, guilt over his brothers death had led him to not only get away from the Hades group but find peace in helping others. When the children are taken, so is a young boy who Vajra cares for. That is the center of the character and Xing brings such depth but still emotion that is clear. The most amazing fight scene is with Crazy Monkey and I think you’ll agree!

Steve Yoo as the Leader of Hades has guns for days! Every time his arm flexed I thought, “That’s just plain dangerous stuff”. I have seen Yoo before playing the role of Prince Wen in LITTLE BIG SOLDIER and Chi-Tak in MAN OF TAI CHI. He is big and he’s a badass to be sure. As Vajra walked away from being an assassin for the Hades, Yoo’s character embraces the cult and wants to take it to another level of greatness – to bad its in the wrong direction.

An interesting twist the other children originally taken into the Hades are all from different nationalities. Now, they come back as adults and it is actually quite amazing to see the brotherhood see each other as just that – brothers. Not based on color or nationality – but on a circumstance where none of that mattered. Kudos to writer Zhenjian Yang for taking it in that direction.

Other cast include: Heon Jun Name as Crazy Monkey, Baocheng Jiang as Tetsumaku Rai, Yamei Zhang as Eko, Matt Mullins as Bill, and Robert Cuenca as Arnold.

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give THE WRATH OF VAJRA four tubs of popcorn out of five. This was definitely the right film to watch on a rainy Saturday but then again I’d watch this on a sunny Saturday too!

The cinematography is fantastic with its rich colors. Director Law takes one particular scene of Vajra showing what will can do as the scene lighting goes straight to the mat, As actor Yu’s feet slide and his focus becomes intense, the inanimate fighting posts come alive. Just absolutely brilliant. That is just a brief moment in a film filled with excellence.

Well Go USA Entertainment is a theatre and entertainment company that brings only the best in Asian Cinema to North America. These titles are brought to theatres, DVD, Blu-ray, and digital formats. These films are also brought to television on cable and satellite programming. Releasing over 2,000 titles worldwide since 1994, Well Go USA continues to expand their releases with five to ten titles monthly. For more on their library go to www.wellgousa.com.

In the end – death is his destiny!