Formerly known as The Borderland, this action thriller stars a captured bounty hunter, Gabriel, who is promised his freedom if he can break several prisoners out of a North Korean military stronghold.
When a secret service agent goes missing, mercenary Gabriel is sent on a search and rescue mission to the Chinese border between North Korea. Investigating an abandoned work site, Gabriel is captured and taken to the compound where his target and several others are being held, and now must escape with his life as well as rescue the others if he is to return to his native country, France.
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The movie manages to successfully fuse elements of martial arts, spy, comedy and horror. For instance, there is a lot of humour around and about the topic of North Korea and there is a very cool scene where simultaneous fights are taking place on two floors of the same building and the camera angle actually inverts to prepare the viewer for what comes next.
The audience also gets treated to skillful high spinning kicks of five time world Karate champion Seydina Balde in the lead role as Gabriel, that he delivers in artistic, stylish and effortless fashion.
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The shifts in mood and tone are unpredictable, which is not necessarily a good thing.
Whether by design or otherwise, it does not help that the protagonist, the hero, speaks English with an odd accent.
The DVD cover is also a bit misleading, as there is no armed white soldier and all the combat in the movie is very low key unlike a war zone
Verdict
If testosterone-fueled and high-kicking action thrillers are your thing, this is worth checking out.
