1 of 5 | Scott Adkins stars in “Prisoner of War,” in theaters and video-on-demand Sept. 19. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA
Prisoner of War, which screened Friday at the Big Bad Film Fest in Glendale, Calif., reunites the stars of the Debt Collector films, Scott Adkins and Louis Mandylor. In this movie, Mandylor directs Adkins in an impressive vehicle tailored to his martial arts skills.
The story begins in 1950 Tokyo, where Royal Air Force Wing Commander James Wright (Adkins) arrives at the Ito Dojo looking for Lt. Col. Ito. It is a great way to open the film, with Adkins taking on an entire dojo of fighters like Bruce Lee and Mr. Miyagi did in their days.
The flashback to World War II gets right to the action as well. Wright crashes in the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines and brutally takes out some Japanese soldiers in the jungle before he is ultimately captured.
Ito (Peter Shinkoda) leads the prisoner of war camp in Bataan and orders Wright to be executed. Wright overpowers Ito’s men, leading Ito to put Wright in a deathmatch fight to make an example of him. Wright also wins this fight, however.
The plots of martial arts movies need only adequately establish a premise that revolves around several escalating fights. Prisoner of War’s script, by Mark Clebanoff from a story by Adkins, adds a bit of justifiable subtext.
Ito is determined to find a fighter who can beat Wright to demonstrate Japan’s superiority over America. That is his political motivation, but it’s also clear Ito wants to best Wright for his own ego.
Plus, Ito knows nobody is coming to rescue Wright. He has time to play games with his prisoner and wants to defeat Wright before shooting him.
Later, it becomes apparent Wright also speaks Navajo, a language that was used as a code in World War II. At that point, Ito wants to break Wright to make him translate Navajo, so Wright has even more reason to withstand punishment.
Adkins has appeared in theatrical movies like Expendables 2, John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Killer’s Game, and has starred in his own direct-to-video or video-on-demand vehicles since 2009’s Ninja and 2010’s Undisputed III, which made his Undisputed II antagonist the hero.
Fans know that to watch Adkins fight is a thing of grace and intensity. Whether one-on-one, taking on three at a time, or resisting a whole group of Japanese soldiers, Adkins flips and kicks up a storm.
Mandylor directs a thrilling period piece. Keeping the focus on the camp and the surrounding forest means he can get all those details right without having to create the entire theater of war.
Some of the CGI aircraft flying over look sketchy, but such effects often look dubious in huge studio blockbusters, too. At worst, Prisoner of War is in good company, and the planes aren’t the most important part of the film.
Wright finds some allies in other Americans in the camp, such as Sgt. Villanueva (Michael Copon) and Captain Collins (Cowboy Cerrone). Theresa (Gabbi Garcia), a nurse in the camp infirmary, becomes a friend too.
The allies team up in exciting escape attempts in addition to Wright’s solo fights, making Prisoner of War more than just a fight movie. Prisoner of War is a full-bodied throwback to physical action movies where the heroes really get their hands dirty.
Prisoner of War opens in theaters and video-on-demand Sept. 19.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
