An enjoyable fight fest
Summary
To Live Through Death doesn’t offer anything new in terms of story, but it does have plenty of brutal fights and the two leads are awesome making it an easy watch.
Plot: After a tragic loss of his family, Chen, an ex criminal changes his face with cosmetic surgery and becomes a cook in a restaurant. Fifteen years later a woman asks him for help against human traffic gangs.
Review: I had never heard of this movie until I saw it pop up on Hi-Yah! the other day. To Live Through Death is practically the same movie as the upcoming The Furious in terms of story and also has fantastic fight scenes.
It’s nothing new and is yet another movie about human traffickers, but as I always say they are the lowest form of life so watching them getting beaten and killed never ceases to be satisfying.
This is a fast paced 90 minutes with brutal beatdowns and a surprisingly emotionally charged story.
Spoiler alert – Andy On stars as Chen and Louis Fan plays Can who start off as opponents but as the story progresses, we discover they both want the same thing – to take down the local criminal gangs and to rescue Chen’s surrogate daughter Xiao Di from the traffickers.
Yu Kang is truly hateful as the villainous Fei Li who is practically immortal during the final showdown as he goes through a lot. He just has that smug arrogance that makes you truly hate an antagonist.
There are some fantastical elements like Chen’s almost superpowered punches, but I loved that especially when they are having that massive fight at the factory.
Overall, To Live Through Death is packed with some brutal beatdowns and both Andy On and Louis Fan are at their badass best. The story is nothing new and The Furious is superior, but this is an entertaining fight fest.