Review | Road to Vendetta movie review: Jeffrey Ngai plays an assassin in illogical lead-role debut
A John Wick-inspired action thriller co-produced by Hong Kong and Japan, Road to Vendetta is a textbook case of style over substance
2.5/5 stars
Any suspicion that logic would prevail over the cool factor is dispelled in the opening scene, when No 4, the poker-faced Hong Kong assassin played by Ngai, engages his unarmed target in a brutal brawl on a moving tram before finally strangling him. He could have simply started with the strangulation.
The “vendetta” in the film’s English title refers partly to No 4’s traumatic childhood, during which he survived a mystery attack that resulted in his mother’s beheading, before being taken in by a secret organisation of assassins. The connection between these events is as straightforward as one might guess.