A highly skilled operative is sent to stop her previous colleagues when nuclear warheads are stolen.
Now available on NBCUniversal’s Xumo Play
Written by Tatiana Neva and Doug Tochioka and co-directed by Benny Tjandra and Tochioka, Prey of Wrath has an interesting enough story with some decent direction. The story here goes a lot like you’d expect knowing the genre and the log line, but it doesn’t mean that it ever is boring. The film has a well-known formula, but it works and it makes for some action sequences throughout with 2 strong ladies in the lead and one of the supporting roles. The writing is decent, and the direction is decent, however both could have used a bit more punching up or a bit more attention to details here and there.
The cast here is why most folks will come to watch this film with Tatiana Neva showing what she can do in the lead. The lady kicks a lot of behinds and makes a point for her capacity at fights, hand to hand or gun, where she shines here. Her acting is decent with some really solid scenes through the film (and a few that felt off but not too many). The supporting cast here is filled with a lot of actors most folks won’t recognize while the rare few hard core action film fans might recognize them. That is, until you get to Cynthia Rothrock who gets to show what she can do and what she does so well. Her part is a bit limited, but she clearly has some fun with it. The rest of the cast is uneven with some truly flat performances, but the action throughout the runtime really helps make the viewer get past those and into the story instead.
The cinematography here has some issues, especially early on with what looks to be sequences of day-for-night that are all blue-tinged, which is usually the dead giveaway for these. That choice may have come down the pipeline and may also be due to budgetary restrictions more than to the cinematographer. The work here, cinematography-wise, was done by Luis DeStefano and Talon Tears, which may explain why some of the scenes are fairly well shot and others just don’t fit. Of course, as a viewer, it’s pretty much impossible to tell who to give the good scenes and who to blame for the bad ones, so the cinematography can only be graded as uneven.
Prey Of Wrath is a fun action film with a strong female lead, and it brings in the queen of martial arts action films as an homage. The look of things, from cinematography to set decor, shows that the budget was on the lower end of the scale. Still, the fights are fun, the lead acting is good, the writing and direction are decent, so there is something here for action fans to enjoy.