Curbing Violence (2024) Review

“Curbing Violence” Poster

Was 2024 the year the Chinese web movie discovered irony? For a production titled Curbing Violence there are more bottles smashed over heads than is possible to count, bodies are frequently thrown into inanimate objects, and faces regularly subjected to a barrage of punches. Not that I’m complaining. With a scene stealing villainous turn in Black Storm from the same year, here Bao Beier (Journey to the West: Demon Chapter) reunites with director Qin Pengfei (Wings of Dread) for a production that essentially makes his superstition obsessed bad guy the main character (to the point said character is even given centre billing on the poster).

With ailing health and a pregnant wife, we meet Beier’s ride hailing app entrepreneur during his visit to a trusted monk, who advises a debilitating aura has attached itself to him. Apparently such auras spread from the head down, so in an amusingly specific explanation, the monk reveals that his body needs to be cleansed before it reaches his philtrum. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie where discussion about a philtrum is featured so prominently. Painting his body with a protective sutra, the other activity Beier needs to complete in order to be cleansed is to have intercourse with a female born on a specific day. Where to find such a female? Of course, thanks to economical storytelling contrivances, there just so happens to be a poor single mother driver who works at the same company with the exact birthday Beier needs to work his charms on.

Played by Zhao Xi Xi (Sunny Sisters), a company event is held as a pretence for the pair to meet, in which she’s given The Most Beautiful Female Driver Award (I’m not sure if Uber has a similar award category?), and Beier has the excuse to accompany her home to take some “publicity photos”. When Xi Xi rejects his advances though she ends up raped and murdered, with Beier using his connections to make it look like a suicide following an attempt to extort him after sex. Enter Jiang Luxia (Operation Red Sea), a cop living in the same building as Xi Xi, who were so close they considered themselves sisters. She attended the same company event as Xi Xi’s plus one and was already suspicious of Beier’s behaviour following the sudden attention, so makes it her personal mission to uncover the truth behind her closest friend’s death and sexual assault.

Curbing Violence is undoubtably the grittiest of Pengfei’s work as a director, sharing more in common with the kind of punch in the gut thrillers Korea churned out during the 2000’s and 2010’s than anything we’re used to seeing from China. Indeed there are many parts where the screen fades to black before either an extreme act of violence or sexual assault takes place, an indication perhaps that if Pengfei wasn’t based out of China, we’d be seeing far darker productions than what the current censorship limitations allow. What is clear is that far more is allowed now than the particularly suffocating restrictions that dominated the 2010’s. Beier is at his scenery chewing most despicable here, his obsession with following through with whatever guidance the monk provides becoming increasingly uncomfortable, especially when it involves his wife’s pregnancy.

Much like Pengfei has breathed a new lease of life into the likes of Xie Miao and Ashton Chen, here Jiang Luxia is given the opportunity to do the heavy lifting from an action standpoint. After debuting in 2009’s Coweb, apart from her roles in Dennis Law’s Bad Blood and Vampire Warriors (both from 2010), she’s spent most of her career in supporting parts, most criminally often ones that don’t utilise her martial arts talents. Here she’s given an opportunity to fully let loose, with an opening scene that sees her disguised as a human trafficking victim whose identity is revealed, leading to a ferocious one versus many brawl in a dilapidated building (complete with a raging maniac being kept in a cage!). Best of all? When backup finally arrives its led by Xie Miao, clocking in a cameo appearance as his cop character from the Fight Against Evil trilogy.

It’s a small detail, but one which is impossible not to appreciate, so here’s hoping we eventually get a Pengfei flick that has Luxia, Miao, and Ashton Chen headlining as a trio of unstoppable cops. Miao’s brief appearance also offers up an argument that Curbing Violence is to Luxia what Project S is to Michelle Yeoh. Sure, Luxia never got to co-headline a Fight Against Evil flick like Yeoh did with Jackie Chan for Police Story 3, but the principle still applies! Admittedly I’m not sure if the timelines really line up, as much like in my Black Storm review, the fact that here the story is specifically set in 2016 allowed me to indulge my “what happened in China in xxxx year to mean it had to be set then!?” fixation. Although apart from being the year it increased the one child policy to two, this time I’m drawing a blank, having been unable to connect this particular policy update to how it impacts the story. Anyone willing to help out?

On the action front Pengfei has enlisted his go-to crew, with Xiaohui Dui (Eye for an Eye 2) on action director duty, while Qiankun Li (Fight Against Evil 2) and Yi Wang (The Bodyguard) are credited as fight choreographers. It seems no Pengfei flick is complete without Liu Fengchao (The Butcher’s Blade) turning up in some capacity for the hero to face off against, and thankfully Curbing Violence isn’t the production to buck the trend. After an initial scuffle early on, the highlight belongs to when he returns as a knife wielding assassin on the staircase to Luxia’s apartment, leading to a lengthy fight in which he’s clearly channelling Wu Jing’s killer from Sha Po Lang. In all the Pengfei movies I’ve seen so far Fengchao turns up as a pre-final boss opponent, so considering I’ve been checking out his filmography in non-chronological order, it makes me grateful Fengchao was given the opportunity to be the actual final boss in 2026’s The Sin Trade.

If there’s any weak link to the action on display it’s Elmira Yi (Disc Fairy), cast as Beier’s half sister who acts as the Head of PR for his company. While it’s impossible to fault her acting performance, in her 2 face offs against Luxia there’s a feeling the choreography is just a couple of rehearsals away from getting the timing right, with some of her moves having a slight hesitancy to them in a way that’s noticeable. It’s a minor complaint, especially considering the fights take place within the confines of Luxia’s small apartment and an office stairwell respectively, the environments proving that Yi is clearly game to take some hits and bumps in the name of action filmmaking. However when everyone else is firing on all cylinder’s action wise, even the slightest dip in quality is noticeable.

Much like in Black Storm, while not an obvious final opponent in terms of appearance, here Beier once more steps up to clock in an impressive action performance against Luxia. I think this may be the first time in martial arts cinema that I’ve seen a final fight unfold in a corporate office space, which allows for monitors, name plates, hole punches, and even glass divides to be used as blunt force objects smashed over the head of your opponent. It’s a brutal fight that has both Luxia and Beier take on far more damage than would be humanely possible to keep going in reality, however in cinematic (webamatic?) terms the decision works. I admit I thought the final fade to black was going to be Luxia snapping Beier’s neck, but alas I remembered just in time – it’s still China after all.

A heady mix of dark thriller and brutal beatdowns, Curbing Violence is arguably Pengfei’s best all-round movie, delivering a solid story with equally solid action beats. If the success of Curbing Violence is to be defined by how closely it fits its title, then it could only be called a resounding failure. As it happens, that’s also exactly why it’s so enjoyable.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10