Donnie Yen is easily one of the best martial arts action stars around. There is no denying the impact he continues to make in the Asian market with films like the Ip Man series and shows no signs of slowing down. In 2014 his film Iceman was released with the promise of being the first chapter but never heard much after that. Finally the next chapter of the series is coming with Iceman: The Time Traveler, but does it offer up the much needed conclusion to the original or will be stuck frozen in time?

 

Iceman: The Time Traveler follows Ying, a palace guard from the Ming Dynasty who is buried and frozen in time by an avalanche during a fierce battle. Brought back to life in the present day, Ying embarks on a quest for the only thing that can correct the wrongs of history – The Golden Wheel of Time. Ying sets out on his dangerous journey, never knowing every step he takes is leading him closer to a deadly trap. I was not a huge fan of the original film as it came off silly more than anything and all the action focused on wire work as opposed to really utilizing Yen’s natural abilities. Despite that with its ending and being such a huge fan of Yen I needed to see this next chapter.

 

This follow-up gives fans a quick recap before jumping right into the story that seems to be missing some steps. Maybe I missed something, but it seemed like it changed pretty quickly and alliances were formed way quicker than they should have given the previous film. Despite that I can say that taking this story back to the past did add a bit more fun to the mix but as expected was a bit all over the place. This is more of the time travel aspect which is typically the case as they try to make it all work. Yen is great as always trying to make the material work, but like its predecessor it’s not all that much. The action once again focuses on the wire work, but it did feel like they had a bit more straight forward fight sequences as well.

 

In the end this is still an entertaining film that works together alongside the original to make it better as well. Individually they fall kind of flat and are way sillier at times than you might think. I recommend checking out the first chapter just called Iceman before checking this one out available now on Blu-ray and DVD then grab your copy of Iceman: The Time Traveler and decide for yourself when it hits Blu-ray and DVD on February 19th from Well Go USA.