Kung Fu Games (2024) Movie Review & Ending Explained: Will Sarah and Mike Escape, or Are They Trapped in Calvin's Endless Sadistic Game? (2025)

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“Kung Fu Games” is a 2024 action thriller directed by Ryan C Jaeger. The screenplay, by Jaeger and H Daniel Gross, follows a group of fighters who suddenly find themselves trapped in an unknown place. They must fight their way with highly skilled martial arts fighters to survive. In this life-and-death situation, they bond with each other to stand a better fighting chance, but things do not always go their way. Still, they try to fight their way out of the mess. The cast of this survival thriller stars Caitlin Dechelle, Mark Strange, Jade Xu, Jose Manuel, Lathrop Walker, and Matt Goodwin.

Spoilers Ahead

Kung Fu Games (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

“Kung Fu Games,” directed by Ryan C Jaeger, follows five fighters trapped in a strange place under mysterious circumstances. They eventually realize they are part of a game run by a sadistic mastermind.

What happens in ‘Kung Fu Games’ (2024)?

“Kung Fu Games” begins in a strange setting with five people: Sarah Ludlow (Caitlin Dechelle), Mike Fischer (Mark Strange), Maly Wu (Jade Xu), Graham Gunner (Jose Manuel), and Alex Carvalho, trapped inside a room. It almost looks like the interior of a spaceship, but none of them are sure what is happening. They see a timer at the top of the room. As it ends, the door opens up. Then, they are forced to enter a forest covered with either smoke or fog. Soon, they find themselves surrounded by a bunch of martial arts people. Since Alex gets hurt, Mike carries him back inside their new room.

The five wonder what is happening to them but have no clue. Soon, a voice prompts Alex to enter another room. The moderator does not allow anyone else to follow Alex. Soon, the moderator sends everyone else, one by one, to a room filled with fighters. They must fight their way to the next room. Eventually, Mike, Maly, Sarah, and Graham enter the same room but do not find Alex. While stuck inside, Eric Lamb (Matt Goodwin) arrives on an island to meet his old friend, Calvin Prince (Lathrop Walker). Calvin became wealthy, although Eric did not. Eric is impressed by Calvin’s display of wealth.

Who is the moderator behind the sadistic game?

After Eric enters the island, Calvin impresses him with his grand set-up. He brings Eric to a place that looks like a series of abandoned sets from a film or TV studio. There are piles of things everywhere, but there are rarely any people behind Calvin and his security personnel. After Eric warms up to this place, Calvin shows him the game he is moderating. We realize that Calvin is the moderator behind the sadistic game, and Mike, Maly, Sarah, and Graham are his victims. He subjects them to extreme torture for personal enjoyment as he justifies it by calling it an unpredictable entertainment with high stakes that movies otherwise lack.

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Eric gets mighty impressed by Calvin’s elaborate imitation of movie sets. Soon after, Calvin asks Eric to moderate the game and command the players to their next stages. Initially, Eric considers it fun since he does not notice anything lethal. However, he soon notices a group of fighters kill Maly. He realizes that Calvin’s game is a death trap for these people. So, he contemplates leaving the island and abandoning the opportunity. Calvin claims that Eric is free to do so, but Eric fears he will get killed if he tries to leave. Meanwhile, the contestants/victims realize they are part of a game.

Kung Fu Games (2024) Movie Ending Explained:

Why does Calvin torture people in his sadistic game?

Kung Fu Games (2024) Movie Review & Ending Explained: Will Sarah and Mike Escape, or Are They Trapped in Calvin's Endless Sadistic Game? (1)

Graham, a famous action star recently dropped from a project, reveals Calvin’s plan behind the game. Besides Calvin, wealthy parties bet on players, winning or losing. Calvin makes money for himself and his clients by making choices in the game, even at the cost of human sacrifices. Whether Graham or the other contestants, they agreed to this opportunity since they faced some issues outside their lives. While Sarah, Mike, and Graham try to find a way to survive, Eric joins Calvin to moderate the game, claiming he wants to know how it ends.

During a later fight, Graham gets killed. Calvin speaks with the fighter who was sent to kill them. She reveals that they are all players in Calvin’s game fighting to survive. In the moderator room, Eric suddenly attacks Calvin to help Sarah and Mike escape. Calvin does not stop the two. Instead, he returns to the game with other contestants and keeps the cycle going. This time, he also includes Eric in the group since Eric disobeyed and hurt him. In the end, we do not know whether Sarah and Mike successfully escaped the island or not. However, the game continues with other players/fighters.

Kung Fu Games (2024) Movie Review:

“Kung Fu Games” follows five fighters trapped in a strange setting. They must battle with anyone and everyone coming their way to survive. Without elaborating anything further, I’ll just cut right to the chase. The film is filled with loopholes to the brim. You will question the characters’ motives, actions, and reactions every step of the way. On top of that, it is yet another film I had the misfortune to watch where people are getting killed for someone’s sadistic pleasure.

“Squid Game” was a massive success for Netflix and its cast and crew. Does that mean we have to keep rehashing the exact formula over and over and over again? The answer should be no. However, that does not seem to be going in the minds of the executives of this ridiculous film, which almost feels like a project made just to be trashed somewhere, like a commitment you have to fulfill but have no interest or new insight into. “Kung Fu Games” provides no overarching subtext and reuses the massively overdone ‘rich, lousy man does terrible things’ formula to justify itself.

The Performances

Speaking about the performances, Mark Strange tries to bring an animalistic energy to his bearded character. However, he overperforms every scene through his diction, overall intensity, and mannerisms. Jose Manuel plays a cocky, self-serving, and famous actor, whereas Caitlin Dechelle plays an unforgiving female warrior. In all these cases, their performances feel like imitations of pre-existing portrayals of similar characters rather than an original take on these characters.

Overall, “Kung Fu Games” is a mix of ideas from other projects, be it shows like “Squid Game” or relentless action thrillers.

Read More: DarkGame (2024) Movie Ending Explained: Can Ben Save the Victims of the Sadistic Game?

Kung Fu Games (2024) Movie Trailer:

Kung Fu Games (2024) Movie Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd
The Cast of Kung Fu Games (2024) Movie: Caitlin Dechelle, Mark Strange, Jade Xu, Jose Manuel, Lathrop Walker, Matt Goodwin
Kung Fu Games (2024) Movie Runtime: 1h 38m, Genre: Drama/Adventure/Mystery & Thriller
Kung Fu Games (2024) Movie Review & Ending Explained: Will Sarah and Mike Escape, or Are They Trapped in Calvin's Endless Sadistic Game? (2025)
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