Kill Order is a 2017 Canadian action sci-fi film that was written and directed by James Mark. The film features Denis Akiyama, Jonny Caines, and Scott Cavalheiro as they work together to chronicle the tale of a high school student as he discovers the truth behind his hidden abilities.

Throughout the film, we follow a youth named David. He is a troubled high school student who appears to suffer from mental illness and he finds himself stuck in a situation where he is taken captive for reasons that are unknown to him. During his captivity, a dark power takes over his body and opens up the doors to a world of superhuman abilities and a past that has been kept secret from him.

Making its feature debut on Friday, November 24, 2017 at The Royal Cinema in Toronto, Canada; the film has overall received pretty decent reviews from critics. Those that have seen the film are praising the martial arts movements, the performances from the primary cast as well as the overall sense of direction that the cast and crew had taken the film. Kill Order is said to be along the likes of a gritty and beautifully shot combination of Mad Max and The Raid.

The Film Itself (4/5):

Kill Order was a bit rough right at the beginning.  That is mostly because the story really doesn’t start off with a very good foundation and really flies all over the place.  However, as you stay focused and gain an understanding of what is going on, the film becomes significantly much more enjoyable.  As David struggles not only with the issues that associate themselves with teenage adolescence, but those that come with the fact that he bears a variety of supernatural powers.  Powers to which he has no idea of their origin, but take some time to get a grip on controlling.  There are a lot of sequences throughout this film that feature extensive fighting bouts between the cast that really helped make the film that much more enjoyable.

Picture Quality (2.5/5):

Considering that Kill Order is only being released on to DVD, the film didn’t look all that horrible for a DVD release.  While the picture quality was considerably clean and clear, I feel that this release would have done a lot better had it been made available on Blu-ray.  The special effects on this particular release looked considerably generic and offered little to no detail or lifelike experiences.  Should this film become available on the Blu-ray format later down the road, you can bet that I will be checking it out.

Audio Quality (3/5):

Packaged with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, Kill Order does everything that it can within the limitations of its format to offer an immersive experience for its viewers.  Given the lack of a powerful experience with this track, there really weren’t any features of the films audio that really stood out.  The audio was clean and clear, and offered a clean experience into the story; but, in all honesty, it could have really done a lot better had it been made available on the Blu-ray format and made use of the DTS-HD Master Audio technology, even in a 5.1 audio presentation.

The Packaging (2.5/5):

Kill Order comes packaged in your standard single disc DVD amaray case.  Within that case is the standard DVD copy of the film, the disc featuring the same piece of artwork that’s been made available on the case art.  There are no digital copy redemption pamphlets included with this release; however, a slipcover has been provided during the initial print run of this release.

 

Special Features:

Unfortunately, there are no special features included on the DVD release of Kill Order.  As a result, there is no rating on this section.

Technical Specs:

Video

Codec: MPEG-2

Resolution: 480i (NTSC)

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Audio

English: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles

English

Runtime

Original Film: 77 minutes

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I thought that Kill Order was a really fun experience.  While it did start off a bit rough, once my wife and I finally gained an understanding of what was happening, we found ourselves fully enveloped into the storyline.  There is a ton of action and fighting amongst the characters that you could tell that the cast and crew put in a lot of effort in training for this movie.  The overall picture and audio presentation of this release was clean.  Albeit, it was as clean as possible for a DVD release.  I honestly do believe that this film would have done a world of better had it also been made available on Blu-ray with more up to date technological standards in its presentation.  There isn’t anything additional included on the disc outside of the feature film, which is a shame as I would have loved the opportunity to see some behind the scenes material or even some more information on the characters.  If you’re on the fence about picking this film up for your collection, I’d definitely recommend checking it out.  The action sequences alone made the overall experience really fun.  Kill Order will be available on DVD beginning on February 6, 2018.

Note: This DVD was sent to us for review. This has not affected our judgement or editorial process in any way. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this process.