[police sirens]
- Do not dwell in the past,
do not dream of the future.
Concentrate the mind on the present moment.
My name is Smith.
Welcome to Flatland.
[ominous music]
- When I first met the devil,
his name was Khan.
Mine,
Saint Michael.
The war for the soul of mankind has raged for
3,000 years.
The battleground today
is Shanghai.
I have forced 3 young Americans to work for me.
JT,
a gangbanger,
Mr. Mitchell,
a failed love lawyer,
and Amy Lee,
a beautiful young woman.
They will ultimately discover the history
when present and past collide
and when one misstep on either side
of the fourth dimension
is fatal.
In the world of Flatland,
where nothing is as it appears.
My name is Smith,
welcome to Flatland.
[upbeat music]
- What's the purpose?
- Just one.
To kill or be killed.
- They come here to train.
- Amazing.
- Yeah, look,
Ying,
I find it fascinating.
- You've always liked him, why?
- He's beautiful.
Deadly.
Just the kind of
man
a woman could almost have.
- This isn't supposed to be forreal.
- It's always real.
Like I told you,
it is always for real.
- My kind of guy.
- Shay is my only daughter.
A beautiful girl.
A champion fighter.
Now, I don't think I will ever see her again.
- Are you sure they took her?
- Absolutely.
There has to be something you can do.
- I already have.
The search for your daughter has begun, Mr. Chan.
- Is there anything I can do?
- Yes.
Wait and hope.
- That's all?
- It's more than enough.
[upbeat music]
- What are you doing back here?
- It's none of your business.
- I asked a polite question,
get a nasty answer.
- Is it polite to grab someone by the throat?
- Depends.
Now what are you doing?
- I want to fight.
[shouting]
- Not bad.
For an amateur.
- I can do better.
- We'll see.
You can fight.
If you win, you live.
If you lose, we play,
and then you die.
- Shadows are all wrong,
it's way too stark.
No subtly,
no subtly at all.
- What do you know about being subtle?
- Time.
- Yeah, time.
A whole big bunch of time.
- Hasn't tempered you much.
- The hell it hasn't.
I can't cover my wide receiversanymore.
Can't do the limbo like I used to.
And I can't
drink all night like there's notomorrow.
Remember those days?
[laughs]
- You look good.
- Yeah.
Let's keep lying to each other.
You look good too, Dao.
- The world has changed, huh?
- No, only it's face has changed.
Underneath it's all the same.
The battle continues
with or without you.
- I atoned for what I did.
- Well I don't believe in that.
The past is what it is.
You can't change what happened.
- I can change what's about to happen.
- No you can't.
- I can try.
- You crossed one line a long time ago,
and lost everything.
- What I do here now,
is gonna restore it.
- Destroy it,
not restore it.
Leave the future alone.
I don't even know what's gonna happen.
- It's death I'm talking about.
- Let it be.
- I can't.
[upbeat music]
- I don't know, man.
What do you think?
- Well the guy needs a decent myth,
I mean, that's obvious.
I don't know.
Did you have a barbecue here last night?
- Listen fool,
somebody left him here, okay?
What I can't figure out is why.
I don't even know if it is a him.
- Maybe skinny minnie is an ex-girlfriend of yours.
- In about two seconds I'm gonna smack you.
- Speak to Smith?
- Not yet.
- Cops find a skeleton in the closet,
could put him in jail.
That'd be something.
- Yeah.
But what?
- Is this how you treat your fighters?
Like prisoners?
- Yes,
most are.
Some volunteer,
like you.
- I came to fight.
- That's what you say.
Any other reason?
- To make some money.
- There is a way for pretty lady to make some money.
- This one's more of a challenge.
- Til the day you lose,
that'll be the day a bailer cashyou.
[whispers]
[ominous music]
- Still fighting I see,
after all these years.
- That's what I live for.
- Yes.
But now for profit,
and not for me.
- You know I always be there,
if I'm needed.
- We need each other.
He's here.
In Shanghai.
- The monk?
Here?
- Dao.
The healer and the slayer.
There are more fights ahead of us, Ying.
I remember
how good you are.
[upbeat music]
- Dao.
I guess no place is safe from you.
Finished piece,
what do you think?
- Don't give up your day job.
- What do you want?
- It's been a long time.
I need to train.
- So we can stand time on it's head?
Maybe you should try painting.
- I was the best fighter you ever had.
- Until you failed.
- I failed myself.
Not you.
- It would have been better to disappoint me,
don't you think?
- I've been thinking about that for 900 years.
Help me.
- No.
- Come on, Smith.
For old time's sake?
- I said no.
And don't call me Smith.
- You know,
this is really pretty awful.
- Don't you dare.
- And like you said,
I'm not subtle.
- Provoke me if you want,
but I said no.
- Temper,
now that's an artist tool, right?
Come on, Smith.
For old time's sake.
[phone ringing]
- That's not yours.
Give it back.
- Make me.
- [JT] So what's the deal?
- He's dead.
- Yep.
We kind of figured that already,though.
- And, he's a man.
Around 30 years old,
and he's been in the ground a long, long time.
- Long, long time--
how long?
- From what I can see,
about 1,000 years.
- How much more can you get?
- With a little time,
I can get a lot.
- It's important,
you guys will let me know?
- You look lonely.
Want some company?
Get her out.
You're fighting tonight.
- Good.
- If you do well,
I can make things very good foryou.
Get her away.
- You're faster than I remember.
- I have had more fights than you.
[knock at door]
Come in, JT.
- You said it was important.
- You remember where I sent Amy?
- Yeah,
to find the girl in the fight match.
- She found the arena.
Then nothing.
She's missing.
- You mean she went in and didn't come out?
- And I don't like that.
- Alright, well I'll find her.
- What is it?
- Nah, it's nothing.
- What is it?
- Well it just that,
something strange happened in myplace.
I don't want to bother you aboutit now.
Talk about it later.
- This is your doing.
[laughs]
- Hey.
- I hope one of those has Irish whiskey in it.
- Colombian.
Best I could do at three in themorning.
Still at it, huh?
- No, I'm home sleeping and dreaming about Hawaii.
- Hawaii?
I like it.
Sun, sea,
sex and sand.
You, me.
- Not quite.
- Alright take away the sun andthe sand--
- Mitchell,
you're a broken record.
- I am?
But I'm lonely.
- Then try another button.
- Okay.
So what's up with the mystery guy?
- I know how he died.
- Yeah?
Natural causes?
- His throat was slit.
The bone is striate,
scarred and chipped across,
but it's nice and neat.
Pretty sharp blade.
- Really must've pissed off someone good.
- I think that was his M.O. his whole life.
I also found a couple of head indentations,
a cracked radius,
a bunch of finger fractures,
and a broken tibia.
This guy was a fighter.
- Looks like he's finally picked on the wrong guy.
[crowd cheering]
- You both fight at the gong,
if you don't,
you both die.
[crowd cheering]
- Next time you do it faster.
You toyed with her.
- You wanted a show.
- I want what you want,
to make money.
- We should make a really good team.
[eerie music]
- Please help me!
A bandit, an African.
He tried to rob me.
Come with me.
No sword this time, Dao?
- Never again.
- No more weapons or never again will you be a monk?
- It's still my life.
- But not your order.
They threw you out.
Am I safe here with you?
- I won't attack you,
that's our law.
- Yes.
No aggression.
But, you can still fight if attacked.
- Or if innocent people will beharmed,
then I can fight.
And I will.
- Relax, monk.
I'm not here to fight.
- Be very careful, Khan.
I live by the law.
But as you said,
I'm not in the order anymore.
You
I can fight.
- So full of anger.
And look where it's got you.
Outcast.
Obsessed with guilt.
Such a pity, really.
- Interesting emotion coming from you.
Especially to me after what I did.
- You did?
I seduced you.
And it was wonderful.
And I won, I had a monk.
I won.
And I'll win again.
Join me, Dao.
In your world, now.
You are nothing.
In my world,
you can be a prince.
- Never.
- Then live with your horrible past.
Suffer,
slowly.
Because never is a long time.
- Amy?
Amy!
The window.
- What are you doing?
- They got guards down below,
I had to come this way.
- The girl.
- She's okay.
Fooled them pretty good.
They dumped the body in the river,
I fished her out.
She's alive.
- And out of here.
- Which is exactly what I'm gonna do for you.
- No, I have to stay.
- What?
Are you nuts?
- No, JT.
I'm here looking for a girl,
I haven't found her yet.
- Let me get you out now, okay?
We'll go get the cops,
come back for a real bust on this place.
Get everybody out.
- Won't work,
I'm telling you,
Ying, the guy that runs this sick hole,
has about 25 armed guards here.
First thing they do is kill all the fighters,
no witnesses.
Look,
if I'm not out of here by tomorrow night,
come back.
I'll find a way then.
- Hey, JT.
- You said it's important,
so I'm here.
- Thing is, I'm not sure what itmeans.
I ran as many tests as I could on our friend here.
Finished the facial reconstruction,
did a quick DNA--
- So what is it?
- It's you.
- I don't get it, what do you mean it's me?
- Right down to the chromosomes,
and the genetics.
- Well I mean it's gotta be a joke or something,
a threat.
- Or maybe it's a warning.
- A warning about what?
- Someone slit your throat in apast life,
maybe they're trying to do it again.
- Hello, JT.
Sorry if I startled you.
- Who the hell are you?
- It's been a long time.
- I asked a question.
- My name is Dao.
- Dao, you can stop your ass right there.
Why do I think I know you?
- Because you do.
Remember this?
Belongs to you.
- You did this to me?
- No, but in some ways,
what I did was worse.
I know you're nervous,
sometimes you just have to takea chance,
step off into the void,
see if you can find the truth.
I've done it myself,
it can be nerve wracking.
Try.
[swords clanging]
- Please help me!
You must help me.
Here he is.
Help him.
He's dying.
Ying will live,
but you won't.
- My vows were to never take life,
but heal it, protect it.
That day, I
I couldn't tell between the innocent and the guilty.
I fell from grace.
- I've seen this guy before.
- His name is Ying.
- What does all this mean?
- I can't tell you.
But I've seen what you can't.
That is why I've come back.
Hopefully to save you this time.
And myself, as well.
- You mean to tell me this dude came all the way back
to kill me again?
- Where did you see him?
- Amy.
I gotta go there, tell me.
- Follow your fate.
History does repeat.
- You're Xan, aren't you?
I'm a friend of a man who knows your father.
Showed me your picture.
- You know my father?
- No, but I'm going to take you back to him and
the rest of your family.
- How?
We can't get out of here.
- I think we can.
Do you know how to drive a truck?
Over there.
You take it,
I'll clear the way.
Whatever happens,
keep going.
- Impossible.
- Nothing's impossible.
I hear you know how to fight.
- I've trained my whole life.
What's that got to do with it?
- Everything.
Now,
are you gonna trust me?
Or am I gonna have to do this all by myself?
I'm gonna give you one chance,
right now.
Deal?
Relax,
we just wanted to know how we could,
you know,
have a little fun around here.
[whistles]
We thought we could
maybe get together.
[tires squeal]
- For that you're fighting with me tonight.
- So what happened the rest of that day?
- I found Khan,
he was a woman then.
- He always was seductive.
- He did seduce me in a way.
Into breaking the vows I believein.
- You mean never to kill?
- It was a test.
I failed.
But I only killed his form.
- What do you mean?
- It was near a lake.
- Come with me.
[growling]
- [Dao] I knew it wasn't him,
he'd already left that body.
- So he tricked you?
That's what he does best.
- It worked.
You know something?
Even though it
wasn't real.
My actions were.
Evil can be evil,
but what I did,
I did myself.
And I did with conscious and itwas wrong,
especially in my world.
- That's rare air, buddy.
I'm not sure all of us would feel the same.
But you paid.
So now what?
- Hopefully,
I'll be forgiven.
And I can finally be
what I was meant to be.
- Get up.
[mumbles]
Now, you suffer before you die.
What's the matter, woman?
I thought you said you came hereto fight?
- [JT] I know I did.
And to set a few things straight.
- Who are you?
- Call me a blast from the past.
A man who died a long time ago.
- You will die again.
- Then let's do it.
[swords clanging]
- You okay?
No savior for you this time, Ying.
You didn't deserve one last time.
You alright?
- Yeah.
You know this guy?
- I knew him.
Let's get out of here.
[monks chanting]