Rebecca Barry Hill: Back to the kung fu-ture

Clipper Sunny kills all those who threaten the power of Baron Quinn (below) in the violent, martial arts series Into the Badlands .

A loner wanders into a group of threatening men who taunt and smirk. One of them attempts to put this fool in his place. The loner lashes out and, with a few swift kicks and chops, fells the bully, before taking out the rest of them, crushing bones, breaking necks, and leaving them in a bloody heap.

It's the classic martial arts scene, and it happens a lot in Into the Badlands (Tuesdays, 9.30pm, SoHo) to the point where you think, "Really? All of them?" But this is a genre where it's perfectly acceptable for one man to kill an army or break a victim's arm with a flick of his wrist before cartwheeling him on to a spike.

The lone warrior in most of these scenes - the first of which occurs four minutes in -- is Sunny (Daniel Wu), a chiselled "clipper" who gets a new tattoo with each kill. He lives in a post-apocalyptic world, where civilisation has devolved into a brutal landscape divided by ruling "barons". The clippers are there to do their dirty work - killing those who threaten their power. The rest is carried out by slaves.

Into the Badlands has impressive fight scenes but character takes a back seat. Wu is proficient as the killer in action; elsewhere he's not particularly memorable. Kiwi actor Martin Csokas, however, is clearly enjoying himself as snide Baron Quinn. He found Sunny as a kid and trained him to be the vicious assassin he is today. He also runs the poppy fields, and has taken a second wife because - he can!

"There is no god in the Badlands," he tells his camp of budding young clippers in a theatrical Southern drawl, as he parades like a peacock.

It's not quite Game of Thrones, which has an elegant, thespian quality - missing in action here -- or The Walking Dead, with its equally high body count but occasional bouts of comic relief. Instead, it's a deadly serious mash-up of genres, equal parts explosive fight scenes and plodding narrative.

The creators (who also made Smallville) based it loosely on the 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West, and set it in what looks like a quasi-Midwest. Knives replace guns, and the womenfolk are among the most deadly. "The Widow" (Emily Beecham) and her teenage female protege are on the warpath against Quinn, forging alliances with the land's toughest characters.

Caught between these warring factions is MK, a teenage boy on the run, and one of the few pacifists. That is, until he bleeds, then his eyes flash a supernatural colour and he turns into something resembling the Incredible Hulk.

Despite all the brutality and nihilism, there is a kind of justice. Quinn has a brain tumour, something he's desperate to hide, so he kills the doctor who diagnosed him. Doc and his wife are the parents of Sunny's illegally pregnant girlfriend, so you can imagine how this father-adopted-son alliance will disintegrate over the series.

It's violent and potential catnip for martial arts fans but, so far, totally lacking in levity. This is a show built on stone cold killers and merciless warfare. If you like this sort of thing then, fine, the choreography matches that of an action film. Outside that, Into the Badlands falls short.