K.O. (2025) Ending Explained – Does Leo survive the gang?

The Review Geek

16 hours ago

K.O. Plot Summary
The premise of K.O. clings to all the usual tropes you'd expect from a flick like this, jumping straight into the action. Here, we follow aspiring MMA fighter Bastien, who finds himself in the ring with his bitter rival, Enzo. The pair go toe-to-toe in a relentless and pretty brutal sequence that immediately sets the tone and mood for the rest of the movie.
Bastien's fight ends in tragedy when he counters a triangle hold into a full-on slam to the mat. Enzo's head crunches against the canvas, and unfortunately, he passes away as a result. Guilt-stricken, Bastien hangs up his gloves and disappears into exile.
Fast-forward two years, and our reclusive hero is called back into action by Enzo's widowed wife, Emma. Her son, Leo, has gone missing after getting mixed up in the drug trade, and it seems he may be the target of some particularly nasty gangsters. With a bullseye on his back, Leo is in big trouble—and Bastien feels a moral obligation to do right by Emma.
Who are the rival gang?
Bastien heads off to find out the truth about Leo's whereabouts, where he winds up indirectly working with Captain Alaoui. The rival gang are called the Manchours. They're vicious and a lot of people are scared of them. They're fronted by a man named Abdul, a relentless gangster determined to grow his empire in Marseille – no matter the cost.
Alaoui loses her badge thanks to getting too aggressive with a couple of gang members outside. She teams up with Bastien to get info on Leo's whereabouts, and they soon realize that he has valuable intel that could take down the Manchours. This explains why the gang are so interested in the kid – and why they want him dead.
What is driving Alaoui and Bastien to fight so hard?
Alaoui lives alone and doesn't have a partner. She's consumed by her grief though, still torn up over the passing of her brother. She has a history with the Manchours, stemming from her childhood. She grew up in the same neighbourhood as the gang and her brother began working with kids on the street.
Unfortunately, when the Manchours started dealing drugs and getting the kids involved, her brother pissed them off badly. In fact, one night they tied him to a chair and burned him alive. Even worse, they sent the video to Alaoui and disappeared, until a year ago when they returned.
They're smart and always one step ahead, building a criminal enterprise in Marseille – which Alaoui is determined to stop.
What happens at the police station?
After reuniting with Leo and a tense chase sequence at the apartment complex, the group make it back to the police station where Bastien explains why he's doing all of this. His father passed away when he was a kid and since then he was angry at the world and lashed out.
Bastien chose fighting as an outlet and the irony is, this accident has caused Leo's father, Enzo, to die. He recognizes that Leo is going down a dark path and although Bastien didn't mean to kill the fighter, he feels responsible for making sure he steers the kid in the right direction.
Bastien was lucky, having surrounded himself with good people and managing to turn a corner, away from a potential life of misery and crime.
Who is the mole?
Leo reveals in his police interview that the Manchours organized a big meeting with their contacts. Leo was new and shouldn't have been there but he showed up anyway. Here, the Manchour gang met with Andalou and his gang – the same guy we saw earlier tortured for the whereabouts of the drugs earlier in the movie.
This was all a trap, organized by Andalou's contact. Leo saw Abdel Manchour kill a man right in front of him but unfortunately, was spotted spying on them and he decided to run. Leo got freaked when he saw the cops because that informant working with the gang happens to be 'The Cop'.
It's here where Alaoui realizes there's mole in the midst… and it happens to be Vasseur. He immediately stabs Benoit in the neck before he's shot down.
This explains why Leo never went to the police – he didn't trust them.
Who survives the final fight?
Outside, shots are fired at Sebastopol and the surrounding areas, sending officers out to check. Unfortunately, this leaves the station severely lacking in staff, prompting the Manchour gang to come in all guns blazing and shoot the place up. Alaoui does her best to fight back but Abdul is leading the charge.
Through the fighting, Alaoui and Abdul wind up duking it out while Bastien handles Abdul's right-hand man, Driss. Bastien just about comes out on top while Alaoui kills Abdul after stabbing him in the eye and driving this through his skull.
With police heading back, the gang breathe a sigh of relief after coming out in one piece.
How does K.O. end?
Leo is finally free and no longer hunted by the (presumably defunct) Manchour gang, while Emma is reunited with her son. It seems he'll now have a way of handling and channelling his anger, courtesy of Bastien's guidance too.
As for Bastien, he intends to head out and carve a new name for himself, deciding that it's time to find something new to fight, looking out at the sunset ready for another day.
Read More: K.O. Movie Review