Runtime:
106 minutes
Directed
by: Panna Rittikrai
Starring:
Chatchapol Kulsiriwoottichai, Tanavit Wongsuwan, Supakson
Chaimongkol, Speedy Arnold
From:
Sahamongkolfilm Co.
Here's
another find via Netflix Instant, although I had heard of it before;
what spurned me on to watch it was hearing a podcast deliver an enthusiastic review for it. After that, I just had to check out this
movie, a film from Thailand made by and acted by Thai stunt people.
If you've seen the Tony Jaa movies The Protector and Ong-Bak (which I
have in the past; the stories are for the birds but the incredibly
violent action scenes are tremendous; if only Tony wouldn't have lost
his mind and gone loony...) then you'll know that those Thai
stuntpeople are crazy to the nth degree and do things you can not
believe.
They
take it to the next level here.
Again,
the story is for the birds but who really cares? The tale told here
is that a stunt team wins a competition in Thailand to win a trip to
Hollywood; turns out they were all drugged and they end up in a
mysterious warehouse, and they are involved in a Most Dangerous Game
sort of scenario where they are filmed and forced to fight enemies
for the entertainment of an American (Arnold) and gamblers who bet on
the outcomes of fights; those people are from across the world and
they all speak English... well, they try to, anyhow, but are rather
poor at that.
The
story isn't too great but it is passable, as long as you don't try to
think too much about it. What matters here is the action and there is
a LOT of it, and much of it is pretty great. You see those guys flip
around in amazing ways, take incredible damage, and just be involved
in too many insane moments to count. It really is that good; I am not
trying to overhype it but rather I am stating things honestly. All
martial arts fans should check this out, especially if you have
Instant; a subtitled copy of it is there for all to see.
Note
that if you do watch it you'll get to see some odious “comic”
relief from an incredibly annoying chubby guy who has a strange bowl
haircut and because of his weird glasses that podcast referred to him
as “Thai Elton John”. There are other guys who look like Lou
Diamond Phillips and Mindy Kaling; yes, a guy looks like her.
Characters are named Pom, Pod, Mom, U-Go, Ram, Lerm and Fern. Pretty
odd, but I am sure you'll be able to put up with the story in order
to watch all the astounding action on display.
I'll
be back Friday afternoon.
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