SYNOPSIS:
It starts with the assassinations of Lord Sehadecho,
the King’s loyal advisor and his wife, Lady Plai, by
the treacherous Lord Rajasena, in front of Tien, the couple’s
only son. Tien managed to escape with deep anger and vengeance in mind.
Soon, Tien meets Chernang, the leader of the Garuda Wing militia,
who raised Tien as his godson. Tien grows up studying not
only martial arts, but also of explosives, magic spells and
other guerilla strategies. Now he is set to seek revenge
on the man who had killed his father, he prepares to assassin Lord Rajasena on the day of his coronation...
MOVIE REVIEW:
The year was 2003. We were drawn into the craze that was Muay Thai boxing. And that was because of a certain Thai movie starring a certain Muay Thai boxer names Tony Jaa. Wham! Bam! Viewers (predominantly male ones) were treated to an adrenaline pumping 105 minutes of grippingly violent kicking and boxing. In fact, the violence is so strong that the PG movie was released with cuts here on our sunny island. But that did not affect the movie’s popularity. It became an instant hit – even in the western world. So when we heard that Jaa is starring in a sequel that promises more kicks and boxes, we were excited to see what action was in store for us.
Jaa not only delivers those kicks and punches in front of the camera this time, but he also takes up the role of the director behind it as well. Totally unrelated to the plot of the 2003 movie, this sequel tells the story of a boy who dreams of becoming a brave and loyal warrior like his father when he grows up. Since every movie needs a villain, the power hungry one in this action picuture has the duty to do nasty things to take control of the country. The boy becomes the sole survivor in a cruel massacre and when he grows up learning all sorts of martial arts and war strategies with one wish in his mind – to avenge his father.
Not the most original storyline, we hear you say? Well, we didn’t exactly have the word 'original' in our minds when we popped this DVD into the player. But after 97 minutes of gruelling action sequences, we realise that this picture almost falls into the arena of, as much as we hate to state it, being ridiculous.
From the moment the movie begins, you see men covered in dirty mud fighting each other, spouting lines about honour and loyalty, before obligatorily breaking into fights with each other. Sure, we get the themes of cultural identity and conflict, family disintegration, revenge and Buddhist spirituality, but the whole premise just seems too ludicrously outlandish. Pardon our cultural insensitivity here, but the whole idea od men clad in tribal costumes and sporting dreadlocks slugging it out in muddy fields is just too absurd for us to take.
And this becomes a big distraction for the action packed sequences, which are not too bad if you disregard the unexciting setup. You see Jaa jumping from one elephant’s back to another. You see him fighting his enemies with an array of weapons. You see him sweating it out and flexing those fists with might and valour. And you realise how this becomes another forgettable action movie which will appeal to western markets because of its exotic premise.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
This Code 3 DVD contains Trailers of the movie.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual transfer is fine, and can be watched in its original Thai language or a dubbed Mandarin track. Alas, no English subtitles though – you’d have to make do with Chinese and Malay ones.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING:
Review by John Li
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