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Warrior King (ต้มยำกุ้ง) I like to think that any piece of art worth its salt should leave those who have experienced it somehow richer as an individual, and Warrior King is no exception. Sure, it's a relatively derivative piece of martial arts action cinema, but I have to say that there are at least two things that this movie has taught me. Firstly, I have learned that a Segway makes for a much faster escape than just running like all hell, and secondly I have learned that I never ever want to piss off either a bull elephant or Tony Jaa.
For those (like me) who missed Ong Bak perhaps a quick introduction is in order. According to the media in the West, Tony Jaa is the new Jackie Chan / Jet Li / Bruce Lee, but I think it's fair to say that he stands up to the comparison. He has the pace of a younger Jackie Chan, the power and presence of Jet Li, and something of the humility of Bruce Lee before Hollywood took its toll.
So what about the film then? It's an everyday tale of a boy and his elephant. Kham (Tony Jaa) and his father live a simple and peaceful life with their elephants Por Yai and Korn until a criminal gang decide to take the elephants at what should have been a prestigious royal elephant show. After shooting Kham's father they make off with Korn through the crowded streets with Kham and the imposing Por Yai in pursuit. Unfortunately for a distressed Kham, the gang manage to both capture Por Yai and make their escape with the two elephants.
Understandably this leaves Kham more than a little angry, so he sets about finding those who took his elephants from him. Cue much spectacular Muay Thai action and shouty "Where are my elephants" dialogue. After beating several shades out of the karaoke singing villains who masterminded the theft Kham discovers that his beloved pachyderms have been spirited away to Sydney so he sets off in pursuit, pausing only for a brief cameo from Jackie Chan at the airport.
Fresh off the plane, Kham runs foul of the law thanks to a decidedly dodgy cabbie, and ends up in the middle of an armed standoff between the twitchy hack and Officer Mark (Phatthai Wongkhamlao). Wongkhamlao is a famous comedian in his native Thailand, and here plays the well intentioned but slightly naïve immigrant cop who prizes his position of respect and the connection with the real people on the street more highly than the rules and regulations of his job. I could easily draw comparisons between the relationship between his performance and Tony Jaa's and those of Jackie Chan and Samo Hung, but lets just say that we're clearly in buddy/cop movie territory here, and Wongkhamlao is clearly heading towards the comedy sidekick mark.
Khams' relentless pursuit of his lost elephants brings him into contact with Johnny, the leader of the gang who carried out the theft, who is now in Sydney under the employ of Madame Rose (Jin Xing), the vicious transsexual godmother of the Sydney underworld. Following a protracted fight with Johnny and his goons, followed by even more goons on rollerblades, BMXs, motorbikes and even a stud-encrusted quad bike Kham is found exhausted and battered by Pla. Waking the next morning in her apartment with no idea how he got there, Kham narrowly escapes the police and resumes his search for the elephants, leading to more spectacular fights, more shouty "Where are my elephants" dialogue, and a few more fights.
Warrior King shows us another side to Sydney, taking the audience to the less comely streets of both Thaitown and Chinatown where so many other films seem loathe to let either the harbour bridge or the Opera House slip out of shot, and it is all the better for it. In a film where the action is king it is all too easy to lose sight of the human element and to feel nothing for the characters apart from the odd sympathetic wince when one of them gets the stuffing knocked out of them. Here we are also shown a little more of the environment in which they live. The south-east asian communities are beset by the same criminal elements that worried them in their native lands, and otherwise decent folk like Pla (Bongkod Kongmalai) are forced into a life of prostitution to pay their way in this brave new world.
A simplistic take on the struggles of immigrant communities? Sure, but vastly more sympathetic than many films manage. It is refreshing to see a martial arts movie which also touches on the very real issues of exploitation within immigrant communities, the horrors of people trafficking, and even the issue of extreme cuisine and the black market trade in endangered species, but ultimately most people are there to see the fight scenes.
And what fight scenes they are. From fighting an urban teen assault team wielding fluorescent tubes to battling T.K. (Nathan B. Jones), the man mountain bodyguard to Madame Rose, Tony Jaa is never anything short of spectacular. The man is incredible - he can seemingly leap 7 feet straight in the air, fold people into shapes more commonly seen on a New York pretzel stand, and is particularly adept an elbowing people in the top of the head from ten feet away. The fight and stunt choreography by Jaa and his mentor Panna Rithikrai is stunning, frenetic, and physically brutal - heads slam into solid furniture, arms and legs are twisted, snapped and dislocated, and bodies literally cover the floor in the climactic fight scene. There were more than a few moments of goggle-eyed disbelief on my part at some of the martial prowess on display, from Muay Thai to Capoeira, Wu Shu, and straight-up brute strength, but I never caught myself thinking "there's a wire stunt" or "that punch was so telegraphed it's not funny".
It may have the obligatory martial arts slow-mo scenes, a saucy mud bath scene worthy of Baywatch, and a predictable buddy dynamic running through it, but it holds its own as an action piece that has a little something extra to say. The dialogue won't have Shakespeare worried and the plot could certainly do with a bit of polish, but there have been Hollywood films with exponentially greater budgets that have left me feeling like I've had two hours of my life stolen from me. Warrior King, on the other hand, left me simultaneously entertained and irritated that I can't jump, fight, and generally carry on like that.
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