|
Starring
:
Atsadawut
Luengsuntorn
Phimonrat
Phisarayabud
Pongpat
Wachirabunjong
Srungsuda
Lawanprasert
Amornrit
Sriphung
Chalad
Na Songkhla
Producer
:
Jirun
Rattanaviriyachai
Director
:
Theeratorn
Siriphunvaraporn
|
THE
TIGER BLADE (2005)
A.K.A.
- Seua Khaap Daap
Reviewed
by Phil Mills
Yosthana
is one of the top cops on the force thanks to his knack for
tracking down crooks and generally beating the hell out of
them with his impressive fighting abilities. When the
police get wind of a prison breakout planned by one of
Thailand's most notorious gangsters, they put Yosthana
and the beautiful but deadly Duangdao on the case.
However, they didn't count on the criminals possessing
superhuman abilities that not only make them practically impossible to defeat in hand to
hand combat but also protect them from bullets. Luckily, an ancient sword known as the
Tiger Blade exists which will allow Yosthana
to equal the powers of the gang and break down their spiritual
energy. Of course the first thing he has to do is find the
sword and with time running out, the race is on to see whether
the good guys or bad guys will emerge victorious.
If
you weren't already aware of it's roots, you could easily be excused for passing
off 'The Tiger
Blade' as
any run of the mill "Blockbuster friendly" American
B-movie. Sure it has a touch of Thai culture
and contains a smattering of Martial Arts but its the distinct
Hollywood influence that prevails and results in a film that
is not only lacking in originality but predominantly
boring. In truth, the filmmakers could easily have
utilised the blueprint from every American cop movie as their
inspiration (with the added bonus of a sparsely used subplot
regarding special powers) but no one told them it would have been far
more beneficial to invest the time and money in
creating a film with Thai heritage or at the very least, a
semi-original
narrative. The only real plot point that even lingers in
the memory is the "corrupt cop" scenario but that is
simply because every single character in the film is suspected
of being a double agent at one point or another. Acting wise it
also comes up short as performances are bland and easily
forgettable although in all fairness to the actors the
characters possess very few defining qualities,
especially the hero who is just another typical "on the
edge" cop who
comes good just in time to save the day and win the girl (yawn).
When
it comes to the fight sequences in 'Tiger Blade', one wonders why they
opted to go with the wire fu approach rather than capitalise
on the success of Thailand's recent realistic action
choreography. This decision is made all the more crucial
considering the film's disappointing storyline but all they
are capable of serving up is a bland mix of amateurish gunplay
and the typical 'Matrix' inspired effects-laden fights that
appear extremely slow and clumsy.
Added to this, the actors don't actually demonstrate any kind
of physical ability (or perhaps any real talent is just masked by the
effects) and they spoil any ounce of realism by blatantly gripping
the wires that they are attached
to and swinging around awkwardly. Unfortunately, the
lack of a climactic final
fight between hero and bad guy doesn't assist matters and the audience is left to limp away with nothing more than a dull Mexican
stand off that is the result of another one of the film's monotonous
double crosses. Oh and of course I can't
fail to mention that the amazingly powerful Tiger Blade that the film is
named after is only really used once in the film and serves no
real purpose other than to add a sense of the spiritual to the
overall proceedings.
Those
of you assuming that Thai action cinema can do no wrong after
highlights such as 'Ong Bak' or
'Born To
Fight', will be bought
back down to earth with a bump after watching 'The Tiger Blade'.
Quite why the makers chose to imitate Hollywood's dismal
efforts is beyond me and this goes to show that countries
should stick to evolving their cinematic efforts from their
own pedigree rather than look to earn a quick buck copying other
people's ideas.
Rating:
 
|
