You may be under a false impression when you hear the phrase that the ‘guys from ‘Ong Bak’
Straight out of the almost emotionless Beat Takeshi’s ‘Violent Cop’ school of method acting, Wong Kom kicks, punches and throws his mark all over the place to avoid the bullet mayhem in the movie’s opening. It’s strange that in this ballistic battlefield the table clothes are bullet proof and it seems there is a competition on to see who can throw the ugliest face when firing whatever arsenal you happen to be carrying. Welcome to what is probably the ugliest shoot out ever committed to celluloid !
After beating your head and asking yourself is this for real ? Is this supposedly a slick wire-fu action flick of the Hong Kong variety or what ? Because at the start of this movie everything is so overplayed, you have wire stunts, a bullet ballet, slow motion back flips and even some doves all done to the max, but there is not a laugh or any indication of one in sight, this confusion does abate after awhile as the realisation comes across the screen stating this is actually a comedy.
Some of the jokes work, but most are so overplayed or too outlandish or perhaps my eyes and ears are just too Western to get the in-jokes from this Thai director, he is much loved for his crass humour back on his home turf and the movie is littered with well known Thai comedians in cameo roles who will be virtually unknown to anyone in the West. That said, even the action sequences are of ‘The Matrix Reloaded’
What else have we here then ? Well, when the bodyguard fumbles and his employer is killed, the son and heir to the family fortune finds himself in an unquenchable anger and points the blame at his father’s human shield who is then dismissed from the family service. The young Chonchai (Piphat Apiraktanakorn) rushes out into an ambush and gets the rest of the bodyguard team wiped out. Someone out there has a grudge against the family it seems and it’s up to the depressed and remorseful Wong Kom to find and save the boy.
While away from the family duties and out of sight from the assassins in the midst, Chonchai finds the time to find the good soul inside himself and fall in love with a poor tom boy called Pok ('Ong Bak’s leading lady Pumwaree Yodkamol) who lives in the poor side of town but has a heart of gold. This mid section almost sinks this waterlogged boat with its contrived morality turning into a saccharine sickness. Apiraktanakorn and Yodkamol try in their roles but they just do not have enough weight to pull this off convincingly.
There is an occasional spike of humour that works, it’s not every day you get to see the leading man’s dancing backside being shouted at and sprayed with a water pistol, or his naked run for his life. One of the goons in particular can’t seem to get his dress code correct to hilarious results. But best of all is the episodic TV reports stating what has been happening in the movie.After watching the short special features on ‘The Bodyguard’ you are given the taste that this was a labour of love for those involved. It is a brave effort for first time director Wongkamlao (although director duties were shared with ‘Born to Fight’ helmer Panna Rittikrai, which may give reason as to why the action scenes are so inconsistent) but would have been a more cohesive, and enjoyable watch if concentration were given in one direction only. There is some DVD Rom content and a trailer, this latter item is very misleading as it gives you the deliberate impression that this is another team movie from Wongkamlao and Jaa, for that I guess we will need to wait until ‘Tom Yum Goong’ hits the screens.
'The Bodyguard' is available now via AmazonUK , and as of yet no US release date has been given.database .
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