BANGKOK ADRENALINE

BANGKOK ADRENALINE

This is the sort of review I hate writing. When a film comes along that manages to be this dull, the temptation is to rip it to pieces and mock every last second of the cinematic atrocity you've just witnessed. But that's not really going to help anyone - least of all the filmmakers. This is a very small production, made by a group of Western stuntmen working in Thailand as a calling card. Admirably, the concept was to produce something themselves that played to their strengths. They'd be writing, directing and starring in the thing, so they'd have complete control over everything that ended up on the screen. A good idea in concept, but in execution it just goes to show why you don't hire a dentist to build a tower block...

Bangkok Adrenaline takes its cues from a well-established formula, with an opening that feels very much like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Tuk-Tuks. A group of four friends are on holiday in Thailand and run low on cash. After trying to boost funds at the card tables, they end up in serious trouble with the local gangsters and are given a sharp ultimatum; get the money, or get your fingers broken. I don't know about you, but I'd be heading to the consulate to try and get myself out of the country ASAP by this point, but the lads have a better scheme. Why not kidnap the beautiful daughter of a millionaire and use the ransom to pay the gangsters off? A foolproof plan! There'd be no possible consequences to that!

To be fair, the plotline isn't much more than a small, misshapen, hook to hang the action scenes upon. And it's when the movie gets to the fight scenes that you start to see glimpses of the talent some of these guys possess. Daniel O'Neill, in particular, as freerunning ninja pickpocket Dan displays some serious physical dexterity and a variety of athletic martial arts skills that could easily fit into something like District 13. The choreography the guys have come up with is frequently impressive, if derivative, reaching a high-point with an extended battle on board a moving Tuk-Tuk. It's a shame that all this work is constantly undermined by some terrible cinematography and direction. Fights are often filmed in long-shot or from angles that remove you from the action and the sedate editing makes the pace feel much slower than it should. A fight in a narrow alleyway initially brings memories of Jackie Chan in Project A, but disappoints by staying withdrawn from the action rather than placing us in the claustrophobic passage. Similarly, part of a warehouse fight has half the action blocked by an enormous packing crate in the foreground. Sure, it creates some visual depth, but isn't the fight the most important thing to be focussing on?

Bangkok Adrenaline wants to be a madcap romp, with four loveable rogues blundering their way through tricky situations with the audience on their side. Sadly, this is quite a tricky thing to achieve, especially when the guys start resorting to something like kidnapping without a second thought. It's not helped by the alleged comic relief provided by Conan Stevens and Raimund Huber. Huber, who instigated the project and also directed, looks not unlike a dreadlocked Marty Feldman, only with more facial hair than a Grateful Dead concert. Nearly all his comic scenes are enormous misfires and one scene, where he mocks the kidnapped girl for wetting herself, seems massively callous. Sure, he's billed as the "cowardly scumbag", but the latter is pushed just that little too much. It feels like they wanted Shaggy from Scooby Doo, but ended up with his evil twin. Man-Mountain Conan, on the other hand, fairs better - and I'm not just saying this because he's a guy with biceps so large you could fit the entire population of China into them and I'm scared he'll come and beat me up. Conan, who was also on scripting duty, manages to pull off his big dumb ox role pretty well, seemingly not noticing the chaos around him as he desperately searches for more food to sate his enormous appetite, but it's a one-note joke that wears thin very quickly.

I think the film's biggest failing is that, for a film with Adrenaline in the title, it's awfully boring. I actually had to watch the film in small instalments to make it all the way through to the end, and I love cheesy martial-arts movies. Part of this is down to low-budget and lack of experience, but the major factor in this is the terrible pacing and editing of the action sequences as previously mentioned. The film fails to ignite and although you catch glimpses of talent, it fizzles rather than bangs. Don't get me wrong - I applaud Raimund and the guys for getting their arses in gear and actually getting the film made. It was a great idea that, for me, lacks something in execution. A good action movie is exceptionally hard to pull off, as this proves, and with the funds, experience and resources available perhaps the guys should have aimed at something a little less ambitious. As a calling card, this feels like something done on Microsoft Paint and printed out on a dot-matrix printer. You admire the effort, but it's not going to impress that many people.

Sadly, not even recommended after a vast amount of beer and curry on a Friday night.

Review by Paul Bird


 
Released by Optimum Home Entertainment
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
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