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DVD cover for the Thai monster movie
"Garuda" shows a gigantic, bird-like
creature perched over a modern city, ready to
wreak havoc upon the unsuspecting populace. It
looks very much like your average Japanese kaiju
film, the kind that usually involves an atomic
breath lizard or giant furry moth, but
unfortunately "Garuda" is anything but a
kaiju film, both in genre and spirit. Although it
has some interesting ideas and mostly decent
performances from the live humans in the cast,
inconsistent direction by the director and a poor
script (also by the director) ultimately dooms
"Garuda" to a life of mediocrity -- if
that.
"Garuda" starts
promisingly enough, with a brief background on the
eponymous monster, which we are told was
imprisoned beneath
Bangkok
many thousands of years ago. Fast-forward to the
present day, where a mysterious fossil is
discovered deep beneath
Bangkok
, prompting a commando team specializing in
supernatural incidents to be called in. Also along
for the ride are a female half-Thai scientist, her
American assistant, and her scientist uncle. We
soon learn that the fossil is that of the evil
Garuda, seen being imprisoned at the film's
beginning. Inevitably, the creature awakens, and
begins killing anyone it encounters, all the while
heading for the surface. It doesn't look good for
Bangkok
…
"Garuda" is
directed by Monthan Arayangkoon, who shows brief
flashes of style and verve every once in a while.
A shot of a smoking soldier becomes a darkened
figure, impaling smoke upon the night. Likewise, a
night view of the city is transformed into an
orchestral symphony of electric lights.
Unfortunately these moments are exceptions rather
than the rule, because most of the time
Arayangkoon treats his directing duties likes it's
an annoying chore, akin to taking out the trash.
The results are obviously hurried shots and
inconsistent pacing that swings from lightning
fast to deathly slow, as if Arayangkoon was
incapable of choosing one speed and going with it.
No surprise, then, that
Arayangkoon has the same problems writing as he
does directing "Garuda". Novel ideas
like a supernatural black ops team are never truly
developed, as if Arayangkoon was hoping they would
evolve on their own and save him the hassle. The
script is also filled with the usual
inconsistencies that dog most monster movies, many
of them the result of sloppy writing. How else to
explain why a single handgun hurts Garuda, but
several automatic weapons don't. And there's the
battle hardened combat unit that is easily wiped
out, but an unarmed female manages to survive.
Even the way the creature, which doesn't show up
until 50 minutes in, is finally stopped leaves
much to be desired, the finale akin to Lucy
pulling the football away from Charlie Brown as he
runs to kick it.
The special effects in
"Garuda" are fairly well done, with the
exception of a sequence where the monster rampages
through an all-white subway station. Putting a CGI
image against an all-white background only
enhances the fact that it's an artificial image.
It's an extremely careless move, and one that
detracts greatly from what otherwise could have
been an exciting sequence. On the plus side, the
cinematography by Jiradeht Samnansanor lends a
nice visual flair to the film's overall
aesthetics.
The performances from the
human cast are decent, although nothing
spectacular. Sara Legge is appealing as the film's
heroine, although the character occasionally gets
a little whiny. Dan Fraser, as Legge's American
companion Tim, is an affable type that seems to be
trying too hard as the film goes on. Fraser winds
up looking like the nerdy kid in gym class,
desperate to play but always picked last, if
picked at all. As
Lena
's scientist uncle, Chalad Na Sangkhla looks
overly grim and serious, as if he just discovered
that his medical insurance was being handled by
Christian Scientists.
"Garuda" had
potential to be a great monster movie. Most of the
film's faults can be attributed to oftentimes
sloppy direction and editing by the
writer/director, whose own script barely makes any
sense. This is too bad, because "Garuda"
has decent special effects, as well as an
appealing female lead in Sara Legge.
Unfortunately, like most monster movies,
"Garuda" ends up treading formula
instead of creating new ones, resulting in a film
that doesn't stand out from the crowd.
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