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 pparently
writer/director/star Mum Jokmok thought the only way to follow up on the success
of "Ong Bak"
was to make a film completely unlike it. The result: an unrestrained
action/comedy embolden by a big budget, extreme wireworks, and outlandish action
scenes. To pull it off, first-time director Jokmok casts himself as
too-cool-for-school professional bodyguard Wongkom. As the movie opens, Wongkom
fails to safeguard his employer's life. Not a big shock, considering how Wongkom
was (in the service of comedy) tossing the client around like a beanbag during a
gunfight.
Wongkom is grief stricken over the loss, but the client's
son isn't having any of it -- he fires Wongkom. When it's revealed that the son
has inherited his father's company, he too becomes the target of assassins. By a
series of wacky circumstances, the son ends up in a poor neighborhood where a
bickering family reluctantly cares for him. There, he falls in love with the
family's Tomboy daughter, Pok (Pumwaree Yodkamol), and learns what it means not
to have money and to be a good person and all that other feel-good stuff.
"The Bodyguard" comes with English subtitles, but
most people unfamiliar with the Thai language and its culture will be missing
out on a lot of peripheral stuff. Also, the English subtitles often conflict
with the original dialogue, most of which were probably made up on the spot by
the movie's cast, which is itself made up of comedians and well-known Thai faces
in cameo roles.
But
anyway, getting back to our movie:
Meanwhile, the recently fired Wongkom has gotten himself a
one-way ticket to a mental institution thanks to another long gunfight and a
well-placed bowl. The word ludicrous and unbelievable comes to mind, but that's
not a surprise because "The Bodyguard" was obviously envisioned as a
gag from the very beginning. The film is full of highly stylized gun battles
that mimic the style of John Woo. White doves even make an appearance at one
point. Unfortunately these big gun battles aren't very exciting, marred by
length (they just keep going and going) and in-your-face gags that wink too much
at the audience. A little more subtlety and less ham fisted stabs at broad
comedy would have done wonders.
What the film does excel at is little joke nuggets from the
various cameos, including a couple of father-son hitman team and one of the main
villain's bodyguards, who can't quite grasp the concept of discretion. In
another scene, a bad guy questions why the police want to speak to his boss. As
it turns out, the bad guy had reason to be concern, especially since his boss
talks in what sounds like a string of senseless vowels. Another gag concerns a
van full of SWAT commandos that doesn't quite make it to a hostage standoff.
For
those wondering where Phanom Yeerum (aka Tony Ja), the Muay Thai star of
"Ong Bak", fits into all this overblown madness, they should skip to
the supermarket hostage sequence. It's a very brief appearance and Ja's scenes
are the only ones in the entire movie that doesn't have wireworks in them. Fans
of Ja should note that it's a very, very brief appearance indeed. Although
seeing Ja deliver a flying knee kick to a goon is a treat indeed, it just makes
us wish the film had taken its action more seriously and stop winking at us
between gunshots already.
"The Bodyguard" opens strong, but sinks badly in
the middle. The script is burdened by a poorly conceived love story between
Pok/Chonchai, and watching two mediocre actors trying desperately to scrape
chemistry together was painful. Jokmok even throws in a multi-car accident out
of nowhere to break the monotony of all the unconvincing "love
glances" between the actors. For about 30 minutes in the middle, everything
basically comes to a screeching halt, just so the film can indulge in its
teenybopper romance. Can you say: Desperately catering to the giggling 13-year
old demographics?
The film does salvage things somewhat in the end, but once
again first-time writer/director Jokmok fails to understand the concept of
moderation. The final battles, between Wongkom and the villain's gang of martial
arts bodyguards in a warehouse, seems to go on forever, even well after the gag
has fallen flat. "The Bodyguard" works as a comedy, but only if you're
not too demanding of it. It's dramatic moments fall harder than our hero, who
looks every bit like a man in his '40s, complete with a gut and jiggling naked
buttocks.
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