Dynamite Warrior - A Big Fat Dud

Nov

14

Dynamite Warrior - A Big Fat Dud

≡ Category: Action, Comedy, Martial Arts, Movie Reviews By Country, Not Worth Your Time, Thailand |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: Thailand
Genre: Action/Martial Arts/Comedy
Director: Chalerm Wongpim
Year: 2006

Rating:

NOT WORTH YOUR TIME

After Ong Bak and The Protector, both featuring Tona Jaa doing mindblowing stunts and Thai kickboxing based fight scenes, I figured that Thailand was going to be the best new source of martial arts movies.

So, it was with some eagerness that I looked forward to reviewing Dynamite Warrior. The problem is that Dan Chupong is no Tona Jaa, or maybe it’s that director Chalerm Wongpim is no Prachya Pinkaew, who directed Ong Bak. What I mean by that is that the martial arts sequences in Dynamite Warrior just don’t have the same impact as Ong Bak.

Part of the problem is lackluster martial arts choreography. All of the martial arts battles, whether they involve star Dan Chupong or not, look almost exactly the same. Over and over again, people get hit with knees or elbows at pretty much the same angles. I realize that this is one of the primary methods of Thai kickboxing, but it gets boring really quickly. Besides, there was much more variety in the martial arts choreography in Ong Bak and The Protector, so it can be done. Also, unlike Ong Bak, they haven’t managed to make the hits look like full-contact blows, which is one of the things that made Hong Kong martial arts films from 80s and 90s so friggin’ awesome.

Another thing. When someone gets thrown off a balcony in these types of movies. I want to see them fall in an unbroken cut if possible, or at least fool me into thinking I saw it. If the movie is full of awkward cheats that make it clear that no stunt people took any risks, then I might as well watch a Hollywood CGI fest. The same goes for martial arts sequences.

Action is like a dance. It’s best viewed from a medium distance, so you can appreciate the poetry of the moves (not to mention the impact of the mayhem). If it’s all closeups and quick cuts, you kill the poetry of the dance.

So, the martial arts and stunt sequences are kind of dull, which is kind of the kiss of death for movies like Dynamite Warrior. Then there’s the acting.

I don’t expect subtle, realistic acting in these kinds of pictures, but there are limits to how much clowning and mugging I can stand, and Dynamite Warrior had exhausted my patience a mere 15 minutes into the film. The supposed comedy elements are ill-advised to say the least.

It’s too bad. The premise is interesting. Back in 1850s Thailand, the country had just opened it’s borders to international trade. There was a large demand for Thai rice, so the rice plantations in central Thailand had to expand to meet demand. There wasn’t enough labor available, so herds of buffalo from the north were herded southward to work the rice paddies. That’s the historical background, which is given in a couple of title cards as pure exposition. Not the most elegant solution, but okay.

It develops that Lord Wang (Leo Putt) is trying to sell tractors to the Thai farmers, but they won’t buy them because they’re too expensive. Wang decides to sic some bandits, headed up by Nai Hoi Dam (Panna Rittikrai) on the cattle drivers, so the farmers won’t have any choice but to buy his tractors. The only obstacle to his plan: Jone Bang Fai, the Dynamite Warrior (Dan Chupong), who defends cattle drivers against rustlers. To me, that seems like a pretty foolproof setup.

There’s nothing wrong with what happens in the movie per se up to that point. The problem is acting, action choreography, and the script. Yes, the script. Some of the lines are just dumb, and it isn’t just the translation. You can follow the intent and it’s still dumb. In a movie that’s all about action, you don’t have to clear that high a bar in the dialog department, but Dynamite Warrior repeatedly falls on its face trying.

But wait, there’s more problems with Dynamite Warrior. The filmmakers have set up a reasonably realistic scenario. Why sabotage it by including pure fantasy elements? For example, in several sequences the Dynamite Warrior literally rides on a rocket. This type of imagery has it’s place in fantasy wuxia movies, but that isn’t how Dynamite Warrior has set itself up. For this type of movie, the action should be exaggerated, but still have a link to reality, like Ong Bak and The Protector.

But no, that’s the not the kind of film the creators of Dynamite Warrior had in mind. Soon enough, they’ve introduced folkloric elements like ghosts, supernatural powers, demons and covens. Perhaps if the settings weren’t so naturalistic or if the filmmaking was more stylized, we would have been clued in to the fantasy wuxia character of Dynamite Warrior earlier and the supernatural elements wouldn’t have come as such as shock.

But it gets worse. Half an hour or so in, Dynamite Warrior introduces a vendetta plot, which turns out to be the main story, with the cattle rustling and farmers relegated to a subplot. This is poor screenwriting to start with, but the way the new characters are written telegraphs the big twist the filmmakers have planned from a mile away, eliminating any chance at surprise or emotional resonance.

One aspect of Dynamite Warrior that I enjoyed alot was the score, a mixture of a Western orchestra and indigenous musical instruments which is nicely evocative of the mileau. How nice that the filmmakers didn’t go the cheap way and use a synthesizer!

I also appreciated the cinematography, especially some poetic images in the forest. There are some nice iconic images of the Dynamite Warrior striding along in slow motion, wearing his trademark bandanna, shafts of light filtering through the trees.

But when I’m reduced to complimenting the score and cinematography in an action movie to find something nice to say, something is very wrong. It’s hard to say who would find Dynamite Warrior satisfying. I’m the exact audience for these kinds of pictures and it didn’t work for me at all.