Friday, July 13, 2012

BANGKOK ADRENALINE: KIDNAPPING TO MAKE MONEY SOUNDS EASY, RIGHT?


There are tons of movies made around the world, some great, some mediocre and some down right terrible. But the fact of the matter is that most fall into the center category, not quite good but not as bad as some big budget films out there. Such is the case with this film.

Four backpacking friends land in Bangkok and hit the town. Between dance joints and bars their funds run a little low so one has a plan to make back what they've spent: get into a high stakes poker game! All goes well at first but then they lose what money they have left...as well as money they don't have. The stereotypical Thailand gang boss tells them he breaks a finger for every 1,000 batt they owe. But since they owe 1,000,000 he's going to run out of fingers before he gets paid. He gives them one week to come up with the funds.

Taking menial jobs here and there, everything from professional wrestler to male stripper, the group doesn't seem to have a chance of making the money. That's when one of them comes up with the idea of kidnapping a wealthy American's daughter and holding her for ransom. The kidnapping goes fine and of course the young woman is a mouthy whiner that they're anxious to get rid of but her father keeps telling them that he can't come up with the funds they want. They negotiate for a smaller sum and head out to collect.

The best laid plans saying kicks in here. Rather than send the money the American, a crook if there ever was one, sends out his bodyguards who bring along a gang that seems trained in martial arts. Good thing our 4 semi-heroes are great fighters. They battle back and forth and eventually escape.

Along the way the group discovers that the American has no intentions of paying them anything at all. As a matter of fact he wants the girl dead. So much for fatherly love. Now instead of holding her ransom they try to help her along with the bodyguards who have no idea how conniving their boss really is.

The film has so many loopholes in the plot that to try and list them would result in a review longer than what I've written so far. The idea that these idiots come up with is not only far fetched but downright stupid. But that's not what folks who look at movies like this care about. They're interested in the fight sequences and honestly there are some great ones on display here.  Where Jackie Chan and his team brought fast paced frenetic energy to fight sequences in the past, films being made in Indonesia and Thailand are upping the ante creating some classic fight scenes and catching them on film.

No, the movie isn't the greatest thing ever made but it's not the worst either. Anyone interested in this title will do so just to watch the fight sequences. To rent it for any other reason is to end in disappointment.

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