Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: “Chocolate”/”Fury”, “Ong Bak”, "Only The Strong"

"Drunken Master" (1978) meets "Only The Strong" (1993) in a female version of "Ong Bak"(2003) with a dollop of unnecessary "Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer" - that's what you get if you give martial arts wunderkind Jeeja Yanin another run at the cinemas after "Chocolate" a.k.a. "Fury" (2008).

With a Siamese title that translates to "stubborn, beautiful and fierce", this "Raging Phoenix" joins the recent rich vein of Thai action movies that compete and hold their own against the stuff that we get from Hollywood. Jeeja plays Deu, a pathetic, punk-rock drifter who joins a group of dancing drunken fighters on their vengeful mission of rescuing abducted women from a mysterious flesh trade gang. This vigilante trio (offensively named Pig Shit, Dog Shit and Bull Shit) is headed by another bitter bloke named Sanim (played by French-Vietnamese fighter Patrick "Kazu" Tang). You can forget about Marc Dacascos and his capoeira once this lot starts kicking ass, especially in the flurry of fight scenes in the first quarter of the movie.

However, let's not detract from the star of the show - Jeeja Yanin. She's cute (though slightly annoying) and she sure can put up a hell of a fight. Utilising a real-life Siamese discipline called "meiraiyuth", her character convincingly embraces the art and gives us something awesome to marvel at in every frame.

In spite of the good lensing and breath-taking backdrop, all of the meticulously choreographed fight action is hampered by an uncomfortable packaging that tries to cover romance (and some hocus-pocus mystical backstory as well), resulting in an overlong final product with an extended climax and an unnecessarily elaborate ending. This decision takes out a lot of energy out of the movie, leaving audiences with a martial arts flick that is enjoyable in patches only. Let's hope Jeeja Yanin's next project is much better and will bring her into Hollywood circles because this Thai talent is more marketable than Tony Jaa.


Cinema Online, 04 November 2009