Writer: Audrey Ker

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Watch this if you liked: “Naked Weapon”, “Tomb Raider”, “Ong Bak”

A certain president once mentioned about 'fighting terror with terror'. Next thing we know, news of terrorists and terrorism are reported almost everywhere! Well, that's roughly what "The Vanquisher" is about: terrorism (international terrorism to be exact)... of some sort.

What started out as a rather refined sequence of slow motion fighting in a sheet of rain eventually parts open to reveal an awfully weak plot about Gunja, a female secret agent who gets betrayed by her organisation in a mission. She survives the assassination attempt and returns two years later, only to get further entangled with a group of terrorists and the CIA. Sound familiar? Yes, think of "The Losers" but with one hot babe instead of five dudes and you get the idea! Instead of focusing solely on the Americans, a whole myriad of other nationalities are involved; namely Japanese, Kenyans and even a smidge of Malaysians...a dire attempt from the filmmakers to make it more 'international', in the reviewer's opinion.

Viewers stepping into the cinema expecting action are in for a treat, as the action starts right from the beginning. It is easy to assume the film is all about showing girl power as it all the men in the film are either relegated to easy kills or cowards who just order people around. They leave all the 'dirty work' to the females. On the other hand, there are lots of slow motion fighting scenes, close ups and Lara Croft's look-alikes sporting Tony Jaa moves. Hmm...the film seems to be more about the girls rather than girl power!

Forgoing wide-angle shots that might make the film more pleasing to watch, the filmmakers have decided to shoot most of the scenes in close up. At some point, the viewers get to be right in the action with the close up of the fighting scenes but most of the time it can be pretty annoying as they can't see beyond a few inches of the actors. Case in point: one of the more intense fights towards the end. Furthermore, as the action progresses, the actors seem to veer off into another direction entirely. What started out as realistic fights unlike "Ong Bak" climaxes into a fight scene that might have been extracted from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"! How did that ever happen?

This is clearly a movie for guys; so if the viewers are looking for some "girl on girl" action or just to ogle at gorgeous ladies, then give this a go. You won't be disappointed! Just remember not to bring your girlfriend or spouse along as you might get pinched a lot throughout the movie with your 'Ooh's and 'Aah's exclamations.

Cinema Online, 02 June 2010