“Thai Fighters” Poster
Fair warning, I am absolutely overrating Thai Fighters by a fair margin simply because, well, it’s been so damn long since we’ve seen a Thai martial arts movie! Not counting Tony Jaa’s endeavors in the Chinese market such as Striking Rescue, the last time I can really remember sitting down for a bonafide Muay Thai action flick would have to be 2014’s Vengeance of an Assassin, which not-so-coincidentally was the final film directed by Tony Jaa’s mentor, Panna Rittikrai, before his untimely passing at the age of fifty-three. The whole genre of Thai action seemed to more or less grow entirely dormant after Rittikrai left us much too soon. (The only example I think I might have missed in the intervening years was 2017’s Broken Sword Hero).
So while Thai Fighters is not a particularly great film, it did feel incredibly welcoming to be back in the milieu of the goofy Thai action-comedy, you know, the kind where actors mug for the camera and the questionable humor is occasionally broken up by slow-mo shots of somebody’s elbow connecting with a stuntman’s cranium. The plot, which might be more accurately called ‘a flimsy series of circumstances,’ revolves around the stubborn conflict between the Northern and Southern sides of a rural village in Thailand. I don’t think you’ll be shocked to learn that both North and South will eventually have to put aside their petty differences and team up when a dangerous gangster targets their humble outpost.
I had a feeling from the trailer for Thai Fighters that this was going to be one of those movies where most of the action is crammed into the last fifteen minutes, which mercifully isn’t the case, but I won’t lie and say there’s a ton of action in this thing. Still, the presence of Dan Chupong in the trailer also gave me some assurance that Thai Fighters would be worth the rental price, and if the name Dan Chupong means anything to you, then you are the ideal viewer for Thai Fighters.
I’m talking to the folks who didn’t just watch Tony Jaa in Ong-Bak and The Protector and call it a day. I’m talking to the ones who know Chupong because they followed the Ong-Bak co-star to Dynamite Warrior…
…or maybe you followed Ong-Bak comic relief actor Petchtai Wongkamlao to The Bodyguard…
…or The Protector bad guy Nathan Jones to Muay Thai Giant…
…or Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew to The Kick and Chocolate, and choreographer Panna Rittikrai to Bangkok Knockout…
…or, hell, maybe you even gave Thai superhero movies a shot with Mercury Man and Demon Warriors…!
Clearly, there was a whole boom of Thai action movies that lasted from Ong-Bak’s initial release in 2003 until the dismal reception of The Protector 2 and Rittikrai’s death brought it to a close about a decade later. It was an exciting moment for the action genre while it lasted: as longtime screen veterans like Jackie Chan and Jet Li were slowly aging out of the blistering hand-to-hand combat and daredevil stunts of their youth, the emergence of new talent like Tony Jaa and JeeJa Yanin really made you feel like the future of martial arts cinema was in good hands. There was a thrill in seeing just how the fearless stunt crews of Thailand were going to attempt to top themselves next, whether it was Tony Jaa launching himself off a live elephant in order to kick dudes in the face in Ong-Bak 2 or a stuntman barely avoiding having his head crushed by a truck in Born to Fight.
So, to be fair, Thai Fighters is closer to a 4/10 rating, perhaps even a 2/10 if you’re really impatient for the fists to start flying, but I have to reward it for momentarily taking me back to happier times, when we all had a little bit more pep in our step and the international action scene felt abuzz with excitement.
I should caution that Dan Chupong’s turn here is closer to a glorified cameo than a supporting turn and, man, did seeing Chupong with so much gray in his hair make me feel old. Time isn’t halting its progress for any of us—though it’s reassuring to know that Chupong still has the moves onscreen.
Z Ravas’ Rating: 6/10
