Warrior King film review

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WARRIOR KING

The team behind 2003's international martial arts hits Ong Bak has reunited for Warrior King, a frenetic tale of elephants, crime gangs and the spectacular fighting skill of Muay Thai. Fans of superstar fighter Tony Jaa will know what to expect, and the filmmakers have attempted to push the boundaries of screen martial arts further than ever before. As far as the fighting and action sequences are concerned, their efforts have been a major success, but the flimsy plotting is more in the style of Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer) than Bruce Lee.

Jaa stars as Kham, and in an engaging and touching opening sequence, we see him growing up as a young boy in the Thai countryside with his father and his two pet elephants. Elephants play a big part in the film, and the screenplay is at pains to show just how important they are to the Thai culture. The ultimate honour for any pachyderm owner is to present his animal to the King, and when Kham and his father are given such an opportunity they jump at the chance.

Unfortunately, the show they enter is run by corrupt officials, and soon Kham is left without either a father or an elephant. Vowing to seek vengeance, he returns to his village to hone his fighting skills, before embarking to Australia where he believes his animals to be in captivity. Here he encounters a world of underworld gangsters who he must successively topple in order to reclaim his prized possessions.

There's no doubt that the production team have gone to town in their attempts ot create extraordinary action sequences, and most of them show more imagination than anything similar coming out of the West. At full flow, Jaa is phenomenal to watch. However, as an actor he is less than convincing, and is surrounded by a cast of Thai nationals who bravely attempt to speak in English, presumably since the script and production has an eye on the international market. To an English-speaking audience, this comes across as unintentionally amusing.

Nevertheless, few hardcore fans will trouble themselves with such details, and instead will revel in the spectacle before them. Warrior King may not be the deepest film of the year, but it's certainly the most successful martial arts effort.

Paul Hurley