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Dom Robinson reviews
Momentum Pictures
- Cert:
- Cat.no: MP423D
- Running time: 95 minutes
- Year: 2004
- Pressing: 2005
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
- Languages: Thai
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £15.99
- Extras: The Making Of The Bodyguard, Trailers
Director:
- Panna Rittikrai & Petchtai Wongkamlao
(Panna Rittikrai: Born To Fight; Petchtai Wongkamlao: Yam yasothon)
Producer:
- Somsak Techaratanaprasert
Screenplay:
- Petchtai Wongkamlao
Cast:
- Wongkom: Petchtai Wongkamlao
Pok: Pumwaree Yodkamol
Chaichol Petchpantakarn: Pipat Apiraktanakorn
Chot Petchpantakarn: Surachai Juntimatorn
In The Bodyguard,the premise is simple. The man in the title, Wongkom (Petchtai Wongkamlao, right, who also co-directsthis movie), does his best to protect his boss, Chot Petchpantakarn (Surachai Juntimatorn), ismurdered while shielded by Wongkom following the signing of important documents.
But after Chot gets shot, the billing stated that Wongkom was fired by the family, but all I saw wasthat his mother thought he’d done his best and that Chot’s son, Chaichol (Pipat Apiraktanakorn),or Chai for short, just scowled at him. Still, it’s not long before his help is needed again as Chaigoes on the run from the baddies who want him dead too and, in an improbable circumstance which I’llleave for you to discover, Chai gets taken in by a family who likes to argue a lot (which one doesn’t?)and who lives in the slums, with Chai falling for their tomboy daughter, Pok (Pumwaree Yodkamol).
The billing also stated that this film “never lets up on the action”, but it couldn’t be furtherfrom the truth as there’s huge passages where little apparent to the plot seems to happen. When itdelivers, it does deliver such as the first scene that leads from an opening hotel shootout to anairborne 4-way BMW collision/explosion.
Ultimately, though, it can’t really decide whether it’s an actioner or a comedy and just gets totallymad at times. There are some great, unexpected bits of humour, one even in a funeral speech and alater one in a lift where one of a the baddies is dressed like a WWE wrestler (for starters) – a scenethat goes on a little too long than you’d normally expect but which sits well amongst the rest of themovie, and some of the strange things said by Pok’s gambling addict mother, who exclaims to thetransvestite who lives with them, “Lilly, you sleep like a transvestite being raped.”
The chance to spoof other films rears its head, such as John Woo effct when lots of doves are flappingabout in the supermarket hostage scene, and Tony Jaa also appears later on in that scene, with anice reference to Ong-bak, even though it’s a film I’ve yet to see (Google was my friend ondiscovering that one 🙂
There are a couple of odd edits, such as in the opening shootout when Wongkom blasts the first baddieafter he gets a shotgun. You don’t get to see the impact, but you see the shot and then the guy flying awayafter being hit. Later on, Chai is shown going to get some groceries for the family he’s currently stayingwith: he’s given a list, Pok stares off-camera, then we see Lilly’s attention aroused by someone having theirhand slapped and looks in surprise, then back to the first shot and Pok looks surprised too as Chai comesback into shot when he hadn’t left. Who was slapped? And who did the slapping? Weird!
At first, I expected this film to be shot in 2.35:1, like the majority of Asian action flicks, but it’sin 1.85:1 (and anamorphic). Then I wondered if it was cropped to 1.85:1 from 2.35:1, but the way it’s filmed doesn’t suggestthis as it looks fairly comfortable most of the time although some frames to look a little cramped at times,and the days of such films being cropped to 16:9, like some bonehead in charge – i.e. Brian White, Head DVDproducer at Medusa in 2000, thought was necessary for Jackie Chan films a few years ago, are hopefullylong behind us, such as the alleged “Special Collector’s Edition” of Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow.
Aside from that, the picture isn’t the best it could’ve been by a fairly long shot as it’s a bit washedout, but it is passable for the kind of film it is. Better, though, is the sound. Available in both DD5.1and DTS 5.1, and it was the latter I put on, the effort has really been put in there and it certainlydoes the job with great split-surround effects.
Extras are scant. Just a 13-minute ‘making of’ with film clips mixed in with general chat from the maincast members about how their roles were carried out and trailers for Ong-Bak, Born To Fight andThe Bodyguard.
The menus are animated with repeated bits of sound, the main one featuring a snatch of the theme tune,there are English subtitles for the movie which are, strangely, burnt into the print, and a woefully-poorchaptering – just 12 for the 95-minute movie – and chapters 7-12 from the menu haven’t been linked so theyjust take you straight back to the start of the film. Obviously the quality control dept took a day offwhen this disc was in production.
One more thing of annoyance? The blood anti-piracy trailer at the start. It can’t be skipped, and anyonewho’s bought this from a shop isn’t helping the world of piracy. And even if they bought it from a dodgymarket stall then that is NOT funding organised crime whatever the authorities will try to have you believe.Duh!
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.