Film Exposure

Remember the 2004-2013 period: it was the glory days of action films from Thailand, the time of Tony Jaa, Jeeja Yanin, and Prachya Pinkaew, the time when Muay Thai took the world by storm. For about ten years, Thai action cinema was all the rage, and looked like it was succeeding in becoming a worthy heir to the golden age of Hong Kong actioners. But then fate decided otherwise: the stars left or made bad deals, some producers and directors pivoted to other genres, and the momentum sort of just dissipated. However, the groundwork for an industry-wide restructuring had been done, and Thailand has remained a hub for international productions and a treasure trove of reliable, expert stunt professionals. The second edition of L.A.-based Big Bad Film Fest, dedicated to action cinema, recently held the world premiere of Chaya Supannarat’s Bangkok Dog. The perfect opportunity to check in on our beloved, dearly missed Thai action cinema.

Bangkok Dog starts promisingly well: on a dockyard full of massive containers, two American cops are trying to arrest drug dealers, and get into fisticuffs with said criminals. The setting is immediately reminiscent of Hong Kong action films from the 80s and 90s, and soon our main character Andrew, played by D.Y. Sao, must fend off powerful and impressively acrobatic attacks from the antagonist played by Brian Le. Le, one half of the Le Brothers duo (the other is Andy, not in this film), became famous a few years ago by showcasing his physical prowess on YouTube, which lead him and his brother to land roles in the Marvel production Shang-Chi and in Everything Everywhere All At Once, where they proved able to resurrect a style of action comedy not seen at this level of craft since Jackie Chan’s heyday.

Brian Le and D.Y. Sao have collaborated on several projects together, notably Hanuman: Shadow Master, a sluggishly paced, poorly written effort that featured some absolutely stunning action choreography. Once more reunited for Bangkok Dog as deadly enemies, Le and Sao prove themselves incredible on-screen martial artists who can move with nearly superhuman ease and agility. Filmmaker Chaya Supannarat, in her feature debut, serves up solid enough direction with wide, stable shots that emphasize the performers’ spins and kicks, with a good few inserts thrown in to highlight impacts, and even manages to create a couple of cool, kinetic transitions.

But then the fight stops, and the troubles start. D.Y. Sao is an excellent physical performer, but his acting range does not allow him to pull off (not yet, at least) the arrogant, self-confident type this role calls for. So little information is given about him that the protagonist becomes perhaps the film’s biggest weakness: Who is he as a person? What are his motivations (beyond “being a cop”, that is)? He intervenes in his partner’s fights even though she needs no help and plays solo on multiple occasions, jeopardizing the mission. His mannerisms and fighting style sometimes recall signature Bruce Lee moves – a strange choice, as the difference in charisma threatens to break immersion. At some point, another character asks him “Think you’re Bruce Lee or something?”, to which Sao just nods, and then moves on.

The script then struggles to find its footing, first turning into an imitation of a procedural cop show, complete with interrogation scenes and meetings in the director’s office. However, the dialogues and the plot come across as so uninspired that one wonders whether anyone on the production has actually watched any such show recently. The story soon takes us to Thailand, where Andrew (Sao) goes undercover impersonating Brian Le’ antagonist character. The budget limitations become explicitly apparent in the L.A. scenes, confined to a couple of rooms and stock shots of the skyline. During an escape sequence later on in the film, it’s hard not to wonder why only two people seem to be working at this international government agency.

The director seems more at ease in Bangkok (and even the actors look like they’re more comfortable in that setting). She shows a bit of the city’s nightlife, lingers on a couple of backstreets, lets the characters talk quickly about life in the Thai city… The diegetic world still looks limited (lack of extras, too little variety in the sets), but is more believable once the story entirely takes place in Thailand. At the mid-way point, Chaya Supannarat decides to speed the narrative up a bit through a montage sequence that alternates nightclub scenes and tiny moments of action. There’s some value to the idea, as it helps show how the protagonist ends up getting a bit lost in his undercover mission, but the execution lacks impact and fluidity.

The first hour of the film consists mostly of people talking and clearly, that is not what the filmmaking team is really interested in here. Things pick up around the hour mark with an action scene on a bridge that delivers shootouts and hand-to-hand combat. The contrast with non-action scenes is striking, even shocking at times. Naturally, the final showdown between D.Y. Sao and Brian Le makes up the film’s climax, and both performers completely own the screen as soon as they start moving. Defined by speed, agility, and animalistic brutality, the final duel is an exhilarating moment of cinematic violence featuring moves that harken back to Ong Bak and Raging Phoenix, a furious demonstration of exceptional physicality captured with purpose and clarity.

Why, then, confine it to four minutes only? Although the action is indeed remarkable, the film contains so little of it, it would be hard to call Bangkok Dog a showcase for its actors. Tony Jaa’s early films, directed by Bangkok Dog producer Prachya Pinkaew, did an excellent job at presenting the actor to the world as The Next Big Thing^TM, which is what this new endeavour should have done given its apparent global ambitions (the English language, the presence of familiar faces of the action community like Dutch stuntman Ron Smoorenburg, famous for his fight with Jackie Chan in Who Am I?). As it stands, Bangkok Dog unfortunately does not deliver enough of what it’s good at, even if what’s there is indeed quite good. Thai action cinema has not yet risen from its ashes, but if Bangkok Dog proves one thing, it’s that it has the people and the knowledge. We’ll be watching.

Bangkok Dog had its world premiere at Big Bad Film Fest 2 in California on August 25^th, 2024. Well Go USA is planning to release the film in the fall in North America. Thanks to Patrick Young of Big Bad Film Fest and Sarah Clinton of Well Go USA for making this review possible.

Bangkok Dog – No European release date yet
Directed by Chaya Supannarat
With D.Y. Sao, Brian Le, Byron Bishop