Elephant White - Ein Killer in Bangkok

Kevin Bacon is probably the best thing about this, although his supposed British accent keeps going 'down under' into Australian. It also looked like it had to be over-dubbed afterwards as he clearly doesn't do accents well.

Djimon Hounsou is very believable, and the action scenes where he partakes in hand-to-hand combat are realistic and well executed. The dialogue is a bit patchy and the Thai characters are mostly your typical one-dimensional China/South East Asian stereotypes. I'm not familiar with the Thai director and I dare say in other hands the film might've been very different, but then access to Thailand may have been more restrictive, so swings and roundabouts.

Kevin bacon's small part is interesting but Djimon Hounsou makes this worth watching, for the integrity of the action if nothing else, but it's perhaps better suited to a home viewing rather than a ticket at the cinema.

OK I read the other reviews of this film before I decided to watch it, and to be honest I really don't know what the people who gave this film a really bad review, are talking about. I mean alright it was not an Oscar winner, but come on it wasn't a bad film, in fact I enjoyed it. The action scenes were shot well, and the dialogue while not fantastic, it was enough to keep you interested. Moreover, the story line about human trafficking and child prostitution is a one which is very real and about time more is done to tackle it in the real world, anyway the twist at the end of the film was surprising and completed the well rounded story. I have to say that Djimon Hounsou is a fantastic actor and did not disappoint in this film, Kevin Bacon was alright as well apart from the strange accent ( I actually thought my speakers were broken when he first began to talk !, I am from the UK and trust me no one talks like that here !). I was also impressed by Jirantanin Pitakporntrakul, who I thought acted really well and played a really good character, Mae and I hope to see her in more films in the future.

So would I recommend this film, well the answer is yes, it was an action packed film with a good story line and good acting, and more importantly the bad guys get their asses kicked, which is something that we don't really see to much of nowadays.

Although it a common action/thriller movie with lots of shootings its the actual theme of the movie that makes it worth watching. Child prostitution! A theme that is very very rarely covered and yet makes, according to the end of the movie billions of dollars each year.

Taken is the only movie I can remember that also had this theme. Elephant White is not as good as Taken, its missing some elements, but the story goes a bit deeper. Bacon plays Bacon, as usual, just his English accent its kinda funny.

Altogether, like I said, worth watching, for those who like action movies and for those who won't be shocked or disturbed to see how harsh real life really can be and obviously is, for some children!

In Bangkok, the assassin Curtie Church (Djimon Hounsou) is hired by a businessman to kill six men. Job done, the employer proposes another contract to Curtie to kill the lord of the traffickers that had addicted, prostituted and murdered his daughter.

Curtie seeks out the Englishman Jimmy (Kevin Bacon) that is an arm dealer and he rents heavy weapons. Then Curtie provokes a war between gangs to eliminate the greatest number of white slave traders. Meanwhile, the young prostitute Mae (Jirantanin Pitakporntrakul) meets Church and helps him to release other girls. When Mae vanishes, Curtie seeks her out and finds the truth about Mae.

"Elephant White" is a messy action flick with great action scenes but a confused screenplay that blends mystery, thriller and action. Kevin Bacon is weird with his British accent and I do not understand why the production didn't hire a British actor for the role of Jimmy. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Olho por Olho" ("Eye for an Eye")

Elephant White is a B Grade movie. But does that necessarily mean it's bad? NO it doesn't! Djimon Hounsou really impressed me - or should I say, his character did. I get really sick of movies where the hero only disables bad guys so that, after a remarkably fast recovery, they come back to give him more aggravation. Not so Curtie. He is a professional killer who eliminated low-lives very effectively and permanently! Of course, as is so typical with films like this, the bad guys are always terrible shots and probably couldn't hit a barn door at ten paces which is always annoying. Nevertheless, in this movie Curtie (Djimon) does get hit. Fortunately, of course, it wasn't fatal but it certainly gave the film a bit more credibility.

Kevin Bacon really suited playing an Englishman. I have never been much of a KB fan but, for some reason that I can't pinpoint, as a "pom" he was excellent. Someone else (an American) has written that Kevin's English accent was terrible and I would like to ask him how he knows. Kevin's English accent was great and really suited the part! Jason Statham eat your heart out!!

Since I didn't read the IMDb page about this movie, I didn't know that there was a fantasy element - which may or may not have been a good thing depending how you look at it. So when some weird things started happening I was quite taken by surprise. I'm not sure that the film actually needed that either.

Viewers should also bear in mind that this is a Thai film. The director Pracha Pinkaew is Thai and had six previous exploits as a director (half of those with Thai titles) and so they should remember that cultural differences are bound to be evident. He is obviously respected among his peers enough to have been elected president of the Thai Film Directors' Association.

So watch Elephant White with an open mind and enjoy it for what it is. The messages at the beginning of the end credits make it obvious that a statement was being made as well as presented in an entertaining manner. And next time you go to Thailand for a holiday, just think about it.