White Elephant

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.

I had the chance to see this movie and all I can say is that it was 90 minutes of my life that I wont get back.I had been looking forward to this, being that it was the English language debut of the guy(whose name is to long to spell out) who brought us ong bak & the protector. Dijamon Honsou was miscast, Kevin bacon did it for the paycheck and the movie as a whole just really didn't make sense and was boring. Bad direction, Weak plot, bad acting (Kevin Bacon's accent=horrible)The action scenes tried hard to look cool and stylish but just fail. To sum things up, I can see why this movie is headed straight to DVD & Blu-ray!

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.

Very very unfair reviews. Kevin Bacon made a super job of the accent. Just because you're not used to seeing him do an English accent does not mean it is bad. Actually it was quite good. Overall the acting was good and the action scenes where good. The story line was good and the ending was good. What more do you want! Blood? For people who visit Bangkok or knows anything about day to day life in Thailand it adds entertainment for sure. Amalgamating Asian casts for western audiences is probably the hardest exercise in the film industry until we get another Bruce Lee. This film is not about martial arts at all, contrary to many posts here. The last film that tried this Bangkok dangerous failed miserably and I can assure you this film comes to the rescue in that department. Overall entertaining and well put together.

Was this the best movie I have ever seen? Absolutely not. Was it the worst movie I have ever seen? No again. This movie served one purpose, to showcase a martial arts, action and explosions. And to that effect, I think it hit its mark. I do have to say that the award for worst accent of 2010 goes to Kevin Bacon, but all in all I was entertained with the movie and have seen far more futile attempts in the past. I think the premise of the movie has entertaining, though done before. If you have the time to kill, I say give it a watch, but don't go sleepless at night because you haven't seen it yet. I say a solid 5 out of 10.