I had the opportunity to sit down and watch the 2021 Thai action movie "Dark World" here in 2023. Sure, I had never even heard about the movie prior to sitting down to watch it, but that hardly mattered, as it being an Asian movie that I hadn't already seen was sufficient to make me have an interesting in it.
Writer Ping Lumpraploeng put together a script where the audience are to buy into the fact that a Third World War has just happened and that the world's economy is in ruins, while the rich use the poor for entertainment in gladiatorial games with the losers forfeiting their lives.
Right, well it might all have seemed interesting enough in concept and in thought process, but the transition from script to screen didn't make for a convincing movie. First of all, there was no indications of a Third World War having just happened and ended, so that fact of the storyline was fully irrelevant. The worlds economy was in ruins? Well, again something that had no impact on the storyline, and thus was not a factor that came into play. And the rich use the poor for entertainment? Well, none of the game contestants seemed to be forced into the games against their wills and there was nothing to keep them locked into participating in a game to the death. So writer Ping Lumpraploeng failed to deliver anything worthwhile on every front here.
The acting performances in the movie were bland. But then again, the actors and actresses were struggling with having no proper material to work with, nor any kind of character gallery with an ounce of interesting characters. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble, nor were I particularly impressed with what transpired on the screen.
Visually then there was nothing grand or outstanding to be witnessed in "Dark World", aside from the whole concept of a dystopian world in ruins failing to come across on the screen whatsoever.
The movie runs for 108 minutes. I managed to suffer through 55 of those and then I just gave up out of sheer and utter boredom and a failure to buy into whatever it was that director Jittsin Pongintarakul was attempting to peddle. And believe you me when I say that I am never returning to attempt finish watching "Dark World".
If anything, then it felt like the movie tried to be a poor man's "Fight Club", but failed at that as well...
My rating of "Dark World" lands a very generous two out of ten stars.
