Deu suay doo

OK i have to admit i am generous when i give an 8, because i was to other movies as well a couple years ago. I know when i watch a martial arts movie to not look too much at the story, more on the fights. But since i started to go back on martial arts around 2 years ago and started my collection(which is now over 300 movies) i find the same problem going on with every THAI martial arts movie. To the Tony Jaa's to the unknown's. The fights are always very impressive, but the story is always CRAP !!! This movie is no exception. Some could say the initial synopsis is not that bad, gang abducting womens and heroes going after them. But where TAKEN(with Liam Neeson) succeeded in that department, this movie does not, going from one weird thing to the other and so on. The heroine training is pretty good and the initial plot seem pretty find, its later it become like "whatever". At least the fight are VERY impressive and well choreographed so you never get bored and always stay in the movie. But i would wish sometimes the Thais would learned that a good yet simple plot of a movie is the best way to showcase awesome martial arts. You don't need fancy stuff, you don't need weird stuff, you don't need stuff the audience would be like "huh....ok" . With Thais movie, its always the same thing, either a relic has been stolen and the hero goes after it, or its supernatural stuff. I don't know, maybe they should check the simple, yet effective formula of the US movies of the 90s. Hero got his ass kick, go back and train to a master, come back and kick the ass of the bad guy. I don't know... sometimes in martial arts the simpler plots work best, if you have good fighting to display and i can assure you this movie has.... Please people from thailand... leave the supernatural out of the martial arts movie... we don't wanna a cross over between star wars and bloodsport... we want just good ol martial arts.

Having bought this movie solely on the reason because JeeJa Yanin was in the movie, and I was amazed with her performance in "Chocolate", so I had high expectations for this movie.

I must admit that it was somewhat of a struggle for me to fully sit through this movie to the end, because it had a tendency to drag out the story in a seemingly endless spiral, and took forever to go almost nowhere. The storyline was adequate enough, women getting abducted by Thai gangs, but drained of their pheromones to make a perfume? What? Are you kidding me? The story went horrible awry when that was revealed. Up until then, the movie was actually bearable.

The fighting scenes in the movie were well choreographed and well executed. There was lots of fast-paced, adrenalin-fueled action in the movie. And Thai movie makers really got a knick for this, and this movie is another dent in the belt.

That being said, then a lot of the movie, including the fight scenes, were rudely interrupted and tainted by a horrible attempt to add comedy to the movie, in the forms of the characters Pigshit and Dogshit, pardon my French, but they were actually named this in the movie. They were dreadful to look at and worse to listen to, with horrible lines and bad comedy. The movie really suffered from this approach to film making.

If you have seen "Chocolate", do not set your expectations up after that standard, because this movie is inferior to that movie by far, and inferior to the first "Ong Bak" as well. Sure, there are nice fighting scenes, but it is far from enough to carry the movie.

And what was up with the gang members jumping around on pogo-stilts? That was really lame. Who fights with such toys strapped to their feet? Come on... And the whole feeling to the underground lair of the gang was way out of proportions. Where would such a place be found? The complexity of its built, the depth in which it was found, and how would no one know of its location? Sure it looked somewhat nice, but it was too much.

For a Thai movie, it was very mediocre. Trust me, there are far better Thai action movies available. "Raging Phoenix" (or "Deu Suay Doo") might be worth a look if you are a big fan of JeeJa Yanin, but otherwise not really worth the time unless you got nothing better to do.

Thai sensation JeeJa Yanin burst onto the martial arts movie scene in 2008 with Chocolate, wowing fight fans worldwide with her amazing performance as adorable but bad-ass autistic girl Zen (and earning her the title of 'the female Tony Jaa' in the process). Expectations were naturally high for her next film Raging Phoenix, but although Yanin once again displays incredible agility, skill, and speed, the film as a whole must be considered something of a disappointment, lacking the simplicity, charm, originality, and raw power of its predecessor.

The script flits brazenly from one nonsensical scene to the next and is irritatingly indifferent to its main gimmick, the drunken fighting style of Meyraiyuth, so carefully developed in the first half of the film yet completely ignored in the second; almost as brash are the fight scenes that vary wildly in style from bone-crunching realism to comic-book excess (with naff wire-work employed for 'cool' gravity defying moves), most of which are so highly choreographed that they are more like immaculate dance routines than amazing displays of martial arts prowess (impressive to watch, certainly, but hardly adrenaline pumping). Meanwhile, Yanin desperately struggles to create another endearing character in Deu, but thanks to far too many embarrassingly over-melodramatic moments, her street urchin with attitude comes across as more pathetic than sympathetic.

Throughout the film, there are plenty of scenes that display promise, but all ultimately fail to deliver the levels of genius that have made recent Muay Thai movies like Ong-Bak, Warrior King and Chocolate so memorable; the fact that this potential for awesomeness is so frequently and readily wasted makes Raging Phoenix an all the more frustrating experience.

An unsatisfying 5.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Movie as such is pretty simple and straight forward with a twist in between which actually jinxed me. However, saying that, the only reason I watched it was JeeJa Yanin and her martial arts skills.

I was browsing through action videos in youtube and came across this movie's last action sequence which kind of so much impressed me that I was curious to watch the full movie. It went smooth and I wasn't expecting much too. But, by God, this lady had some skills and showed perfectly in martial arts. I remember watching Tom Yoom Gung earlier of Tony Jaa and that action star is the only other Thai actor which impressed me with his techniques. Bravo. JeeJa Yanin, in the same way, performed her own style and who knows, it could be taken as a reference in other action movies. Am now eager to watch her movie Chocolate. Fingers crossed.

I wasn't expecting much from JeeJa Yanin's original film ("Chocolate"), but her physical talents were showcased in spectacular fashion and won me over despite the shortcomings in terms of scriptwriting. That film grew on me more and more after repeat viewings, but there still was room for improvement in the pacing and storyline elements. Enter "Raging Phoenix", which not only avoids a sophomore slump for JeeJa, but actually surpasses "Chocolate" in total entertainment value.

One way it does this is to allow JeeJa to express her camera presence and charisma. This was surprising to me personally, because her previous role in "Chocolate" was so introverted and robotic that it was essentially impossible to determine whether or not this girl could steal a scene without beating someone's brains in. In "Raging Phoenix", however, she really cuts loose during the opening half as she jokes around, engages in some funny dialogue, and participates in some light-hearted fight scenes involving drunken styles of martial arts. That one-vs-many boat brawl is – now wait for it – a boat-load of fun. JeeJa exhibits a natural likability that her fellow countryman Tony Jaa severely lacks. Don't misunderstand me, because I am a fan of Tony's films, but he has some serious limitations as all of his screen presence is earned through his (phenomenal) physical skills. JeeJa, on the other hand, portrays her character in a way that is very endearing. In other words, I'd love to have her as a younger sister. This charm is a major reason why this film is so entertaining. When the action scenes are bridged by good "non-action stuff", that's a huge plus.

The mood gets more serious when the kidnapping plot line is fleshed out more, but even here the film stays attention-grabbing with an interesting twist involving drug dealing. Now, I'm not saying that the script is incredibly strong. It's not going to win any awards in that realm, nor is it as strong as more dramatic action films like "Kill Zone" (2005), but it does build anticipation for the finale and establishes characters a bit more than usual. In addition, "Raging Phoenix" one-ups "Chocolate" by introducing a very strong lead antagonist during the latter half (played by Roongtawan Jindasing – Asian Pacific Women's Bodybuilding Champion). This lady is one tough son-of-a-gun who proves incredibly difficult to take down, which automatically makes things a bit more exciting than having JeeJa beat down random stuntmen the entire time.

Which brings us to the action scenes. There are some one-vs-many scenarios early on, but that shifts decisively towards one-on-one and two-on-one battles afterward, which results in some outstanding fist-a-cuffs. The "purists" need to stop complaining every time wires are used. I'm getting sick and tired of their whining, especially regarding movies like this that use wires effectively. The cavern hideout finale lasts a solid 30 minutes, and Roongtawan Jindasing hands out a great deal of damage to JeeJa and her buddies. It escalates to the point of making one's hairs stand on end, especially when JeeJa gets her second wind and slugs it out in EPIC fashion. That sequence must be an instant classic (at least in terms of girl vs girl mayhem). Heck, this entire film is an instant classic.

If you liked "Chocolate", you need to see this. If you didn't like "Chocolate", you need to see this anyways. It's truly an excellent action film, and quite possibly the best girl fighting movie ever made.