Spirit Warrior

This Thai martial arts film was released in the US as SPIRITED KILLER. The DVD capitalizes on Tony Jaa being in the film, but he is only in it for about 15 minutes. Regardless, the film is still worth watching if you want to check out some insane Thai fighting. Panna Rittikrai, Tony Jaa's mentor and trainer, reprises his role as a killing machine under the spell of a local black magic priest (this is actually the fourth part of a series). The film is basically like the Chuck Norris vehicle SILENT RAGE set in a forest. The killer is unstoppable and just beats people over and over. Nothing more, nothing less. The real reason to watch it are the brutal, full contact fights. This is standard for Panna titles and these guys really beat the hell out of each other. Jaa looks quite young but displays that unique flair that would eventually make him a worldwide superstar (watch for the scene where he does the splits...ouch!). The English dub on the DVD is so goofy that it only adds to the enjoyment of the film.

The greatest Martial Artist (apart from Bruce Lee) of all time Tony Jaa, pops up briefly in this very early, Thai action film. The fight scenes are (of course) way above average but the plot could be written on the side of a matchbox. For Jaa fans only (me included) and thinking, such a big waste of talent. The same team did go on to make the very greatest 'Ong Bak' and you can just about see the early signs.

I like Tony Jaa, his skill is so impressive. I saw the DVD box for this and thought it was another Tony Jaa film. I was wrong. When he finally shows up his skill is shown once again but then ... poof ... he is dead and this crappy movie carries on. The cover has Tony Jaa, the synopsis has Tony Jaa, I really thought he would be in this more.

I will say this for the film though: I thought they did a pretty decent job with the obviously low budget they had. The weapons were cool and I could only tell they were not real during the close up shots. The fighting was pretty good but I guess I went in expecting to see Tony Jaa going ape all over the screen and ended up seeing a low budget Thai film with so-so action.

A voodoo priest promising immortality by drinking an elixir is caught actually selling his believers poison and local villagers exact retribution via machetes. The voodoo priest thought dead returns five years later with the aid of an invincible zombie (Panna Rittikrai) taking all opposition out with his martial arts and various weapons. The action in Spirited Killer (1994) is cheesy fun, bloody at times and is highlighted by a great fight sequence featuring a young Tony Jaa in a small role.

I have recently been introduced to two of the best martial arts movies ever - Ong Bak and The Warrior King aka The Protector. I saw this film in the shop for a decent price. On the cover there was a huge picture of Tony Jaa. On the back it went on: "Tony Jaa, Tony Jaa, Tony Jaa..." which made me believe Tony Jaa was in this film, doing his thing. I bought the film, and was bitterly disappointed.

Although the film was made on a tiny budget, you can't deny that there is a lot of action in this film. Unfortunately, most of the fighting is second-rate, but there is a lot of it. There is very little dialogue, and almost constant hand-to-hand, and sword-fighting. On the whole, though, the film is very, very cheap.

The biggest disappointing factor of this film is the fact that I couldn't find Tony Jaa in it. I know he must be in it somewhere, as other reviews state that he was there near the end, but where?? Once again, we've been had. In a similar way to Jackie Chan headlining a film in which he has a one-minute cameo (like Michelle Yeoh's Supercop), the box design is nothing but false advertising. This film was re-released once Tony Jaa had made a name for himself, and was credited as a Tony Jaa film. That's like saying that The Warrior King is a Jackie Chan film because he appears for five seconds at Sydney Airport.

Judging this film as a normal film, and not a Tony Jaa film, however, it is still a very poor movie, and not even worth bargain bin prices.