Bangkok Adrénaline

This independent Thai film was penned by an Aussie, directed by a Dutchman, and led by Englishmen. Each of these men have clearly spent a lot of time in Thailand, and have gained the support of the film community there, but my god, I only wish they would have refined a lot of things here before starting production!

Bangkok Adrenaline is so badly written, directed and acted, you feel like its 90 minute running time doubles in length as you painfully sit through the dreadful comedy sequences, most of which director and co-star Raimund Huber is on-screen for along with co-writer and giant, Conan Stevens. Its completely unfunny, with poor comic timing and happens way too much. So much so, that apart from the lengthy (and messy) end fight, Huber focuses way too much on trying to be a comic actor than letting the action happen.

Conan of course, has starred in many Hong Kong and Thai productions, but even he is dreadful in this and doesn't get to do much in the way of action. The handsome Gwion Jacob Miles has the looks and the moves, but his acting isn't the best. That isn't helped by his trying to be a tough guy with a posh English accent...

In fact, the only saving grace of Bangkok Adrenaline is the gorgeous Daniel O'Neill who looks amazing on screen, in action, and in his brief on-stage strip-bar scene. He plays Dan, the leader of this group of friends who get into trouble with some gangsters, after gambling in Bangkok. The set out on a plan to kidnap a millionaires daughter to raise the money owed, and things get out of hand!

Gorgeous Dan, who plays Dan in the film, was lucky enough to get to Hong Kong in the early 2000's to be a stunt performer on Jackie Chan's Accidental Spy, and The Medallion before getting to fight the man himself in The Twins Effect. The English born actor and martial artist looks incredible in his moves, and I only wish we could see more of him - and preferably under the eyes of a better director.

Raimund Huber, who has a few martial arts action films behind him now, delivers a very uneven, messy and below average flick. The scenes between Dan's fights are both boring and drag on far too long. The direction on shots jumps from flat to WTF, with the camera work on some of the end fight being so close and personal, you lose sight of what is going on. The making of documentary on this release is shot better...

The team behind the fights and action is pretty decent, including a young Tim Man (who gets a brief fight against O'Neill), Ron Smoorenburg and more, resulting in some fun fights. If I were Huber, I'd stop getting in front of the camera, and re-edit this film into a short where the amazing Daniel O'Neill just fights his way across Bangkok to save his friends!

Overall: Painful to watch for the most of it, but worth sitting through to see Daniel in action!

"Bangkok Adrenaline" is a non-stop action movie from the start to the very end. And the action is off the charts, no wires, no CGI, just pure action and martial arts.

The story in "Bangkok Adrenaline", however, was fairly unimaginative and rather simple. A group of foreigners in Thailand end up with a massive gambling dept, and in order to raise money for paying the dept then decide to kidnap the daughter of a millionaire. Demanding a ransom for the girl's release, the foreigners have taken on a bit more than they initially thought was going to be a piece of cake.

I found the story to be moving ahead at snail speed, taking forever to get almost nowhere. That, however, was fortunately helped along by lots and lots of action and fighting. And all these action scenes were really great, well executed and delivered, and the fighting scenes were raw, brutal and hard-hitting.

The acting in the movie was mediocre, so don't expect to see award-winning performances here. Some people put on better performances than others, of course, but the overall was just mediocre. Despite these mediocre acting, it was really nice to see westerners in a Thai fighting movie of this caliber, especially because the fighting was just like what you'd see in a Tony Jaa movie, so there really is a lot of cool action and fighting scenes here.

If you like the action/fighting movies that have come from Thailand in the recent years, then "Bangkok Adrenaline" is well worth sitting down for a watch. I was thoroughly entertained by the sheer action, and the poor storyline fell in the background, overshadowed by the great adrenaline-filled action.

"Danger is my breakfast, tell me more."

If a bunch of frat boys got together and decided to make a modern, more "extreme" version of Ong-Bak, you'd get Bangkok Dangerous. It's so macho that it's downright goofy, and there's only the barest skeleton of a plot, but I have to admit that it was a pretty fun movie to watch. 

The story is as basic as possible. Four Brits looking for a good time in Thailand get into serious gambling debts, and decide to kidnap the pretty daughter of a rich businessman and use her ransom to pay their way out of trouble. The scheme goes awry, and they end up having to protect the girl they kidnapped. 

See? Basic. But with lots and lots of opportunities for fighting. 90% of the movie is one of the guys fighting someone or running from someone. Two of the main characters are capable martial artists, and do most of the fighting. Another is a really huge muscular man who just smashes things/people, and the fourth is basically supposed to be comic relief. Like most of the attempts at humor in the movie, it doesn't really work. He's more annoying than anything else.

The fighting is pretty cool, but at times, the choreography seems stiff and obvious. It takes you out of the action when you see people repeatedly prepare for blows, consciously make sure they're in the right place to be hit, etc. Still, the action was frenetic, non-stop, and enjoyable.

Bangkok Adrenaline is a long way from a well-made action movie, but I've seen much worse. Keep your expectations at a suitably restrained level, and you'll probably get some mindless kicks out of it.

Forget the acting – it's horrible. Forget the direction – it's perfunctory at best. Forget the story – it's non-existent, and so embarrassingly simplistic that a child probably came up with it. Forget the humour – it's as dumb as it comes.

Embrace the action – for action is what BANGKOK ADRENALINE is all about, and as a fluid, action-packed movie, it works pretty well. It's essentially one lengthy chase film, with a mixed bunch of western actors finding themselves beset on all sides by various criminal gangs, henchmen, mafia bosses and general corrupt people, and having to use their impressive martial arts ability to fend the bad guys off. There's no more to it than that, but for what it does, BANGKOK ADRENALINE works well.

Thai producers have obviously twigged that there's a demand in the west for the kind of action-heavy product that Tony Jaa popularised back in the day, because they've made this film with western actors and shot it largely in English. Personally, I wish they'd stuck with Thai actors, because the one thing you quickly notice when watching Asian movies is that the western actors always stick out like sore thumbs and also give the worst performances; this film is no exception.

Of the group, only Conan Stevens makes an impressive as a hulking giant of a guy, but as far as I can remember, he only gets a single fight scene. I know the Thais love these massive muscle-bound characters – who can forget Nathan Jones in WARRIOR KING, after all? – and Stevens needs more screen time. Instead he's bypassed in favour of the bland younger actors with the aforementioned sucky acting abilities.

Still, the action holds up and that's what counts for martial arts fans. The fights are mixed and widespread, throwing in stunts, massive brawls and a few one-on-one showdowns; the martial arts choreography is excellent, and there's a long-running bit of free-running thrown into the mix to keep things moving merrily along. BANGKOK ADRENALINE is certainly a step up from the disappointing and ultra low budget BANGKOK KNOCKOUT, and it makes me look forward to Tony Jaa's return to the big screen all the more

This movie is not bad at all! Its a very low budget film made by some amazingly talented stunt men in Asian Cinema. The basic plot revolves around a few foreigners in Thailand who gamble away their money and decide to make some more by kidnapping the daughter of a rich millionaire. Very ordinary plot by any standards. The comedy is good but the timing and delivery is very poor. Then, when you're just about to leave the theater and curse the fact that you wasted 10 minutes of your life, you get a glimpse of some good action from Daniel O' Neill. That leaves you pondering over whether the movie is really that bad. As you watch more, you realize that the acting gets worse, the comedy gets a little better but the action becomes glorious!

Of course, if you aren't interested in Martial arts, then this film is going to be a completely forgettable experience. Considering that the creators were all part-time stunt men who wanted to break big, I really do have respect for them. I want to see Daniel O' Neill in more movies.