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Dynamite Warrior aka Khon fai bin
R1 - America - Magnolia Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (27th August 2007). |
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The Film
 I'll say two things to start my review. One, I was really, really looking forward to seeing this movie. Two, I was pretty disappointed. You see, star Dan Chupong was outstanding in 'Born to Fight' and that movie was an amazing feat of stunts. Not surprisingly (and quite typically), the much higher-budgeted 'Dynamite Warrior' is not as exciting or engrossing. The movie has shades of countless westerns, where a lone warrior (Mr. Chupong) is hunting for the man who killed his parents some years ago. Though this is not very new, the movie tries to keep your attention with tons of pointless twists and turns that anybody with half a brain could see coming. It never really slows down, which is good, but it also never really becomes something exciting. The one big reason I wanted to see this movie is the reason that made 'Born to Fight' great: the action. In that movie, it was simple, striking and astonishing. With a bigger budget, somehow, these guys couldn't make it better. They try to improve things by using way too many wires. The takes are short and the fights are sub-standard. It's like an old John Wayne movie, where Mr. Chupong gets hit, and goes flying. He gets up, tries to hit the bad guy, who then connects and goes flying again. It's very unsatisfactory, especially knowing what Mr. Chupong is capable of. Maybe this is the director's doing. It's not the same director as 'Born to Fight' (although he did act in this movie), and it shows. On the bright side, Mr. Chupong does get his chance to show his stuff. When fighting lower minions, he gets to jump and fly around. The problem with the other action sequences is that the movie added a mystical side, where wizards have special powers that completely take away any form of suspense and excitement that may have been built up prior to the fight. The plot, the characters and especially the fights are under whelming. The filmmakers tried to this follow-up to 'Born to Fight' bigger and thus better. While it's possible to make it bigger and better, they failed by adding CGI, wires and pointless fight points. The most important part of an action movie - the bad guy - is forgettable. Although some bits of the fights are well done and when Mr. Chupong jumps and fights and does what he should have done throughout the movie, the movie is good. Unfortunately, these moments are too few to save the movie. It's a disappointing movie with a nice potential. Hopefully the follow-up will be better.
Video
1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture is not as good as the sound, but considering the source material, this is not much of a surprise. The biggest problem is that it's too soft. In many scenes, the colours seem a bit washed out and the level of detail isn't what it should be for a recent movie. The colours are good, but don't seem to pop as much as they should, though they're pretty nice. Grain, specks or other print defects are never a problem, while the transfer gives no sign of any real edge enhancement or other digital flaws. It's a nice transfer, though probably not as good as it should be.
Audio
There are two tracks in Thai (Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo) and two dubs in English (same formats as the Thai tracks). I heard the Thai Dolby 5.1 track and I was quite happy. The dialogue is really clear, and if you know Thai (or feel like learning it), this movie will not confuse you. The score is powerful and comes out with nice oomph. The effects are plentiful and fairly accurate. The rockets shoot by your head and blow up your walls, but they do so kind of indiscriminately. It is a dynamic track and rocks your system. English and Spanish subtitles are yours for the choosing.
Extras
Magnolia decided to add in some extras for this release. Though they're not too impressive, their inclusion is very nice. Most important are a slew of featurettes. 'The Making of Dynamite Warrior' (13:59), 'Behind-the-Scenes Stunts' (1:53), 'On-Set Footage' (2:30), and 'Special Effects Makeup' (2:06) are found. None of these are particularly great, which makes me think they were probably ported from the Thai release. There's very little detail, but the making-of featurette has some nice information. Other than that, the behind-the-scenes footage is nice. There's also the Original Theatrical Trailer (2:11), which gives you a good indication of what the movie is like, which makes it a good trailer, even if the movie isn’t the best. There are a few Start Up Trailers as well: 'The Host' (2:10), 'Severance' (1:37), 'The Signal' (0:41), and an HDnet ad (0:32). You get a good idea of what to expect from them. 'The Signal' is the most interesting one.
Overall
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