The Clash a.k.a. Bẫy Rồng (2009)

Opening sword fight: 1.5/5


Gang Fight: 3.5/5


Phoenix/Tiger vs French Gangsters: 3.75/5


Woods fight: 3.75/5


Tiger vs Hac Long: 2.75/5


End Fight: 4.25/5




I enjoyed this film. The same two leads as The Rebel. Johnny Nguyen is great as usual. Ngo Thanh Van has improved. She was great in The Rebel and she's even better here. I also like her with the short hair, but that's a personal preference.

The opening fight is more of a violence vignette. After that, all of the fights are very good. And, as it should be, the finale was the best part. Really great exchanges, storytelling and intensity. Recommended. 

Vengeance Of An Assassin (2014)

Soccer game: 3.25/5


Warehouse Fight: 3.25/5


Dr. Si Foo vs Assassins: 3.75/5


Garage/Train fight: 3.5/5


Than vs Assassins: 3.75/5


Than vs Pod: 2.75/5



Man, this was disappointing. Well, since this was Panna Rittikrai's last film (as a director) let's start with the positives. The best action scene in the movie isn't rated here by me because it's a shootout. Dan Chupong shoots his way through bad guys through a 4 minute long take with machine guns, grenades and explosions galore. You might be wondering, does Dan Chupong dual wield machine guns through the whole scene? The answer is yes. 

The choreography in the hand to hand action is on point. Panna was a true master at that. Very dynamic stuff, and Nantawooti Boonrapsap outperforms Chupong in that regard. 

The best fight in the whole movie is when the old Chinese Doctor beats up a bunch of henchmen. The henchmen walk into a dark room. The lights turn on, and the old man appears in the middle of them all, and proceeds to punch, kick and palm strike them all to unconsciousness. Save for one guy who runs away. Then the lights go out again, and the old man disappears. Like a kung fu Undertaker. That was awesome. 

Ok, now to the bad stuff. This movie is very fragmented. It doesn't make a lot of sense. A lot of character motivations are nonexistent and each character lacks depth. They're mostly a bunch of archetypes thrown together. The stoic hero, the damsel in distress, the arrogant villain, the valiant young hero, the badass femme fatale, the wise old Chinese kung fu doctor (seriously he is awesome, though). And all of this would be fine if we had any reason to care about these characters. None is given.

Also, the CGI. Oh my God the CGI. I know it's commonplace to complain about CGI in action movies, but this is about as bad as it gets. The fight scene inside the train, is really well done, including Boonrapsap using a chicken bone as a weapon to slice up henchmen. Great stuff. Then they go on top of the train. And the rest of this action sequence is green screened. All of it. It distracts from some of the great choreo and stunt work being done because it's so obvious no one is on a moving train. Thai cinema got attention from practical stunt work, so I have no idea why they do this. The scene gets dumber, when the train ends up colliding with a falling helicopter. There's more details as to why this is really dumb, but just know that it is. 

Did I mention, by the way, that The Chinese Doctor only speaks English the whole way through the film? He doesn't even speak Chinese, ever. He's a doctor living in Thailand who can't speak any Thai and only ever speaks English. It's ludicrous. 

I'm sure there were more dumb things but I can't remember them all. This movie reminded me of Furious 7 at times, and that's NOT what I want in my Thai action cinema. I would say skippable, but since it's Panna's last film...give it a shot. 

Ip Man (2008)

Ip Man vs Liu: 2.25/5


Northerner vs Master: 2.75/5


Northerner vs Weapons Master: 2.75/5


Northerner vs Liu: 3/5


Northerner vs Ip Man: 3.75/5


Liu vs Black belt: 2/5


General vs Lin and Two Men: 2/5


Liu vs 3 black belts: 2.5/5


Ip Man vs 10 Black Belts: 4.25/5


Ip Man vs Soldiers: 2/5


Factory Fight: 3.5/5


Ip Man vs General: 4/5




Great movie. Donnie Yen's best role. Recommended.

SPL 2: A Time For Consequences (2015)

Chatchai vs Kit: 3/5


Prison Riot Fight: 3.5/5


Ah-zai vs Cops: 2.25/5


Kit, Wah & Chatchai vs henchmen: 3/5


Kit vs Ah-zai: 3.25/5


Fight in the Dark: 2.75/5


Kit & Chatchai vs henchmen & Ko Chun: 3.75/5



A lot of people compare this movie to The Raid 2. I don't quite see it. The Raid 2 is an excellent sequel to an excellent movie. SPL 2 is a good sequel to a good movie. I guess the tones are similar as well as both movies featuring a cop going undercover and also being in a prison when a prison fight breaks out. But that's about where it ends.

I gotta say, this is the best Tony Jaa movie since Ong Bak 2 (not counting Furious 7). It might even be his best work, overall. As an actor and a screen fighter, he's one of the better parts of the film. Wu Jing is also great. A better actor than Jaa, but towards the end of his screen fighting prime, he carries the film's emotional weight.

There are a bunch of good fights in this movie, but not one truly great fight. There's also some suspect use of wire fu. Considering this is a modern crime film, seeing guys fly through the air can be jarring. Jing and Jaa square off in the first fight and it's solid stuff, if a bit short. The prison fight is also good with a lot of moving parts and long takes. I do slightly prefer The Raid 2's prison fight, though.

The knife vs nightstick fight towards the end, clearly an homage to Wu Jing vs Donnie Yen in one of the best fights of all time from the first SPL, is not in the same league as the original. It's a good fight, it only suffers by comparison. However, when "store the sun" plays in the minutes leading up to that, I got real excited. That's one of the more iconic fight scene themes ever, to me.

Let's talk about Max Zhang, the Big Bad of this flick. He's quite good here. The main problem I have with him, and his part in the finale, is the wire work. A pet peeve of mine is when a character is a lot stronger than the others, seemingly only because he's fighting on wires while they are not. Jaa and Jing are kicking ass the whole movie with straight Muay Thai and Wushu. Zhang's flying around throwing wire kicks. But that's not his fault.

The finale is the best fight in the movie. Jaa taking out the henchmen is some of the better choreography I've seen all year. It's also such a breath of fresh air to see Muay Thai used in a modern, Hong Kong action film. Wu Jing plays such a good hero, night and day from his original SPL character. One thing this movie does well is have the heroes always fighting from underneath. Jing and Jaa are beat to hell by the time they have to take on Zhang.

The best part of the finale is when Jaa squares off with Zhang. Jaa attempts Muay Thai moves he's been using effectively the whole movie and Zhang has a counter for all of them. Such smart choreography. Because of course, Zhang has seen Jaa fight before, so he has that advantage. It devolves after that, though. The 2 on 1 stuff has more wire fu and unfortunately the fight has an implausible conclusion. There's also a weird side part with Jaa's daughter that felt unnecessary.


It's a solid action movie with some really good parts. All in all, Mildy Recommended.