VENGEANCE - Blu-ray review

I don't get a chance to review many films from Thailand. Now that I think about it, I haven't actually seen all that many productions from the country, to tell you the truth. In fact if my memory serves me well, the only other Thai movie I've sat through was titled "Sick Nurses," and with a name like that I guess I should state for the record that no, it isn't a porno.

My second encounter with Thai movie-making is the Blu-ray version of "Vengeance," a bizarre film directed by Preaw Sirisuwan that doesn't really fill any niche by cramming in practically every theme under the sun. We have elements of mystery, action, horror, fantasy, drama, romance, and even a little bit of sci-fi, but none really emerge as the solid backbone for the script. This mishmash approach usually doesn't work and tends to turn viewers off, yet somehow I was thoroughly entertained with this film. I'll even go as far as saying that my enjoyment had absolutely nothing to do with the kinky sex scene with forest nymphs, either, although you wouldn't catch me putting my hand on a Bible for that one.

The picture opens with a haunting prologue taking place roughly twenty years ago somewhere in one of the exotic jungles close to Burma. Two men, one who also has his young boy in tow, are trudging through the bush desperately trying to escape from something that has them spooked. The trio eventually reaches the outskirts of the forest, and once the boy's father has escorted his son to safety, he turns around and dashes back into the trees. The other man runs in after him, and not wanting to be left alone, so does the boy. By the time the boy finds them, though, he witnesses a tragic scene of horror. Standing over his father's lifeless body is the other man, now holding a set of peculiar artifacts with a "this isn't what it looks like" expression on his face. If you're a bit confused, so was I at first to be perfectly honest. The key things here to remember are the boy, the strange sense of foreboding brought on by the jungle, and the ancient artifacts that are of significant importance to the story.

Flashing forward to the present, an urban gunfight erupts between law enforcement officials and a small group of thieves, murderers, and other vile criminals that have recently busted out of prison. Most of the convicts disappear without a trace, except for one that ends up wounded in the crossfire. Captain Wut (Andy Tungkaprasert), the rookie commander of the police task force, interrogates the prisoner to learn that their goal is to secure their freedom by crossing over into Myanmar. Wut and his team track the lowlifes down to a small village near the Payamek Mountains.

It turns out that that the young boy from the beginning of the movie grew up to be the leader of the escaped convicts named Naso (Chalad Na Songkhla). It also turns out that a monk living in the village is a link that somehow connects the lives of Naso with Wut. In their own way, both men are fueled by revenge, with Naso being put on the darker path from what happened to his father and Wut wants nothing more than to bring these evildoers to justice.

Naso and his crew trail off into the jungle, and the police continue after them, unaware that there is a terrible curse on the place. This is where things really pick up as we see the jungle come alive with a host of mythical creatures that became terrifying legends to the locals. There's a killer colony of tiger wasps, but don't bother with the epi-pen as they'll just shred meat from bone within an instant. Fruit tree maidens sing under the moonlight to seduce men into having sex with them, only the catch is that they use intercourse as a means to literally suck the life out of their horny victims. Then there are swarms of man-eating gecko-gators, a giant serpent, and a few other nasty surprises.

All of the effects in "Vengeance" are heads and tails above any B-movie I've seen, however I wouldn't put them quite on the same level as more recent mainstream productions. The entire film has a big-budget blockbuster feel from the caliber of cinematography and acting, except that some of the CGI seems to be stuck in a time loop from the late 1990s. While the wasps were very well done and the little lizards weren't bad, the movement of the giant snake was like a first time driver behind the wheel of a car. The creature putt-putted along in herky-jerky form, similar to what we saw in "Anaconda." It wasn't completely awful, but could have been a bit better.

Another complaint that I have is with the way the mysterious tribe dwelling in the jungle goes about rescuing the police from Naso. A pair of women clad in hooded cloaks come out of nowhere and totally trump an arsenal of automated weapons using simple knives and crossbows. I know that this was a vessel to introduce one of the women, Si-on (Chirapat Wongpaisanlux), as a love interest for Wut, but her disarmament of the villains just wasn't easy to swallow.

Lastly, I've read a few reports that the initial Thai release of "Vengeance" on DVD was heavily censored with certain parts of the film blurred or removed that were deemed inappropriate by Thai officials. This measure is totally understandable on public television especially in regards to nudity, but going that far on a DVD release is little extreme. Anyway, fans of the film will be pleased to know BCI's Blu-ray is unedited and uncut--the way it should be.

Video:
"Vengeance" utilizes the MPEG-4/AVC video codec and is presented in its original widescreen theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Colors are rich and vivid, and the bright greens of the jungle foliage and the moss blanketing the undergrowth were particularly eye-catching. Most of the film had strong black levels, although in one or two instances they appeared slightly faded. But even with that minor nitpick I still wasn't expecting the picture to be this pleasant.

Audio:
Being a Blu-ray release, I'm a little bummed that this release wasn't mastered with any of the lossless audio feeds, but on the bright side the Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 track does its best to try and fill those empty shoes. The acoustics are fantastic, and I was very impressed with the use of the rear channels. Bullets whiz by in all directions, in the midst of the thunderstorm it felt like the downpour was all around me, and there's a very cool sequence where tribal drums on the soundtrack rotate around to a different speaker with every pounding thump. Also included are two decent Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks, one in Thai and an English dub, as well as optional English subtitles.

Extras:
For special features, there's a quick featurette on "The Making of "Vengeance" clocking in just shy of six minutes that is loaded with production information. After that we have a music video for the tune that plays during the end credits, and a pair of trailers for "Vengeance" and "The Tiger Blade." All of these bonuses are in Thai with English subtitles.

I'd also like to mention here that the label on the Blu-ray disc is designed to look like the stone medallion artifact seen in the film, which I thought was pretty clever.

The Final Cut:
If you're in the mood to Thai one on for the evening, Thai hard with "Vengeance." The collage of genres injected into the script keeps the story entertaining and moving at a decent pace, preventing viewers from entering the realm of boredom. Sure, there were sections that definitely could have had more detail and attention, but it was still fun to watch.