I love Thai martial arts films, but the last couple I've seen have been disappointing purely through the choice of main actors. BANGKOK KNOCKOUT featured a cast of interchangeable teenage characters who were more irritating than inspiring, and this latest effort has a cast of kids (including BORN TO FIGHT's Sasisa Jindamanee) in place of adult stars! As a result, much of the story that plays out is slightly cheesy, child-oriented and trivial, but I guess it helped cut down on production costs. You don't have to pay kids as much as adults, right?
The DVD case bills this as an out-and-out action flick, with the aforementioned pint-sized heroes tackling terrorists at a besieged hospital. Well, yes, but that entire set-piece doesn't occur until the last half hour of the movie. Until that point, we get a very slight tale involving a martial arts school and a kid with a dodgy ticker. The melodrama is overwrought and despite a few funny scenes, it's mostly forgettable.
Then things shift to the hospital, realism goes out of the window, and the story takes a back seat to make way for a series of frenetic fight scenes featuring kids kicking and kneeing adults in the face. The bad guy duties are handled by WARRIOR KING's Johnny Nguyen, a Vietnamese fighter who kicked ass in the Tony Jaa film. Sadly, he doesn't get anything to do here, other than stand around while kids knee him in the face. The fight scenes are great, featuring the same kind of breakneck choreography and ultra-cool slow-motion shots as in the best Thai martial arts movies, and it's just a shame there weren't more of them taking place throughout the movie. That way, it might have approached greatness rather than mediocrity.
