I find it sometimes hard to get into foreign films for the simple reasons of the language barrier and typically low production values. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's thriller Headhshot is a rare exception. Though at times the photography was too dark to see clearly what was going on, on the whole I found this film to be easy enough to follow and engaging enough to keep me glued to the screen.
Tul (Nopachai Chaiyanam) is one of the last honest cops struggling with the frustration of being one man against an insurmountable war on drugs. After a major bust involving the brother of a highly placed politician Tul is offered a bribe to lose the evidence and drop the case.
After he turns down a cash offer he is set up. He meets Joy (Chanokporn Sayoungkul) in a parking garage and strikes up a relationship. Now, it might be mentioned here that this seemed a little suspicious to me from the start, since Joy is this smoking hot beauty and Tul is...well, not very handsome...at all. But who knows, maybe Thai chicks dig that sort.
Anyway, after the set-up and the subsequent fall out Tul goes ballistic. He is framed and sent to prison where he is visited by Mr. Demon, a man who offers him a chance to get out of prison if Tul will become their "Special Assassin".
There's no telling what the budget on this film was but I have to say this, whatever it was it was obviously sufficient because everything about this film was excellent. The two actresses in the film, Sayoungkul and Sirin Horwang, were not only incredibly beautiful, they were totally professional. There was no point where they weren't completely believable. How many American actresses can you say that about. In fact, everyone in the film was a fine actor. The script was tight and witty. There was enough action to keep it going without becoming mundane. And even in the action scenes I never got the sense of the all-too-obvious shakycam that plague so many wannabe American directors these days.
All in all it was an excellent movie.
