The Bodyguard (2004)

Well... what can I say? When I watched this movie I thought that it was a Thai action movie like "Ong Bak", "Born to fight" or "Chocolate". Instead of that, what I found was a comedy action (sometimes a very crazy comedy) so my first reaction was to wonder "what the hell is this?". But that was my mistake, don't you think so? After changing my expectations while I was watching the film, I found myself laughing sometimes (hysterically at a couple of jokes). Not bad if I think that I'm not so easy to laugh. But what I primarily liked was the relation between the young heir and the girl from the suburbs and her family and neighbors. That was a nice touch, obviously not very developed in a movie like this but anyway nice and likable. Not bad at all, yes... Sometimes it's silly but it has its moments too. My two sons liked it, probably more than me. But I didn't dislike it either, so I give it 6 out of 10.

The only reason I picked up this film in a market, is that on the front cover it promised 'the return of Tony Jaa'. Having seen Ongbak and warrior king, I saw this is a good thing. Only what I ended up with was a film write, directed and starring Petchtai Wongkamlao, the co-star from the other films.From the onset of the film, you get the impression that the film may be a decent action flick, with all the slow motion, dressed in black leather, gun fights aplenty. However this soon cools off, very soon, and you end up with the main star not talking for the first 22 minutes, gun fight scenes occurring with all the action being off-screen (yes I mean people getting shot without any real action) and jokes which really are not funny.A major half of the film contains now action and is mainly about Wong Koms association with Pok, which to be honest I couldn't be bothered to watch and skipped to the end (I was getting that fed up with the film).At the end where you expect a huge fight, what you end up with is the main guy getting beat up for 15 minutes, showing absolutely no fighting skill, and yet some how each person he's fighting ends up defeating themselves in some foolish way. This is stupid, is not funny and in the end I was rooting for the bad guys as the lead character was really annoying me.The film was 95 minutes long, and yet I want 93 minutes back. Why? Because during the film, Tony Jaa appears for about 2 minutes and actually does some martial arts (very very well!). What a mis-sell! This film should have been done by having Tony Jaa in the lead role, and Petchtai Wongkamlao taking Tony Jaas, that way he probably would have been killed early on and there would have been a decent number of fight scenes at the end.This is not a martial arts film, it is not a comedy, it is 2 minutes of good film hidden within 93 minutes of film that makes Chuck Norris look good.I gave this a 2, which would have been 1 of Tony Jaa hadn't appeared.

I live in Thailand and try to see Thai movies when I can. Some of them have been excellent--Ong-Bak, Suriyothai, Tropical Malady, Tom Yum Goong, Mor Jeb, Luang Phii Theng, to name a few. The Bodyguard doesn't fall into the excellent category. It falls into "what the hell is going on and why are all the Thai people laughing" category. This movie is supposed to be a comedy. The English subtitles were particularly bad, I speak more than a little Thai and many times I knew the English was not good because I understood the Thai. I didn't laugh once with the rest of the audience--all Thai, I was the only Caucasian (farang). Then there were the 3 or 4 times I did laugh out loud, and I was the only one laughing! This movie is of almost the "slapstick" variety, chock full of "inside" jokes (being on the inside in this case means being Thai or understanding the Thai language better than I do) and silly humor. It stars one of Thailand's most popular comedians, Piphat Apiraktanakorn, more commonly known by his nickname "Mahm" (usually spelled Mom, but he's a guy and not a real mom that I know of...) I think this guy is great and funny. This lends credence to my theory that the English subtitling was just awful. Mahm has a 3 minute cameo in "Luang Phii Theng" that is the funniest part of the movie. Try one of the other Thai films before going to this one. Especially Ong-Bak, probably the best martial arts film I have ever seen--And Tony Jaa is the best martial arts movie fighter I have ever seen (and he does it all without stunt double, wires, or computer effects). If you see one Thai film this year, make it Ong-Bak, not the Bodyguard!

I was lucky enough to see this movie at a film festival, and had been looking for it since. Petchtai Wongkamlao---Dirty Balls from Ong-Bak, though he was originally a stand-up comedian---is hysterical as Wongkom, and I was laughing throughout the entire film at his random antics. Most of the cast from Ong Bak was in this movie (Tony Jaa even makes a brief appearance in a supermarket), but the two have nothing else in common, despite the fact that Tony Jaa refers to Wong Kom (the bodyguard) as Humleih (Dirty Balls) only to be told "Wrong movie!" With a nod to every action movie out there, it's one of the best parodies ever, and I'd say it's one of the top Asian movies I have ever seen!