for pervasive strong violence and some sexual content.
| Moral Rating: | not reviewed |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults |
| Genre: | Foreign Action Comedy |
| Length: | 1 hr. 50 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2006 |
| USA Release: |
September 8, 2006 (wide) |
| Featuring |
|---|
| Tony Jaa, Petchthai Wongkamlao, Bongkot Kongmalai, Jing Xing, Johnny Nguyen |
| Director |
|
Prachya Pinkaew |
| Producer |
| Somsak Techaratanaprasert, Prachya Pinkaew, Sukanya Wongsathapat |
| Distributor |
“Vengeance knows no mercy.”
Kham is the last of a family line of guards who once watched over the King of Thailand's war elephants. Following the tradition, Kham takes great care in raising the animals and grows up forming close relations with his elephant, Por Yai, and its calf, Kohrn. During the Songkran festival, the animals are stolen by elephant poachers with the help of Mr. Suthep, a local MP, and his son. Kham raids Mr. Suthep's house and beats up the poachers.
However, the elephants are now in the hands of Johnny, a Vietnamese gangster who runs Tom Yum Goong Otob, a Thai restaurant in Sydney, Australia. Kham arrives in Sydney and is immediately taken hostage by a wanted thief. Sydney police officers Mark, a Thai-Australian, and his partner Rick corner the thief, who holds Kham at gunpoint. However, Inspector Vincent shoots the thief dead and then arrests Kham, accusing him of being another thief. In the car, Kham spots Johnny at Tom Yum Goong, where he becomes erratic and urges Mark and Rick to arrest Johnny, but to no avail. After causing the car to crash, Kham escapes and follows Johnny, who flees, forcing him to fight his henchmen.
Kham coerces a henchman to lead him to Johnny's hideout, interrupting a drug deal. Outraged, Johnny summons extreme sports enthusiasts to fight Kham. After defeating the thugs, Kham falls asleep in an alley.
Pla, a prostitute that Kham met while confronting Johnny, brings him to her apartment. Mark and Rick are taken off the case and reassigned to provide security for the police commissioner's meeting with Mr. Sim. In that meeting, Pla is a hostess girl and dancer to the two men. Someone hired by Vincent murders Mr. Sim and the police commissioner. However, the murder is caught on the commissioner's camera.
Vincent kills Rick and blames Mark, who is later captured. With Pla's help, Kham enters Tom Yum Goong Otob, where he fights into the VIP area and reaches the dining hall at the top. Johnny taunts Kham with Kohrn's bell to protect his men. Enraged, Kham beats up his opponents and enters the storage area, where it contains various exotic animals ready to be butchered and eaten. Kham finds and frees Mark and Kohrn, escaping minutes before the police arrive. Vincent searches for Kham and Mark, hiding at a Buddhist monastery. Soon after their departure, Vincent and his men set the monastery on fire.
Believing that the temple and its inhabitants might be in danger, Mark and Kham decide to return. After arriving, Kham is confronted by three assassins: a fierce capoeirista, a sword-wielding wushu expert, and T.K., a giant wrestler. Kham defeats the first two, but T.K. proves too strong for him. Kham is about to be killed when the police arrive, and Mark comes to help him flee. Mark is later discovered by several policemen and sent to deal with Vincent, who is revealed to be behind the murder of the police commissioner. Kham arrives at a hall where Madame Rose, the leader of the Chinese gang, is having a press conference. Kohrn runs in, scaring off people while Kham engages the gangsters. Mark apprehends Vincent.
Finding himself with Kohrn in a vast room, Kham is shown the skeleton of Por Yai, encrusted with jewels as a gift to Madame Rose. Kham fights Madame Rose's men and brutally breaks many of the men's arms and legs. T.K., along with three others, are called. Kohrn is thrown through a glass wall, and Kham is knocked into the elephant ornament, causing two leg bones to fall off.
Eventually, Kham defeats T.K. and the other wrestlers by using the sharp ends of the bones to slice their tendons; where he stops Madame Rose before she can escape in a helicopter, and they both crash into the room below. Por Yai's tusks break Kham's fall. Ultimately, Inspector Lamond forgives Mark, and Kham is reunited with Kohrn.
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.


My Ratings: Offensive / 2