Prachya Pinkaew’s Elephant White

In Thailand, you might just find a monastery next to a sex club. That will be handy for Curtie Church, a former “Agency” assassin who has gone freelance. He basically lives like a monk and he has taken on one of Thailand’s nastiest human trafficking gangs as his latest target. It starts out as a job, but it quickly turns personal in Prachya Pinkaew’s Elephant White, which airs on Bounce TV.

A grieving father, whose daughter was abducted and ultimately killed by the Chang Cao gang has hired Church to kill some of the gang and frame their rival Jong Ang gang, in retribution. Church might not fully believe him, but the more he learns about both gangs, the more intent he is on destroying them. He also finds an unexpected source of intel when Mae follows him back to the monastery belltower, where he has been hiding out.

It turns out Mae was once one the women held in slavery by the Chang Cao. After somehow escaping their brothels, she has led a devout, Zen-like life, which gives her an affinity for Church’s hosts. Of course, she does not approve of his guns-blazing approach to problem-solving. Fortunately, Church also knows “Jimmy the Brit,” an old Agency colleagues who is now making a killing as an arms dealer. Jimmy is a sleazy horndog, but when push comes to shove, the crimes of the Chang Caos and Jong Angs do not sit well with him either (and Church will push and shove him plenty).

Somehow, Elephant White initially flew under the radar with fans, even though it was helmed by Pinkaew, the action auteur who helmed the first Ong Bak and The Protector films. It also features Kevin Bacon shamelessly chewing the scenery and doing the weirdest Scott Adkins accent. Yet, it all works perfectly, especially when he is paired up with the strong, silent, and physically imposing Djimon Housou as Hunter.

AIR: A New Kind of Apocalypse from Robert Kirkman

In the post-apocalyptic future, two technicians will wrestle with some thorny issues of lifeboat ethics. They happens to be in charge of the lifeboat maintenance, but they are not as stable as you might hope. Complications will most definitely arise in Christian Cantamessa’s AIR (trailer here), the first theatrical release from Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman’s Skybound shingle, which opens this Friday in New York.

Due to war, pestilence, and plague, the Earth’s surface atmosphere has become toxic. An elite lucky few were sent into suspended animation in deep subterranean bunkers. In each lifeboat-like shelter, two not so lucky technicians are roused every six months to run diagnostics and check the sleepers’ vitals. They only have one hour and fifty nine minutes to get back in their pods before all the oxygen is sucked out of the bunker and back into the tanks.

Unfortunately, both Bauer and Cartwright are showing signs of stress. The former is becoming increasingly aggressive, while the latter is seeing visions of one of the suspended scientists he clearly fancies. However, his mental projection of Abby often manages to give him rather timely advice. He will need it when his personal pod suffers a malfunction.

The apocalypse is usually more compelling on a personal level than on a big macro plane—and AIR is a good case in point. There is something very effectively old school about the one set (albeit a rather complex one, impressively rendered by Brian Kane’s production team) and its two or three character dynamic, depending one’s point-of-view. Cantamessa has a firm handle on close-quarters action, dexterously slamming airlocks and sending Bauer and Cartwright shimmying through air-ducts. Despite its claustrophobic nature, AIR is still quite cinematic looking.

No stranger to Kirkman or playing twitchy survivors, Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus has instant credibility as Bauer, yet he still manages to keep the audience off balance with his erratic behavior. Djimon Hounsou is also well cast as Cartwright, the strong, silent, hallucinating type. Although nobody could really sink their teeth into a role like the apparitional Abby, Sandrine Holt still has the perfectly cerebral yet sensitive presence to memorably haunt Cartwright and the film.

AIR is another fine example of how inventive filmmakers can make tight, tense, relatively action-oriented science fiction with hardly any visual effects to speak of. Granted, it is small in scope, but frankly that is rather refreshing in such an overly bloated genre. Recommended pretty enthusiastically for fans of Kirkman and post-apocalyptic SF, AIR opens this Friday (8/14) in New York, at the Cinema Village.

Special Forces: The French vs. the Taliban

Elsa Cassanova opposed the invasion of Afghanistan and wears keffiyehs.  She thought she would fit right in, but she is shocked to discover the Taliban systematically abuse local women.  As a result of her reporting on the horrors experienced by a woman sold into marriage-slavery to a prominent Taliban warlord, Cassanova is abducted and forced to make some rather ominous internet videos.  Without proper backup, an elite commando unit will mount a rescue attempt in Stéphane Rybojad’s Special Forces (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

It is a good thing Cassanova est tres jolie.  The prospect of her beheading has the French government freaked.  While the men under Commander Kovax command are not exactly thrilled with her byline, they will bring her home anyway.  It will not be easy though.  They will face Ahmed Zaief, an Islamist fanatic Cassanova dubbed “The Butcher of Kabul.”  You’d think he’s like that, but no, evidently not. 

Executing a mission planned on the fly, Kovax’s men liberate Cassanova from her immediate captors easily enough.  However, things get complicated with the extraction.  Cut off from their rendezvous points, the commandos have no choice but to head home on foot over the mountains, from Zaief’s Pakistani hideout to their base in Afghanistan, just like the gulag escapees in Peter Weir’s The Way Back.  However, Zaief and his men will pursue them (somewhat reluctantly) every step of the way.

While the French initially seem to have A-Team like success holding off the Taliban fighters, it should be kept in mind they have superior firepower, better morale, and higher ground all in their favor.  Nonetheless, their charmed luck soon runs out, with squad members dying off one by one.  Eventually, only the biggest stars are left to protect Cassanova.  That includes Djimon Hounsou as Kovax and Benoît Magimel as a Tic Tac, a flirty paratrooper who might just have a shot with the lefty journalist, if they both survive.

Hollywood should take note, Hounsou was an inspired casting decision.  Blessed with a truly commanding screen presence, he is completely credible in every action scene and lends the film dignified gravitas.  A Ryan Golsing or Reynolds just would not cut the Dijon mustard here.  While not as hardnosed, Magimel is sufficient as the sensitive commando.  Also perfectly cast, Diane Kruger nicely portrays Casanova’s resiliency in the face of harsh elements and harsher Islamists extremists.  It is hard to think of any other name actress working in film today who can similarly combine grit and beauty.

Well known in France for his military documentaries, Rybojad’s narrative is about as straight as gets, never throwing any sort of twist or turn the audience’s way.  Yet, to his considerable credit, her never whitewashes or excuses the brutality of the Taliban.  We see several instances of the terror they rain down on helpless villagers as well as the destruction left in their wake.  Again, this is an example of the sort of film Hollywood ought to be making, but refuses to.  Recommended for both action movies fans and Francophiles, Special Forces opens this Friday (10/12) in New York at the AMC Empire.