As a child I was fascinated by “Manimal” an old TV series where a man could transform into various creatures. Also, by “Braveheart” a cartoon sheriff with the powers of hawk, wolf, puma, and bear (currently singing that as I write this). So, the concept of a guy revived with martial animal powers caught my attention. With one of the executive producers (Prachya Pinkaew) being the man who brought us Tony Jaa it looked like there could be some potential here. I mean what martial arts movie fan doesn't mind a bit of Tiger or Monkey Style? Can't be too bad right???
Told in flashback to Detective Russells (Layton Matthews), An Voaen (D.Y. Sao) takes a watchman job at a mental institute. Here Mephisto and the Four Horsemen are abducting children for a sacrificial ritual to bring about the end of times, aka “The Judgement Day.” An succumbs during his first confrontation with the Horsemen but is later resurrected with enormous strength after trading his soul with the Death God. Now possessed with exceptional martial arts skills, he battles to defend the residents and safe the abducted children.
Low budget cinema has often made a virtue of making the most out of its restrictions. Here, sadly, some of the worst elements are at play. The camera filters are overdone. Lots of scenes have a sickly green hue that looks like Slimer from “Ghostbusters” has gone amok in the projection booth. The restriction in setting is not in itself an issue, but it becomes evident the more and more it tries to distract you from it. The villains all appear to have emerged from a cosplay convention too. We have “Shaolin Monk” guy, someone who has apparently raided Grace Jones's wardrobe and a Cenobite wannabee with what looks suspiciously like tin foil wrapped around their facial outfit. Throw in another character resembling Harlequin and another channeling General Kael from “Willow” and it's all reminiscent of things you have seen before.
This is a theme that applies to the whole feature sadly. The dystopian setting was a frequent one for low budget action cinema in the straight to video era. The excessive violence could easily have come from “Fist of the North Star” or any of its Anime\Live action ilk. The use of the different animal styles is a clever concept but not really executed that well, apart from the admittedly entertaining action choreography. There is a fluidity to these sequences and are what sporadically bring this feature to life. Just when you are starting to drift off it will suddenly have a burst of gory action to wake you up, only to be sent to sleep again due to the meandering narrative. Almost forgot the cute kids. Yes, that cliché is here again. Ever since “Mad Max 2” you need a bundle of cute, abandoned\orphaned children to melt the heart of a relentless killing machine and add some emotion\sentiment. Here they are needed as part of a plot to bring around the apocalypse….as you do. There is even an allusion to the Monkey King story with An Voaen gradually being taken over by his spirit. It's too many disparate elements though for the short running time to factor into a cohesive whole.
D.Y. Sao, the Cambodian, lead has the physical attributes but not the acting chops to bring his part to life. Incidentally, no male lead should have better hair than his female counterpart, just looks wrong! The result is we never really engage with his character and his circumstances. It leaves the whole picture feeling rather flat. As a choreographer, he has potential though. The use of animal styles is well worked into the aggressive movements and the action is well framed and clear. It has some exceptionally violent moments so perhaps not one for the squeamish!
This is the classic definition of what would have been an old fashioned direct to video release.One that you would simply fast forward through the talking bits to get to the action. The action is worth catching, sadly the stuff that wraps around it is nothing you'll not have seen before and apart from what appears to be a desperate costume designers cry for help.
