As we have mentioned many times, the epicenter of Asian action movies has long since moved from Hong Kong towards the ASEAN countries. Thai Lee Thongkham proves the fact once more with “Kitty the Killer”, a movie that implements the whole girls-with-weapons concept through an approach that also includes much comedy and a certain level of sensualism.
Kitty The Killer is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
The Agency is a secret society formed by a clan of men known as the Guardians, who have trained girls as assassins, in order for their killings to retain balance in the world. The girl assassins are all codenamed Kitty and they stay in the shadows, working in all parts of society, as schoolgirls, housewives, store and office clerks and everything in between. Essentially, they hide in plain sight until their Guardian calls them to do their killing. As the movie starts, one of the Kitties named Dina, sees her Gray Fox Guardian betrayed, after a botched assassination attempt of hers aiming at crime boss Makin. The two of them end up facing scores of men of the Agency along with another Kitty, and barely manage to escape with their lives, with Gray Fox eventually stumbling upon an office clerk Charlie, who inevitably gets sucked in the chaos. It seems, though, that there are a number of other Kitties that have gone rogue, fed up with the attitude of the Agency, and Charlie soon finds himself training to be a Guardian himself, just before all hell breaks loose.
Lee Thongnam evidently tries to include as many genre-favorite elements as he can in his narrative, with the movie including secret societies, sexy girl murderers with guns, kids, handsome villains and heroes, a lot of action, much comedy, a bit of romance, some super hero notions and a few betrayals to add a bit of depth to the story. Expectedly not all of them work as well, with the comedy in particular seeming out of place on occasion, even if this time the source of the majority of it is the wimpy who is trained by all powerful women and a little, in an appealing role reversal here. However, when the movie goes beyond the slapstick comedy and enters the domain of parodying a number of the aforementioned genre elements, then the level is definitely raised, with the irony here being particularly smart.
The way the action and the violence are presented is definitely top notch, with the action direction thriving throughout, in an approach that moves either towards a comic/manga one through a very appealing over-the-topness or in more thriller paths, which also adds a sense of drama that is equally entertaining. The fact that the majority of the girls are wearing masks and are dressed as cat women of sorts definitely adds to the appeal of the battles here, as it induces them with a dark, dangerous but still pretty feminine hypostasis. The trick works quite well when they are fighting scores of enemies, in a style that will remind many of “Kill Bill” but it finds its apogee when they are fighting each other. The presence of animation during some of them (again a wink to “Kill Bill”) could have been handled a bit better in terms of drawing, but also works well as an extra element to the overall action approach
DP Brandt Hackney captures all the above and the different aspects of the movie, from the realistic-comedic setting of the office and “regular life” to the dark and gritty of the underworld with gusto, in a polished approach that works well throughout. The editing, which induces the movie with a fast pace that becomes even faster during the battles is also on a high level, again finding its zenith in the battle scenes.
Gorgeous Ploypailin Thangprapaporn as Dina is quite good, particularly in the dramatic moments, with the same applying to bery handsome Denkhun Ngamnet as Charlie in the comedic parts. Somchai Kemglad as Gray Fox and Vithaya Pansringarm as Maki add a very appealing veteran flavor to the narrative, with both appearing both dangerous and respectable in the best fashion.
Despite the fact that the story is somewhat illogical and that the film would be better off without the comedy, “Kitty the Killer” impresses with captivating battles, darkly feminine aesthetics, and sharp irony in a title that all fans of action cinema will enjoy.
