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MERCURY MAN (THAILAND)

 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Action/Fantasy
Starring: Vasan Kantha-u, Metinee Kingpayome, Anon Saisangchan
Director: Bandit Thongdee
Rating: NC-16 (Brief nudity and fighting scenes)
Year Made: 2006

 

 


 SPECIAL FEATURES

- Behind the scenes
- Character Introduction
- Interview with Character Designer
- Might of the Mercury Man
- Photo Gallery
- Trailer

 

 


 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: Thai/Mandarin
Subtitles: Chinese & English
Aspect Ratio: 4x3 Letterbox
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Running Time: 1 hr 51 mins
Region Code: 3
Distributor: InnoForm Media

 

 

SYNOPSIS:  

An ancient legend tells of two holy forces Lunar Mercury and Solar Mercury that will create an indestructible power when combined together. Usama, an international terrorist had studied the secrets of the legend and wants the power of both forces for his own evil deeds. During a rescue mission, one of the holy forces, Solar Mercury becomes accidentally embedded into the body of Chan, an unsuspecting fireman, giving him superhuman strength and powers. As Usama and his terrorists plot to destroy the world. Chan becomes MERCURY MAN and learns to control and use his new powers to save the world. A battle between Good and Evil begins...

MOVIE REVIEW:

It is hard not to laugh when you see these subtitles running across the screen: “With great fires come great responsibilities.”

This Thai movie follows the footsteps of superheroes like America’s Spider-man, and closer to home, Malaysia’s Cicak-man, to bring hope to the failing humanity. While it remains baffling why superheroes like them have to wear tight-skinned suits to save the world, we cannot doubt their noble causes.

Mercury Man from Thailand is given the great responsibility to save the world from evil baddies during a rescue mission gone wrong. His wounds can heal quickly and he has mercury as blood. He can glide from building to building and is almost indestructible. Oh, and when he gets excited while reading pornographic magazines, his clothes will burn. And that’s why he needs a special suit that suspiciously looks like Venom’s.

We are not trying to belittle Mercury Man (because here in Singapore, the closest thing we have to a superhero is television’s embarrassing VR-man), but how can we take him seriously when we have been bombarded by bigger-budgeted, better-scripted, better-executed superhero movies from America?

To be fair, this Bandit Thongdee-directed movie will entertain the average viewer with its excitingly-choreographed fight scenes and above-average computer-generated sequences. Also, look out for the elephant rampage scene where two beasts go crazy in public.

The 101-minute movie’s references to American capitalism and international terrorism are also a nice touch to the otherwise predictable storyline. Subjects like “lunar”, “solar” and powerful amulets are obvious attempts by the filmmakers to distinguish this superhero movie from the dozen better ones out there.

Playing Mercury Man is a decent and endearing Vasan Kantha-u, who looks determined to save the world with the correct dose of angst and resolution. He does it best in a particular scene: Before getting his superpowers, he was reprimanded by his superior for being a reckless fireman: “Even Spider-man thinks before he does something. Are you trying to be a hero?”

The movie does not take itself too seriously because its main objective is to entertain us viewers. So don’t watch it expecting too much, and it is okay to leave your brains elsewhere.

SPECIAL FEATURES :

Like the Colic DVD which was released earlier, the special features on this disc are a generous platter. But what is it with the producers, who decided not to include any subtitles on these features? We remain bewildered.


Behind the Scenes – The 30-minute segment looks at the actors training for their physically-demanding roles. And the best bit is how there are actually animal trainers controlling the elephants during the rampage scene. Apparently, the trainers wearing green suits were keyed out in post production. We thought that was quite a smart move. This featurette did okay without subtitles.

Character Introduction – The main leads talk about their characters – in Thai. They are probably praising their own characters in this two-odd-minute clip. We wouldn’t know.

Interview with Character Designer – Taken off a programme where the character designers were interviewed on national television, the 28-minute segment sees these two men warbling about Mercury Man while holding what looks like action figures in their hands. Don’t blame us – we can only attempt to figure out the contents of this talky featurette.

Might of the Mercury Man – This is an odd feature that made us click on the different body parts of Mercury Man, probably to find out what powers he has. Although each highlighted body part comes with a write-up, the texts were in Thai, which made no sense to us.

Photo Gallery – Some production stills for you to ogle at if you really loved the movie that much.

Trailer – A two-minute trailer that features some really nice transitions, as well as the best parts from the movie.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The visual transfer flatters the computer effects that went into the design of Mercury Man’s action sequences, and there is an option of Thai and Mandarin audio tracks. Listening to the latter reminds us of those badly-dubbed Hong Kong Cantonese serials we see on television.

MOVIE RATING:



DVD RATING :

Review by John Li

 
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This review is made possible with the kind support from InnoForm



 


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