Vengeance of an Assassin
2014; directed by Panna Rittikrai

Legendary Thai action director and stunt coordinator Panna Rittikrai -- the man who is regarded as being the one responsible for bringing Tony Jaa and his KNEE STRIKES OF DOOM~! to the attention of the west via the Ong Bak films -- made his last contribution behind the lens before his tragic passing in 2014 with Vengeance of an Assassin, a film that is dumb as they come, but delivers the goods for action junkies.

Another protege of Rittikrai, Dan Chupong, stars here as Thee, a young man who is searching for his parents after being raised by his uncle. Thee ends up being recurited by an assassin and soon finds himself becoming a top hitman -- until he is betrayed by his employers. Complicating matters is Thee's brother Than (Nantawooti Boonrapsap), who, through a series of dusty old VHS videos, finds out that their parents were assassins themselves, and also decides to go down that path.

Vengeance of an Assassin isn't the sort of movie that's going to win awards for its screenplay. We've all seen this sort of thing done many, many times before -- and the somewhat dodgy acting, which for the most part drifts between inept and indifferent, doesn't help matters in this regard. But we're not watching this picture for a deep philosophical movement on the ennui of life, right? No, son -- we want more KNEE STRIKES OF DOOM~! -- and Vengeance of an Assassin definitely delivers in that regard.

There is some very poor looking CGI on display here -- we're talking sub-SyFy MechaSharktopus levels -- but when the focus is on the combatants, Vengeance of an Assassin is fine cinematic carnage. In many ways, this is more of a love letter to classic 1980's Hong Kong action cinema than a feature on martial arts, to the point that Rittikrai pays homage to the classic tracking shot from Hard Boiled and has Chupong dressed ala Chow Yun-Fat in A Better Tomorrow during the bullet and squib filled finale. And, in that sense, this is a very successful film, being an almost-great piece of escapist cinema.

RATING: 7

Vengeance of an Assassin has been released in North America by Well Go USA and is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Amazon.