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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Dynamite Warrior (Khon fai bin) (2006)

Dynamite Warrior (Khon fai bin) (2006)

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Released 16-Aug-2007

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Martial Arts More…-"Open the eye" - Interactive Behind the Scenes
Interviews-Cast-Dan Chupong & Panna Rittikrai
Theatrical Trailer
Gallery-Photo
Trailer-Eastern Eye Trailers
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2006
Running Time 98:34 (Case: 100)
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (53:03) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Chalerm Wongpim
Studio
Distributor
Sahamongkolfilm
Madman Entertainment
Starring Dan Chupong
Leo Putt
Panna Ritthikrai
Samart Payakarun
Jaran Ngamdee
Ampon Rattanawong
Kanyapak Suworakood
Somdet Kaew-ler
Wichai Prommajan
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $29.95 Music Theppanom Piriyaworakul


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Unknown Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    The Thai film industry seems to turn out interesting and inventive action films. Bang-Rajan (2000), The Legend of Suriyothai (2001), Ong Bak (2003) and The Protector (2005) are all films with exciting real life action that are well worth watching. Then came Khon fai bin from 2006, aka Flying Man of Fire, aka Dynamite Warrior. This is one of the most weird martial arts films you could see featuring not only great action sequences but also wizards, spells that can only be broken by a virgin’s menstrual blood, tractors, explosions and a hero who rides on rockets.

     Dynamite Warrior wastes no time in getting the action started. There is brief voice over giving the background: it is 1855 and Siam is exporting rice to the world. Tractors are being imported to help the harvest replacing water buffalo. Then, quickly, we have a lone man taking on a large group of buffalo herders (called Nai Hoi) with fists, feet, knees and flying explosive rockets. He then rips the shirts off his defeated foes. Why? He is Jone Bang Fai (Dan Chupong), the Dynamite Warrior! We learn much later that he is, in fact, looking for the tattooed Nai Hoi who years before murdered his parents.

     Lord Waeng (Leo Putt) is an importer of tractors. They are very expensive and the farmers would prefer to continue to use their water buffalo to prepare the rice fields. So Waeng forms an alliance with the psychotic cannibal Pawp Dum (Panna Rittikrai); Dum and his bandit gang are to attack the Nai Hoi herders and steal their buffalo, forcing the farmers to buy tractors. During one attack they encounter the herder Singh (Samart Pavakarun), a man with strong magical powers. He can turn his men into fighting beasts, such as a monkey or tiger, and can land blows without touching his opponent. But also following Singh is Bang Fai; he has seen Singh’s tattoo and believes he is the one who killed his parents.

     Defeated by Singh, Dum and Waeng turn to the Black Wizard for a spell that can defeat Singh’s magical powers. Years before the Black Wizard had been defeated by Singh; he is now disfigured and his skin burns in sunlight. He agrees to help but the spell, they learn, needs the menstrual blood of a virgin to work. Luckily, they have just such a virgin on hand in the person of the Wizard’s daughter Sao (Kanyapak Suworakood). Now, they only have to recruit Bang Fai to deliver the spell and defeat Singh. But of course things are not what they seem and Bang Fai must unmask the true killer of his parents, rescue the virgin from a fate worse than death and return the buffalo to their rightful owners.

     There is noting subtle in Dynamite Warrior. It is very obvious that Sao and Bang Fai will fall in love; equally obvious is the identity of the real murderer. However, while plot may not be a highlight of the film, the fights are fantastic. They are a combination of Thai kick boxing, acrobatics, wire work and CGI, with lots of slow motion kicks, punches and jumps. Knees connect with faces, stunt men fall from roofs and over balconies, blood spurts as the frenetic action seldom stops. Explosions fill the screen, rockets wiz around and through buildings and the hero rides into battle standing on the top of a large, explosive rocket. It is hugely entertaining but with such weird elements, not to mention the supernatural aspects of the plot, none of this is to be taken seriously. In fact, forget the plot; just go with the flow and enjoy one of the strangest martial arts films of the last few years.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    Dynamite Warrior is presented in a ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. I suspect the original ratio was 1.85:1. The video is a bit of a mixed bag. Colours vary considerably. Sometimes they are bright and clear, other times quite dull. Sometimes there was a distinctly yellow/ brown filter effect (such as at 32:45). Contrast also varies. During interiors and close ups the film was sharp and detailed; at other times in outdoor scenes especially sharpness was lacking. Blacks sometimes had a green tinge and shadow detail was sometimes fine, sometimes only acceptable. There was also frequent film grain. On the plus side, artefacts were absent. However, while noticeable, none of the above spoiled the enjoyment of the film.

     English subtitles are in a clear white font that contained no obvious spelling or grammatical errors. Lip Synchronisation was fine. The layer change at 53:03 caused a slight pause on my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 at a healthy 448 Kbps. There is nothing to complain about here. The dialogue is clear amid the action effects; punches and kicks thud into bodies and the surrounds were constantly in use for music, effects, explosions and shooting rockets, although panning effects were limited. The sub woofer supported the action and the numerous explosions.

     The music by Theppanom Piriyaworakul includes both Eastern and electronic elements. It provided good support for the film.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

”Open the eye” – Interactive Behind the Scenes

This feature is enabled from the Extras Menu. When turned on, the red Eastern Eye logo appears on the screen; pressing “enter” on the remote pauses the film. In reality there is little here. There are only 7 sections totalling approximately 4:48 minutes of mostly alternative raw takes with poor on set sound.

Cast Interviews

The interviews were conducted on set during the making of the film. An off camera interviewer asks questions that are answered. In Thai with English subtitles.

     Dan Chupong who played the Dynamite Warrior speaks about the plot, his character, preparing for the role and injuries received during the action sequences. He also makes a plea to the Thai audience to see the film and not watch it on a pirated DVD! (6:06 min).

     Panna Rittikrai who played Pawp Dum comments on his character and the action scenes (3:51 min).

Theatrical Trailer (1:32 min)

Stills Gallery

25 stills from the film, some quite blurry. No music, use the remote to advance to the next still.

Eastern Eye Trailers

Trailers for other films from Madman. Included is Born to Fight (1:28 min), Ong Bak (1:57 min), Bang-Rajan (2:22 min) and Shinobi (1:59 min).

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 1 release seems to have similar video. As extras it has 'The Making of Dynamite Warrior' featurette (13:59), 'Behind-the-Scenes Stunts' featurette (1:53), 'On-Set Footage' featurette (2:30), 'Special Effects Makeup' featurette (2:06) and Original Theatrical Trailer (2:11). Audio options include Thai 5.1 and 2.0 and English 5.1 and 2.0. Personally I see no reason to watch this Thai film in an English dub and the extras on the Region 1 have been described as “insubstantial”. Perhaps a slight win to Region 1.

Summary

    Dynamite Warrior is a weirdly entertaining minor gem from the Thai film industry featuring great martial arts sequences as well as wizards, spells that can only be broken by a virgin’s blood, tractors, explosions and a hero who rides on rockets. The audio is very good, the video and extras reasonable. Does it make any sense? Not much. Is it entertaining? Absolutely.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S350, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 42inch Hi-Def LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

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