In The Name Of The Tiger Review

Clocking in at roughly an hour and fifty minutes Thai comic fantasy epic In The Name of the Tiger is at least twenty minutes too long and prone to lose the thread of its narrative through the very over-plotted run time. It's a kitchen sink sort of film, with everything possible tossed in there regardless of how well it works as a whole. There are too many characters, too many sub plots, too many diversions that lead nowhere. But hiding somewhere within that bloated run time is one very fun b picture struggling to get out, a Thai piss take on the Hong Kong fantasy adventures of the eighties complete with a very silly cameo appearance from Wong Fei Hong.

Set in a remote mountain village in the tribal mountain highlands In the Name of the Tiger opens with Mogul Jayae, a local crime lord, arriving at the temple of the Black Tiger hoping for divine intervention in an upcoming battle with Lord Lai Khan, his equally matched rival in the local underworld. As the criminal masters and their gangs of heavily armed thugs square off in the streets intervention comes in the form of a landslide that sends boulders crashing into the streets and buildings crumbling, ending with the arrival of a mysterious, supernaturally strong stranger, Suer, in the temple. Seeing an opportunity for profit the corrupt local priest convinces Jayae that Suer is an emissary sent by the Tiger god and offers to help recruit Suer to Jayae's cause for a price.

As the film progresses we learn more about the local tribes – the dwarves who are the priestly caste, the grimy handlers of the dead, the beautiful neck ringed farmers outside of town – the political machinations between the local bosses and, most importantly, more about Suer's past and the powerful southern crime syndicate that wants him dead.

Though the film has a definite pacing problem it has an undeniable energy once it hits its stride, filled with campy humor, major gouts of blood, a handful of fun action sequences and some truly memorable characters. The crime bosses are fairly bland but Suer has an undeniable screen presence, both love interests are strong, and though the sheer number of villains guarantees that they tend to blend together the best of them – the Hell Twins – are fantastic, a perfect blend of incompetence, menace, and sheer style. Martial arts sequences are shot a bit too close in and are a little over-edited but have a goofy wire assisted sense of fun with Suer constantly kicking people through walls – at one point launching Wong Fei Hung into the stratosphere with a kick that would've done Shaolin Soccer proud. A distinct Chow influence pops up from time to time, actually, with blood and violence played with the sort of Looney Tunes energy – and soundtrack – last seen in Kung Fu Hustle. There are a pair of incredibly poor CGI sequences – both contained in completely unnecessary side jaunts – but on the whole the effects have a sort of consistent lo fi charm that suits the proceedings nicely.

The just released Thai DVD is a mixed bag. The transfer is good – the film looks far, far better than the trailers online and on other recent DVDs – and the subtitles strong but, like the recent Tiger Blade DVD, it exhibits the frustrating, pointless and enormously inconsistent form of censorship currently being foisted on many DVD releases. Any instance of smoking is blurred out as are some cases where people are threatened with weapons at close range, but this second category is practiced with no sense of consistency whatsoever. An example: in one scene a pair of knives embedded in a victim's throat – the Hell Twins are equipped with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of throwing knives – is blurred out. But in the very next scene – not even ten seconds later – another pair of knives embedded in another victim's head are left untouched. It's annoying, you can still tell exactly what's happening and thus it's ineffective, and the application makes no sense whatsoever. While I understand the urge to impose some sense of order on the industry – Thailand currently has no rating system whatsoever – they have to come up with something better than this.

In the Name of the Tiger is by no means a classic but it does an awful lot of things right. With a better editing job it could very easily have gone on to become a significant cult hit. It certainly has enough going for it to leave me anticipating more from its star and director in the future.