July 9, 2013

Film Review: This Girl is Badass!! (Jukkalan)

This film's American title must have been written by a master of the obvious. Heck yeah, Jija Yanin kicked plenty of butt in Chocolate and Raging Phoenix, it's not like I need a separate movie to tell me she's badass. On the other hand, having another film with Yanin kicking butt is always welcome.

The girl may be badass, but the movie isn't so much. It does have action in sporadic bursts, and they are pretty well-choreographed. A few of the fights are pretty imaginative (one cool scene involved Yanin fighting around a bicycle). But in between the action, the movie will either drag a lot with the sappy romantic subplots, or weird you out with some of the goofiest and weirdest comedy Thailand can offer. Seriously, why are there midgets everywhere? Why does the crime boss sound like a retarded kid who just sucked on a helium balloon? Why does the guy with the stupid haircut ride a fuzzy robotic horse? Why...ah, forget it.

As far as the story goes, it started off being very simple, almost to the point of being dumb and pointless. After a while, however, things just became totally random and irreverent, thanks to a number of useless subplots layered on. The main conflict gets shoved to the side, while the characters go on and on over their silly love lives. It's too disjointed to really work. And despite being really colorful and goofy, the characters aren't that well-developed either.

The film looks pretty cheap too, with standard photography and editing, and a rather low-quality production value. Acting is pretty mixed all around; Jija Yanin is probably the single most redeemable value to this film, for she does put on an appealing performance (in addition to pulling off some impressive fight moves). Everybody else ranges from being silly to being dumb. Writing is not terribly sophisticated either. This film uses a decent mix of rock and pop songs on its soundtrack.

It's a weird, stupid, fun little flick, with enough action and weirdness to appeal as a novelty. Sadly, it's nowhere near as awesome as I'd expect, especially when compared to Chocolate or Ong Bak. Unless you have an affinity for weird and silly Thai comedies, this film is not recommended.

3/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Poor | Film: Poor)

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