Pattaya Heat
      

Director:  Yang Shu-peng
Year: 2024
Rating: 6.0
Country: Thailand

As the Thai rock group Carabao sings, "Welcome to Thailand. Farangs aren't shy. They like Pattaya". Pattaya is located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand and is a tourist hotspot. Once a sleepy little beach town, over time it turned into Sin City with anything you want available. With that came the gangsters and the corrupt cops in a symbiotic relationship running the seamy side of things and Pattaya is nothing but seamy. At least that was the way it used to be. For years, the city government has been talking about cleaning the city up and turning it into a legitimate tourist destination and in fact big bus tours of Russians, Korean and Japanese have made it a required stop. But underneath the bright sunshine and jet-skies, the corruption still lies, still percolates with greed and lust. Not sure if he is still there, but an Australian who lived in one of the nicer condos had been a loan collector back home and offered his services in Pattaya. He once told an interviewer that he loved Pattaya. Why? Because I could pick you up and throw you off my balcony - he lived on the 25th floor - and for the right amount of money, the cops would say you tripped and fell. Like the headless corpse they found in the river and called it a suicide. The Pattaya Tourist Board was probably not thrilled with this film.



This is a very different type of film from what has been coming out of Thailand of late - a sleek, glitzy gangster film with a complex plot and a plethora of characters. Other reviewers have suggested it was strongly influenced by Tarantino and Guy Ritchie and that is likely true, but it reminded me of a Milkyway crime film of fate and revenge waiting for each character like a shadow in the corner. Not as good as a Milkyway film but doing its best - maybe a calling card to Johnny To. And in fact, the director is not Thai but Chinese. Yang Shu-peng was born in China and all of his previous films were shot there and they all sound like crime films. Something brought him to Thailand this time. Maybe because he could make a film that the censors would not have been happy with in China. Everyone is rotten here - cops and criminals. It's Pattaya. Everything reeks. Everything is for sale. 



As I said, the plot is complicated and at times confusing. Much of it is told from the internal narrative of Chai, a low-level cop with a sick child and nearing retirement. His main occupation is staying out of trouble with his fellow officers but especially with the crime families. When he sees trouble, he does a Michael Jackson moonwalk backwards. The town is run by Simon (Ananda Everingham - a big star in Thailand) - who has his thugs and a sexy hitwoman like any self-respecting gang leader does. He wants Chai to go to Bangkok and retrieve a lot of gold that is being held in the evidence room of a police station. It has already been arranged. Just go and bring it back. Nothing is that easy and he knows it, but he needs the money for his daughter.



Another party is interested in the gold as well - and in revenge - and a multi-step plan is put into motion to get both. This gang is led by a female fortune teller (Chermarn Boonyasak - all those Rahtree films) and she brings on a one-eyed man - the missing eye was taken out by Simon's female hitwoman - and Thod (a very charismatic Jirayu Tantrakul) who is famous for the Tennis Court Massacre in which he killed a group of men playing tennis. If you root for anyone in the film, it is Thod and he is guilty of beating his brother's wife up, selling drugs and killing, I lost count of how many. At two hours it is sluggish at times - but the final 30 minutes or so is a big bloody action scene that was done quite well. The director brought Korean Yang Kil-yong with him to do the choreography - best known for choreographing Old Boy, Lupin the 3rd and Mojin: The Lost Legend. Most Thai films are crap these days so even though not great and directed by a Chinese man, it is still good to see.