Killer Tattoo
Director: Yuthlert Sippapak
Year: 2001
Starring: Somchai Khemklad, Thao Rae, Mum Jokmok, Thep Po-ngam, Theng
Therdtherng
Time: 111 minutes
With a Hong Kong retro 1980’s B movie action
feel, this film manages to blast its way into your affections. It has at times
an unruly mix of comedy, melodrama and bullet ballet that seems a bit chaotic
and slapdash but is still entertaining and enjoyable. The final twenty minutes
is a rip it up all hands aboard shoot out that should bring a smile to the
face of most HK gunfight aficionados.
The setting takes place a few years into the future and the city of Bangkok
is in economic chaos with the foreigners (falangs) having taken over many
of the Thai corporations. Four over the hill killers are mistakenly hired
to kill one of the top cops in the law enforcement. As a backup a fifth killer
is also hired, the highly respected, Kid Silence. The four killers (all top
Thai comedians) have their sad backgrounds as a hindrance – the Cheech lookalike
killed his wife in an accident and her ghost haunts his dreams, one of them
dresses like Elvis and refuses to speak anything but English (very bad English),
another is broken-hearted by a woman’s rejection and another has sad memories
of his little girl that he left behind many years ago. Kid has his demons
as well – he witnessed his mother being killed by a man with a tattoo on
his arm when he was a child and has been searching for that tattoo ever since
to administer his own justice.
The party of four and the lone killer all make their hit at the same place
and barely escape. The man who hired them decides he wants them all dead
and sends another group of professional killers after them – one being a
smart talking falang female in boots, halter and an assortment of guns. In
a Thai bordello of sweet dreams all the threads and pasts of the men catch
up with them in a fight to the death. The film has a few slow parts in the
middle and bogs down a bit in the flashbacks, but is generally a fast moving
tale of killing and memories.
Neither the Thai DVD or VCD have subs (I
saw it in a film festival with subs).
My rating for this film: 7.5