Release Date: 13 November 2014 (Thailand)
Genre: Action
Stars: Nantawooti Boonrapsap, Dan Chupong
Quality: DVDRip
Country: USA
Language: English
Description: Tony Jaa may be the face of ‘Ong Bak’ and ‘Tom Yum Goong’, but bona fide aficionados of Thai action cinema will tell you that the real star behind these international hits is Panna Rittikrai. Indeed, Rittikrai was Jaa’s mentor and fight choreographer on both the aforementioned movies before graduating to taking Prachya Pinkaew’s place as director of both the ‘Ong Bak’ sequels through Jaa’s existential crisis.
If we’ve started our review on a somewhat sombre note, it is because ‘Vengeance of an Assassin’ has turned out to be Rittikrai’s final work. At age 53, Rittikrai passed away earlier this year, and this film is dedicated to his loving memory. And yet even though it was never made with that intention, this gritty hard-hitting action spectacle is undeniably a befitting tribute to Rittikrai and his legacy. Co-written and directed by Rittikrai, it is an unabashed throwback to the action movies of the 80s and 90s when action was the operative word of the genre and elements such as plot and character were secondary, so much so that the good guys were unreservedly good and the bad guys were, well, bound to meet their deserved end.
