I know I have seen some incredibly sloppy Thai films while flipping through the Starz Encore networks, but if you make it a point to find a flick from this country, it is tough to be disappointed. That is my experience with the food as well. The spice is the action. Yeah, there are a lot of vegetables that I despise, but it is worth digging through them for the hot noodles and meat. It can be a long process (finding the film), but definitely worth a look.
With that said, I have to overlook the critics and give Tony Jaa's sequels a chance. After "Skin Trade", he is batting three-for-three with me (the other two being "The Protector" and "Ong-bak") in terms of potential IP. The latest experience is at least an extra base hit driving Dolph Lundgren, Michael Jai White, and Ron Perlman in. Peter Weller is the sacrifice to bring Jaa home.
Viktor Dragovic's (Perlman) sex trafficking trade has taken a major hit. Not only did his last shipment to Newark end up being just a pile of corpses, but maverick cop Nick Cassidy (Lundgren) ended up killing his youngest son. But with diplomatic ties with Russia and his two remaining capable sons, he is able to claim sanctuary in Cambodia and gain two-times the vengeance by killing Cassidy's wife and teenage daughter.
It is reasonable to think that an RPG to the face would prevent Cassidy from making their grudge match a best of three, but this guy is not Ivan Drago. Waking to a scarred face only motivates him to kill any diplomat and attorney who let Dragovic flee. Shooting up a restaurant is regarded as taking the law into one's own hands, so FBI Agent Reed (White) heads to Thailand to stop Cassidy from creating an international incident that can destroy Detective Tony Vitayakul's (Jaa) efforst to shut down Dragovic's operation at the source. Unbeknownst to Reed, Tony's own experience with the Dracovics may make Cassidy an ideal ally. Viktor is guaranteed to come face-to-face with his karma.
I know sci-fi/horror fans complain about the lack of practical effects with the emergence of CG. Personally, my loathing of computers comes from straight-to-video action movies (see "The Girl from the Naked Eye"). If "Skin Trade" had a few real explosions, this film would have necessitated the US theatrical distribution Jaa versus White deserves.
The story is everything you wanted in a pre-peaked Seagal action film. Lundgren, Gabriel Dowrick and Steven Elder's script has holes and a heavy-handed message to drive the film (like "On Deadly Ground" with the environment), but it delivers two uncompromising heroes that do not think twice about executing pure evil and its idiot henchmen. I mean, the ads for that job must imply evil, so you cannot be innocent after that "welcome aboard" meeting.
By simplifying the skin trade to saving girls (do not think about the intricacies and the sex in trafficking's), you get a pretty straight forward action flick. The post effects suck and the Ekachai Vekrongtham's direction is frantic with the cuts during some brilliant fight scenes. As long a you dig the choreography, this flick is a winner.
If you had "Punisher" level gore and a Nathan Jones cameo (just to make this bonified Thai gem), any action aficionado would run to Red Box to watch "Skin Trade". If only the Champaign COOP theater was still in operation and the name was not "The Art", this would be worth a six-dollar admission and some cheap drinks.
Equating this Lundgren-penned script to post "Arena" Duran Duran nails how to describe "Skin Trade". It is not his best, but if you are a fan and need to forget "4 Got 10" (like Power Station for you DD fans), this flick fills you 80's nostalgia needs.
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