Destroyer Wod A Thai superhero movie? Sounds weird huh? But why not... After all MIRAGE MAN starring Colombian Martial Artist Marko Zaror was not bad at all, rather interesting despise its lead actor very minimal acting skills.But when it comes to Thai, it seem they ALWAYS have to include some kind of religious factors into there story, and this is always where they are gonna loose us, the western public. We don't care at all about those. The hero happen to be a fireman... thats enough, we like him already, no need to make him somewhat religious or have a religious side kick... I know that the amulets must come from somewhere, but i was hoping for once of having a Thai movie not including something like that at all. Take Ong Bak, take The Protector, what make them fun is Tony Jaa and the fights, nobody cared for the scenario involving religious artifacts...When i watch a Thai Movie, its always the problem, the action is usually great but the scenario does not interest me at all. But sadly in this case even the action was not stellar. Its not atrocious, but this is nowhere near close to what you will expect reading "ong bak" and "The protector" on the cover. It seem the only decent martial arts scenes are the ones when the hero is in costume, which i supposed are done by his stunt double... The action scenes of the girls fighting are pretty weak... and when the hero is out of costume he fight terrible also.But after all its a superhero movie, then how are the special effects, the bad guys, the powers, the costume? Well the power themselves are pretty cool. The black costume ain't bad either, it look a bit in the vein of "Kick Ass" if i can say so don't aspect some Nolan Batsuit, but its decent.The special effects on the other hand... well in some parts there pretty good, but when they want to overdo, it seem our hero morph into a video game character CGI sequence and it looks TERRIBLE. Super Fake looking. The bad guys, now this one made me wondering. There supposed to be some afghan terrorist, but some of them look Caucasians(??) and the hero and his side kick totally look Thai... The worst part is the leader actually wear eye liner and make up that make him look extremely goofy and the dubbing have him talk with some cheap Arabians accent...when every other character talk normal English. Oh and the dubbing... lol... terrible. I know Americans are not used to dub movies... I'm from Quebec, i watch most of my movies in french dubbing, and we know how to do the job well, but here, it seem some American dudes where just reading the lines and thats it... They even dubbed a guy looking like he is 85 years old with a 40 years old sounding voice....So in the end what can i say? Well enough action to entertain me, but some of it is good, some of it is bad, the special effects where cool in moments, cheap DTV CGI looking in others, the dubbing horrible, but the part that disappoint the most is the story.You are never really explain where the amulets come from, the terrorist goal and back story is terrible, and that little boy that seem to have mind control over human and electronic... they never explain where he come from at all... but he become a key part of the story so your like.... WHAT??? So Mercury Man is more or less what Jeremy Jahns would call "You'r not gonna remember it in T-minus 15 minutes"...

Coolestmovies At the time of its release, MERCURY MAN, Thailand's first foray into the superhero genre was one of the more expensive movies ever made in the country, but it's dismal box office performance there didn't bode well for its producers' hopes that it would "go international" or have the box-office muscle of Sam Raimi's SPIDERMAN, the film it's most obviously been modelled on, right down to the lead character's sinewy-rubbery costume, which can be easily duplicated in a computer for those dazzling flights of fancy across urban landscapes.The film is flawed enough that it probably never stood a chance of cracking the international market anyways. Glossy production values aside--and they're often rare in Thai cinema--there's a weird sense that the whole thing is some kind of thinly-veiled propaganda.After having part of a mystical "Solar Mercury" amulet embedded in his chest, a hot-shot fireman (Vasan Kantha-u) must learn to control his temper (in a country known for silencing dissent, no less, not to mention alienating religious minorities) if he's to defeat not only various hooligans around the city, but also a small band of Muslim extremists led by a dude named "Usama" who bears a rather unfortunate resemblance to Richard Lynch in the Chuck Norris classic INVASION U.S.A.The terrorists need the amulet, paired with it's sister--the "Lunar Mercury"--to aid their plans to attack the literal and symbolic American interests around the country (Helloooo, massive McDonald's & Hard Rock Cafe product placements!!). Interestingly, the film features a little boy with psychic powers who opens the film by demonstrating his ability to stop a stopwatch at will. Funny that they'd need a scene like that...For the money the filmmakers spent (which still wasn't much by American standards), everything looks pretty good, but the computer effects are hobbled on occasion by a clear misunderstanding of the laws of physics on the part of their creators, such as those that would govern the car Mercury Man kicks into a billboard, where it becomes stuck rather than crashing through! Yes, I know it's a fantasy, and I can accept Mercury Man's metal-based powers allowing him to "fly" between metal objects without the aid of machinery or ropes or webs, but billboards can't stop cars! The cast is generally quite dull, but I've come to expect that in Thai cinema. Pretty faces, but not much expression, including the ones Mercury Man's boyish alter ego must suppress for fear of catching on fire, as his crotch nearly does when he cops a few glances at a Penthouse magazine tucked away in his drawer.The action choreography, by Prachya Pinkaew and his ONG BAK/TOM YUM GOONG team, are the main reasons this is watchable, but there's a certain recycled feeling about them now, with only the more expensive costuming and modern-looking locations differentiating them from those seen in the earlier Tony Jaa films and virtually everything else that Pinkaew has touched to date. On top of that, there's one hell of a lot editing going on in these sequences. Every connected blow is followed by an immediate cut to a closeup or a long shot, which tends to make you wonder just how many stunt doubles are being disguised with every splice. Fans of BEAUTIFUL BOXER, the life story of trans-gender Muay Thai boxer Parinya Charoenphon, might enjoy watching her, largely undoubled it would seem, kick the snot out a batch of evildoers in white lab shirts.And the final fight between Mercury Man and the villain's right hand babe, who's absorbed the power of the Lunar Mercury amulet, is worth watching for any number of reasons, notably the latter's transformation into a semi-naked frost warrior.Though undoubtedly intended as an A-list picture in its homeland, and indeed, with its slick visuals and breezy pace, feeling and looking much more like one in comparison to a lot of the sloppily made crap that passes for populist cinema there, MERCURY MAN is nonetheless best viewed with lowered expectations, particularly if you aren't familiar with Thai cinema, otherwise you'll inevitably be tempted to actually compare it to the American superhero films it so brazenly dares you to.

chrichtonsworld Apart from 1 or 2 good action scenes this movie has nothing to offer! I wasn't expecting anything special! But what I did get was far below average! I can't imagine that this movie will appeal to anyone! The biggest problem of this movie is that it takes itself to seriously! They could have done so if they at least delivered on the action front! This movie could have used more humor which would have improved the badly choreographed action scenes immensely! Also what bothered me a lot wasn't the bad acting or the plot and even the bad choreography! It was the inconsistency of the use of superpowers! At one time he is able to fly and suddenly he can't! At one time he is able to use some form of telekinesis and just like that he isn't able to and just keeps on jumping and kicking like a muay Thai fighter! The very few special fx are OK, but nothing you haven't seen before! My guess is that this movie is made for children! But trust me even children would like this movie! Avoid "Mercury Man" at all costs!

ohitsjustavi I hate giving movies low ratings. Makes me feel like one of those professionals who bash movies. In fact if a movie is bad, I don't write reviews. But I had to write one for this movie.Story was absolutely, needlessly, mind numbingly bad. I guess they couldn't decide on what plot to make the movie on. There's everything in this movie from thugs to terrorists who not only hate thailand but the whole world.The movie had a budget of 60 million baht ($1.6 million), which is quite a lot for their currency. I guess they spend most of the budget on the fx. All the FX redering was very well done considering the budget. Probably the only positive thing in the movie.The director mentioned that the goal of the movie was to appeal to the international movie audience. Well..... FX isn't just enough to appeal to audience. With FX one needs good acting. "Good Acting" this movie does not have. Even if you are watching this movie in thai, you can tell that the actors are quite bad.The movie's crew involved a lot of people from the crew of Ong-Bak and Tom Yum Goom. Ong-Bak was good. Tom Yum Goom sucked but Mercury Man is better than that. Maybe their next movie will be better.