Bangkok Revenge (I) (2011) User Reviews

I thought it was decent..

[WonWaiWai · 6/10 · 13 April 2013]

This is my first review so it'll be somewhat crude, but I'll say what I thought of the film.

The plot is somewhat mediocre at best; hero survived a fatal shot when he was a child, lived in seclusion, and now he's being hunted down by his parents' murderers. The reason for him being hunted down is quite unclear to me, since he clearly remembers nothing from his childhood, and I had a feeling if the villains left him alone, he'd have left them alone.

Still, moving on with the actions; I thought there were plenty of actions and the skills Jon Foo showed are quite on par with other Thai martial art films I've seen. What I liked is that they didn't "soften" his actions. Since he can't feel pain, or most normal feelings I think, he beat 'em up real good.

Acting-wise, I'd prefer if they'd all speak Thai. I don't mind reading subtitles. Having non-native speakers speak in English (not so fluently) is kind of distracting. The movie would've been better otherwise. Then again, I don't know how it would fare if you have the lead speak in broken Thai (Since I'm not sure if he's fluent in it. We only heard him asking for directions. Anyone could have).

In short, take it for what it is. A martial arts film, and it'll be enjoyable enough.

Jon Foo has great potential

[dcboyz22 · 6/10 · 2 August 2013]

This movie kind of surprised me. As an avid fan of all things martial arts , I must say I did not walk away disappointed in this movie. here is my grading for the movie:

Acting - 4 out of 10 Writing - 3 out of 10 Plot - 3 out of 10 Atmosphere - 5 out of 10 Directing - 6 out of 10 - mostly because they allow the user to see most of the action, rather than the shaky cam obsession in America. Action - 8 out of 10

Yes, 8 out of 10. Sure, Ong Bok, The Protector, The Raid, Ip Man, etc. are way better but this movie tries its hardest to emulate those films as best it can while also distinguishing itself. I found it refreshing that the good guy actually gets hit in this movie and takes a very serious beating at time - something most martial arts movies suffer from; the "no one can touch me even though there are 20 of them" mentality. This guy gets his butt kicked but does manage to dish it out. Jon Foo is an odd one for me. He sounds Australian at times, Irish in others, and looks Asian yet American at the same time. Very odd but it works for him. However, all that aside, he has some serious moves and has great potential. Is he Tony Jaa? No, not many people are. But he is damn good and someone I look forward to keeping an eye on.

Definitely watch this movie if you are in the mood for a cheesy movie with some serious fight scenes in them. Jon Foo can dish it out - especially the fight scene on the subway.

Overall, a 6 out of 10.

Terrible movie, but charming protagonist.

[hearingcolors · 4/10 · 27 June 2013]

Bankok Revenge, Rebirth or Monkey Ass, whatever it's called, is not a good movie. I'd go as far to say that it's actually terrible. The plot is mostly there just to guide the main character through various events that almost always lead into decent fights. They're not groundbreaking by any means, but the fact that the dude barely breaks a sweat is kind of hilarious. Acting's bad, and the accents are very, very distracting. Especially the girl. What makes it almost worthwhile though, is the main guy. Funny and charming, he breaks limbs as if they're crackers, while spiting cheesy yet awesome pieces of dialogue. It's not Ong Bak, and it's definitely not The Raid, but it makes you wonder just how much can personality impact a movie.

The storyline got lost amidst the 82 minutes of constant fighting...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 10 August 2013]

"Rebirth" (aka "Bangkok Revenge") is a rather mindless and pointless action movie - with heavy emphasis on action.

The story in the movie is about a boy whose father is killed and the boy himself is shot in the head. But miraculously he survives, and loses the ability to feel anything. Growing up, he learns martial arts (of course, what else should he do?) and he ends up having to fight for the truth of what happened on that fateful day.

Right, the story here is as hollow and simplistic as it gets, to the point where it is just embarrassing, and I suppose director Jean-Marc Minéo had to put in something that resembled a storyline to justify making this prolonged fighting sequence into an actual movie.

The action sequences and fighting sequences, however, are plenty and abundant, and the movie is basically just one long fight, as no matter where Manit goes he has to fight someone. It is just a bit too idiotic, but from an action-viewpoint, then the movie does deliver. However, there is nothing new or breathtaking here, that haven't already been seen in other martial arts movies, such as "Ong Bak" or "The Raid: Redemption". But still, if you enjoy fighting and martial arts, there is lots of it here in this movie.

As for taking place in Thailand, I just don't understand why a young Thai boy would grow up to speak that kind of British English, and used only very little Thai. It was just stupid and made absolutely no sense. If anything, it just took away the illusion that the audience were to believe that Jon Foo had to pass for a Thai.

In conclusion, then "Rebirth" is a story fully devoid of plot and coherency, and is basically just one fight after another from start to end. The movie lets you turn off your brain and just go into autopilot. "Rebirth" offers nothing challenging from the audience, and as hard as it tried, then even the constant fighting couldn't keep up the entertainment or enjoyment of the movie, and essentially ended up becoming too much to bear witness to.

If you enjoy Asian martial arts movies, your money is better spent elsewhere. The 3 out of 10 rating I am giving the movie is solely because of the action and fighting - the rest of the movie was just pointless and irrelevant.

You'll Laugh Till You Cry!

[spookyrat1 · 4/10 · 22 September 2020]

The Raid was directed by a Welsh director in Indonesia and in the Indonesian language. Rebirth or Bangkok Revenge, a very poor man's Raid, is directed by a French director in Thailand and then takes the unusual step of having the actors speak (or be dubbed) in English, even those whose characters are clearly Thai or French.

This is not a very good film at all, but it is a pretty good showcase in some instances for the Muay Thai style of fighting. Again a little surprising as director Jean-Marc Mineo and lead actor Jon Foo have kung fu backgrounds. Nevertheless what we have here in some of the fight scenes are some of the best Muay Thai examples, since the Om Bak series featuring Tony Jaa. But notice I did qualify my praise by saying "some".

The rest of the movie? Well, that's where the laughing till you cry comes in. Bizarre would be an understatement, as would suggesting that the narrative takes a distinctly second place to the staging of the action scenes, some of which aren't set up particularly well anyway.

I won't even bother to outline a plot summary, as even that's pretty silly. I'll just leave you with a few observations.

Based on Rebirth you would have to believe that in Bangkok all cops are corrupt killers. Weirded - out gangs waiting to rob/kill you lie in wait around every corner. Foo's Manit just wanders in to downtown Bangkok after 20 years in country seclusion and the bad guys already seem to know who he is and he strangely seems to know where to walk to attract their attention. Characters seem to come and go with no real rhyme or reason ... that's if they're not being lined up to be killed. (I still for the life of me, can't really work out what Simon had to do with the plot.)

On a technical level, I have to mention that the lighting of many scenes leaves a lot to be desired. And Manit's New Zealand accent had me scratching my head. In fact it's treated as a script in-joke, that never gets any explanation apart from Manit's, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you".

Ultimately Bangkok Revenge is a predictable, poorly constructed and acted vengeance themed film that never really finds its own identity. To put it even more bluntly it just seems to be all about the action set pieces.

for martial arts fans

[AndreasHardcastle · 7/10 · 25 January 2014]

Other people said enough about the language issues, silly story and bad acting. As a fan of good martial arts action those parts are not thaat essential, so let's talk about the action.

It's not the pinnacle of martial arts movies but, taking into account how high the bar has been set by Ong Bak and The Raid: Redemption, you can still call it pretty damn good. For the most part there is no shaky cam. When shaky cam is used it's not for making the action look faster and harder but rather as stylistic means for the scene. Every fight scene is different. The style of choreography varies a bit, the stage is never the same (from locations with almost no room to fight to completely open street) and also the directing is never completely the same. For some scenes the latter works, for some it does not so well. But you definitely won't get bored.

With a bit of luck the dry comments from the main character might even hit your humor. The emotionless way he delivers a couple of lines made me giggle hard a few times :).

I was feeling gracious with my rating -

[rdamian1963 · 3/10 · 12 May 2020]

The movie had occasional moments of entertainment. The story line was simplistic. Even with that, the story got lost in trying to add action and fight scenes at almost every turn. However, many of the fight scenes were just awful, often as a result of lousy camera angles or too much close up. As a martial arts movie fan I wanted to like this more, but just couldn't. If you are looking for a well done Asian martial arts movie, this isn't it.

Martial Arts with Jon FOO

[ZeddaZogenau · 6/10 · 17 February 2024]

The French-Thai co-production tells a story not worth retelling. But the main character Jon Foo and his impressive martial arts are well worth seeing. The actor, martial artist and stuntman of Chinese-Irish origin, born in London in 1982, delivers one breathtaking fight scene after another. And it's very rough and laconic. Your bones will break! The tears flow!

The fights in the subway and in the gym are particularly exciting, as the somewhat emotional hero destroys several villains at once. It is this callousness that leads to some extremely nasty sayings. Like the Brothers Grimm fairy tale about someone who set out to learn fear. The hero played by Jon Foo will also feel this in the furious final fight.

Ultra cool and badass! For fans of the genre!

Great Asian Netflix Watch

[king8654 · 8/10 · 6 August 2013]

Alright, so it wasn't a triple-a production movie. Throughout the movie I loved the filmography, story, and character development. I'm all about obscure netflix foreign movies, and this was a very entertaining, excellent ending movie.

While many give it low ratings, from someone who only watches foreign movies on netflix, it was a blast to watch. Great story, while very typical, but it progressed through the movie and character developments where obviously seen, and felt. The ending was one of the best foreign movie endings iv'e seen, obviously minus the classics, but it is well deserving above a 4.5. I'd say an 8/10 is an adequate rating for this movie.

Great action scenes, the main actor obviously has tremendous martial arts skills. Reminded me of a tony jaa or donnie yen martial arts, which are great to watch

A new action movie star

[phanthinga · 7/10 · 10 October 2017]

As a fan of action movie like myself it such a shame when i never heard of a man named Jon Foo but thank to this movie Bangkok Revenge(2011) i can says he is the perfect Liu Kang for the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie.Capable of doing his own stunt and action scene Jon played Manic with the classic revenge plot in the savage street of Bangkok fill with corrupt cops and weirdos.The acting is bland as hell but for action movie fan it definitely watchable