SYNOPSIS:
An ancient legend tells of two holy forces Lunar Mercury and
Solar Mercury that will create an indestructible power when
combined together. Usama, an international terrorist had studied
the secrets of the legend and wants the power of both forces
for his own evil deeds. During a rescue mission, one of the
holy forces, Solar Mercury becomes accidentally embedded into
the body of Chan, an unsuspecting fireman, giving him superhuman
strength and powers. As Usama and his terrorists plot to destroy
the world. Chan becomes MERCURY MAN and learns to control
and use his new powers to save the world. A battle between
Good and Evil begins...
MOVIE
REVIEW:
It
is hard not to laugh when you see these subtitles running
across the screen: “With great fires come great responsibilities.”
This
Thai movie follows the footsteps of superheroes like America’s
Spider-man, and closer to home, Malaysia’s Cicak-man,
to bring hope to the failing humanity. While it remains baffling
why superheroes like them have to wear tight-skinned suits
to save the world, we cannot doubt their noble causes.
Mercury
Man from Thailand is given the great responsibility to save
the world from evil baddies during a rescue mission gone wrong.
His wounds can heal quickly and he has mercury as blood. He
can glide from building to building and is almost indestructible.
Oh, and when he gets excited while reading pornographic magazines,
his clothes will burn. And that’s why he needs a special
suit that suspiciously looks like Venom’s.
We
are not trying to belittle Mercury Man (because here in Singapore,
the closest thing we have to a superhero is television’s
embarrassing VR-man), but how can we take him seriously when
we have been bombarded by bigger-budgeted, better-scripted,
better-executed superhero movies from America?
To
be fair, this Bandit Thongdee-directed movie will entertain
the average viewer with its excitingly-choreographed fight
scenes and above-average computer-generated sequences. Also,
look out for the elephant rampage scene where two beasts go
crazy in public.
The
101-minute movie’s references to American capitalism
and international terrorism are also a nice touch to the otherwise
predictable storyline. Subjects like “lunar”,
“solar” and powerful amulets are obvious attempts
by the filmmakers to distinguish this superhero movie from
the dozen better ones out there.
Playing
Mercury Man is a decent and endearing Vasan Kantha-u, who
looks determined to save the world with the correct dose of
angst and resolution. He does it best in a particular scene:
Before getting his superpowers, he was reprimanded by his
superior for being a reckless fireman: “Even Spider-man
thinks before he does something. Are you trying to be a hero?”
The
movie does not take itself too seriously because its main
objective is to entertain us viewers. So don’t watch
it expecting too much, and it is okay to leave your brains
elsewhere.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
Like the Colic DVD which was released earlier, the special
features on this disc are a generous platter. But what is
it with the producers, who decided not to include any subtitles
on these features? We remain bewildered.
Behind the Scenes – The 30-minute segment
looks at the actors training for their physically-demanding
roles. And the best bit is how there are actually animal trainers
controlling the elephants during the rampage scene. Apparently,
the trainers wearing green suits were keyed out in post production.
We thought that was quite a smart move. This featurette did
okay without subtitles.
Character Introduction – The main leads
talk about their characters – in Thai. They are probably
praising their own characters in this two-odd-minute clip.
We wouldn’t know.
Interview
with Character Designer – Taken off a programme
where the character designers were interviewed on national
television, the 28-minute segment sees these two men warbling
about Mercury Man while holding what looks like action figures
in their hands. Don’t blame us – we can only attempt
to figure out the contents of this talky featurette.
Might
of the Mercury Man – This is an odd feature
that made us click on the different body parts of Mercury
Man, probably to find out what powers he has. Although each
highlighted body part comes with a write-up, the texts were
in Thai, which made no sense to us.
Photo
Gallery – Some production stills for you to
ogle at if you really loved the movie that much.
Trailer
– A two-minute trailer that features some really
nice transitions, as well as the best parts from the movie.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual transfer flatters the computer effects that went
into the design of Mercury Man’s action sequences, and
there is an option of Thai and Mandarin audio tracks. Listening
to the latter reminds us of those badly-dubbed Hong Kong Cantonese
serials we see on television.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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