Oh yeah…. Neko just couldn’t miss this one.

Our synopsis for it reads: “The plot revolves around CBI officer Mallanna, along with his oldest school friends, granting the wishes of the needy people who write letters to a local  Temple, disguised like an anthropomorphic chicken. During a CBI income tax raid, he discovers that Ponnusamy, a rich important entrepreneur, is hiding illicit money. To escape the questioning, Ponnusamy pretends to be paralyzed. The event angers his daughter Subbulakshmi who returns home from school abroad to go after Mallanna, pretending to love him, seeking her revenge. This forms a cat and mouse chase between the two. While he is also sought after by a local police inspector who tries to solve the mystery of “Lord Mallanna saving the people,” the fate of Mallanna’s disguise leads into the climax of the story.”

Like all Indian film… this one is a hard movie to describe in a quick fashion. Yes, yes….. it’s a Superhero movie…. but it’s also an action film, a comedy, a romance as well as… of course… a musical as well. But… can they really somehow outdo Batman with a story about a guy in a rooster costume?

There’s only one way to find out, and that’s for your Favorite Catgirl to pick up a copy of the newly released DVD and find out. Will it be a movie you’ll want to see as well?

Guess you’ll just have to “Read On!!” and find out… silly!!

Ok.. now this one is a strange bird indeed, and I only discovered it thanks in large part to my recent interest in South Indian Telugu cinema….. (Ahhh! “Arundhati”…. how you opened a new world of crazy film for this silly girl..) This one though isn’t originally Telugu at all… it’s Tamil, from Sri Lanka I’m told, where it’s originally known as “Kanthaswamy”. But… you dub it into Telugu and it becomes “Mallanna”…. and probably something else if it ever gets a Hindi release as well, I guess. Heck… it might even get remade with all new actors in the roles…. Indian cinema is just sorta goofy like that. At least it’s subtitled into English….. Yay!!

It’s a big film… with a script that takes our heroes from the squalor of modern urban India to the dry dusty deserts of Mexico and everywhere in between. Basically, it’s one of those hybrids the Indian audiences like… with our hero playing a dedicated cop working in the special “Economic Crimes Division” trying to keep India’s decadent rich from hiding away all their untaxed, unclaimed assets from the government by going all Elliot Ness on their crooked butts. Seems this is a big ol’ problem and Indian law makes prosecuting such VIP’s nearly impossible. But Inspector Mallanna’s (played by Vikram) has got his own ideas……

Luckily for us those ideas include smashing away at those rich crooks by day, sledgehammer in hand, raiding their homes and businesses with his crack teams of loyal officers and then stalking the night as the Avatar of the Great God Mallanna, delivering money and hope to those who need it most. It’s during one of these raids, that he finds enough incriminating evidence against rich fat cat Pallur Paramajyothi Ponnusamy, nicknamed PPP (played by Ashish Vidyarthi), to put him away but good. However, Ponnusamy fakes a paralyzing seizure and escapes prosecution on humanitarian grounds. This sets Ponnusamy’s sexy daughter Subbulakshmi (played to Bad Girl perfection by Shriya Saran) on a quest to get revenge against the man who crippled him.

She’s ignorant of her father’s lie, but by no means is she a good girl…. spoiled, over indulged, opinionated, and willing to do anything to get her revenge, she meets her match in the stern, uncompromising ruggedly handsome Mallanna. But she’s also sexy, talented and has a will of iron….. So naturally they’ll fall in love…. if they don’t kill each other first or something.

There’s musical numbers of course, scattered throughout like big chunks of MTV videos stuck in here and there. Most noteworthy for me… a crazy bathroom dance number as our Bad Girl Heroine goes Catgirl on Rooster boy!! No kidding… It just has to be seen to be believed, so thanks to the magic of Youtube I bring you a lil’ spicy musical interlude…. “Meow, meow!!…Soooo sexy!!”

Much of the film is all about the intricate dance these two do as they circle each other… both looking for the chance to pounce and use the other for their own agenda. While this goes on, an honest local cop tries to find the true identity of Mallanna, the “Robin Hood” like savior of the people, ending their “exploitation” by the fake mysticism he uses to instill fear among the wicked as he delivers the stolen money of the crooked billionaires to the poor. He’s got quite the racket going on…. and it takes a huge group of his old school friends to pull it off. Perhaps this is the most unbelievable part of the whole film…. any conspiracy this big would realistically blow itself apart before reaching this level of success. But hey….. it’s done in a fun fashion that generally works.

Eventually the secret gets blown…. Suba finds out her father has been using her anger and lying to her all along and she and Mallanna surrender to the passion that’s been simmering between them like a juicy sweet mango curry just begging to be tasted. Ah… love… sooo nice!! Yay!! (This has to be the first time I have ever thought both main characters in a film were sexy and  physically attractive to me too…. I could actually see myself falling for either of them!! How romantically confusing!! It must have been the “Catgirl Bathroom Dance of Lust!!” Hehehehe!!)

As with many Indian films… there are a few problems to contend with though. It’s a long film….. some 2 hours and 45 minutes or so. Much of this is the musical numbers scattered throughout, but the run time is also padded by having far too many side plots, as well as overselling the main theme of “India would be a healthy nation with pride if only all Indians could share the wealth hoarded by a few”…. Yep… got that message the first time… and the second, and so on…. can we get some more cool Rooster Kung Fu action please? (Many Hindi films fall into this trap to of getting almost nagging about pressing a central message home. Must be a cultural thing…) Had the film cut that back a bit and made itself a tighter story at about…. say 2 hours or so… this one could have been considered a definite classic for fans of weird cinema. As it stands, it hurts the chances of it being seen by all but a few diehards like this lil’ Catgirl. (Carolyn even fell asleep mid way through it on me… and she’s never done that before!!)

Given those flaws, I’d have to give this one only 3 “Meows” out of 5… but mind you there’s also a lot to like here too… and the two main characters have great chemistry together…. the romance actually works…. worth a couple of nice purrs of contentment. Also… the Indian disc itself is excellent… presented in 16:9 anamorphic wide screen, with plenty of options for Trailers and songs (with and without video). My only real quibble being with the quality of the film print used to master it. These films must get the beejeebits worn outta them in distribution….. and apparently no “Master Copies” are kept in vaults or anything…. English subtitles are spot on and excellent, so you can’t go wrong there either. The price is right too… and you ought to be able to score the Region Free Indian DVD for about 8-14$ US. It’s a weird film… but a fun one, and if you don’t buy it, you ought to at least rent it…. Then you too can say you actually saw a big Rooster Guy do his best Batman impression.

Could I leave you guys without a Trailer for this one? Never!! Enjoy the wrath of the “Dark Chicken”!! Hehehehe!

The quick synopsis reads: “An ancient Thai legend tells of two holy amulets – Lunar Mercury and Solar Mercury – that will create an indestructible power when combined together. Usama, an international terrorist had studied the secrets of this legend and wants the power of both amulets for his own evil plot. During a prison escape, one of those holy amulets, 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. And so the ultimate battle between Good and Evil begins…”

So… do the Thai’s grasp the whole Superhero thing? Let’s all find out shall we?

We start this one with a group of urchins in Cambodia…. seems one of them has some freaky mind powers… using them to move things around and control peoples minds. Makes you wonder why he’s still doing the whole “street urchin” thing with all those nifty abilities… but hey, that’s not for us to wonder about, because pretty soon a group of thugs show up and kidnap the lil’ guy…. Before we even find out why… we’re off to Nepal!! We know it’s Nepal because there are loads of guys wearing those big woolly coats and fuzzy hats that all the tribesman there wear…. and there are yaks!! Anyway… a caravan of these guys meet up with some suspicious looking travelers looking for the big holy temple that’s somewhere nearby… it’s Nepal… so there’s got to be a temple somewhere around, right? The caravan guys decide to be helpful and show them the way… but something is just not right. Pretty soon we end up a Chinese Military Checkpoint, and find out that the helpful caravan guys were really gun smugglers…. you’d almost feel sorry for the unknown travelers, but it seems they have their own deadly secret as well…… They’re terrorists… and bad ass terrorists at that… killing both the gunrunners and the Chinese troops before going on to the temple to steal the holy amulet stored there…. after a big kickboxing fight of course between the female head of the terror group, Arina (played by Methanee Kingpayom), and the temple’s guardian priestess Punima (played by Jinawipa Kongbua). Gee…. it’s movies like this that always make Neko wish most days she could kickbox too!! The fight ends in a draw, but the terrorists do manage to wound Punima and steal the sacred Moon Amulet before making their escape.

Then it’s off to Bangkok where we meet the hero of the film, Chan (played by Wasan Khantaau), a fireman, who while brave and fearless, isn’t exactly a “team player” as his superiors tell him. Impulsive, and unable to follow orders, his rash actions get him sidelined as the custodian of the equipment room. Even so, he can’t resist the lure of danger and goes along to fight a fire that breaks out at the city’s Central Prison. Little does he expect that the fire was started by the terrorists during their attempt to spring their leader, Usama Ali (played by Arnon Saisangchan). Chan gets stabbed during the fight by the Solar Amulet, and it fuses with his body, much to Usama Ali’s dismay. He had planned to use it and the Moon Amulet to stage a big terror strike against the US Navy during a coming visit to Thailand…..

Here Neko-chan got just a bit confused…. since the terrorists spend the balance of the film trying to get that amulet back, why didn’t they simply drag Chan away in the beginning? Heck… they take time to grab their own dead members, so why not the guy with the magic widget stuck in his chest? This is perhaps the most glaring logical failing of the plot, and definitely the hardest to overlook.

Chan has a terrible dream…. (I think…) in which he meets an ancient Monk who tells his about the amulet… how he has been chosen and now has to learn to calm his mind to control the awesome powers it possesses. Naturally, for him, that’s going to be a problem…. luckily Punima is around to help him.

The film then goes through all the usual motions for the Superhero Genre…. He tries to control his powers. Has to learn what he can about how to use them wisely. His family gets involved as the terrorists finally get their stuff together and decide to threaten them to get Chan to give up the amulet….. He does the whole “Spiderman” thingee fighting some low level local bad guys to help the people of Bangkok and to draw out the killers. (In fact… there are a lot of Spiderman referrences thrown in here… obviously somebody on the production end wanted to draw comparisons here…) You all know the drill….

We eventually learn of Usama’s ultimate plot…. He wants the amulets to combine and build some sort of Mystical A-bomb that he can stick in a missile and blow up a US Navy ship full of chemical weapons that has been sent to Thailand as part of a goodwill tour during Thailand’s annual “Children’s Day” celebrations….. Ummmm? Say what? This is another of those plot elements that seems crazy and out of place, but hey…. let’s just roll with it….. Anyway, we’re supposed to get the idea that America is responsible for Usama’s family getting killed…. that non-Thai’s are all crazy and probably evil… and that ultimately only righteous Thais will set things right. Again…. that’s OK. Neko’s pretty used to that sort of plot line by now and not offended or anything…. you gotta take what happens in good spirits if you want to watch and enjoy foreign films. Still, I think that it’s interesting to note that “Mercury Man” could have such an anti-American bias and yet get released here in the US with no editing or softening of that element at all…. I’d just like to see similar treatments of films imported to or made in Thailand when the message about them isn’t perhaps so flattering as well….. But enough on that…..

Anyway…. eventually there is a whopping big fight at the terrorist’s secret hideout at a Marine Research facility. Much gunplay, kickboxing, super powers and the like. The action, while not novel or groundbreaking, is adequately done. There’s a showdown between Arina using the Moon Amulet’s icy powers against Chan that hearkens back to stuff right out of “X-Men” or the last “Spiderman” film. Nothing amazing… he doesn’t even stop the missile. That’s the job of a junior member of the Royal Thai Navy and his trusty anti-aircraft gun. But at least the bad guys get their just desserts and all ends well.

I can’t really say “Mercury Man” was all that great a movie experience for me…. The effects were good, especially for a Thai film, the acting OK. I think the most appealing thing was the character of Grace… Chan’s transgendered ladyboy sister (played by Parinya Kiatbusaba from 2003′s “Beautiful Boxer”). She’s played here as a talented designer and model who, while transgendered, is otherwise just a member of Chan’s family. No big deal is made of her gender by anybody…. if you didn’t catch the couple of references made you might never even notice. That was a refreshing experience to see, and scored some real points from this lil’ Catgirl. Even here is the US, such simple equality is hard to see portrayed often.

So… how does Neko rate “Mercury Man” then? In Thailand, my research tells me, this one wasn’t terrifically received by the critics, and I can see why. It’s not a blockbuster film…. no new ground is broken, and despite the attempt to put Superheroes through the “Thai Filter”, it isn’t really all that good a result. The anti-foreign bias is very heavy handed, subtracting from the overall enjoyment too. “Somtum”, a recent film I watched, had a similar “Thai Pride” message, but wasn’t anywhere near as nasty about it. “Mercury Man” could have been done with some of that style….. and I missed the usual comedic elements that usually pepper Thai action….. oh well.

I liked small elements of “Mercury Man”, but only enough to rate 3 “Meows” out of 5. Magnet’s DVD was well done as always… with good PAL to NTSC conversion, excellent subtitles and even a “Making of” feature also subtitled in english. Neko thinks that this one though, will probably only appeal to the real Superhero fans out there… most others will probably not miss much if they don’t catch it any time soon…. Better luck next time for this lil’ Catgirl…..

There’s a Thai Trailer, of course and here it is……