Somtum aka Muay Thai Giant (2008)

Written by ?
Directed by ?

This is the first vehicle for Nathan Jones as a star, and unfortunately it's not the boost his career needs at this time. The 6'11" storied Australian bank robber turned strongman turned wrestler turned actor is an interesting one, and I'd even venture to say Jones is likeable, but this movie doesn't help convey any of that, rather it's merely a movie full of childish jokes at the expense of his size.

After ending up in Thailand on a vacation he won, Barney (Nathan Jones) gets drugged and robbed, left with only his pants, no clue where he is, no money, and no passport. He befriends two girls named Doyka and Katen when he inadvertently helps run off some thugs that were bothering the girls. It turns out Katen can fight, she's trained in Muay Thai, but her mother doesn't like her to. The fight scene with these thugs is basically all physical comedy with Nathan Jones, but a lot of it is really cheesy and aimed at kids, with no real effort put in.

And so continues the movie, and it's simple plot. After he tries Katen's mother's Somtum, the spice makes him turn red, hallucinate, and smash everything around him, which happens to be Katen's mother's Somtum shack, their only source of income. When his rage has subsided, Barney vows to get them the money to help them rebuild the restaurant.

From here it's kids help inept wanderer find his way through life, and since Jones is a giant we're treated to all the simple jokes at that expense, being too big for clothes, too big for a scooter, too big for a doorway, etc. It would be fine if these jokes were funny, but really only children would even find them mildly humorous.

The problem is not only the meandering plot, that would be fine if there was a redeeming quality, but in the end, we're treated to very few actual fight scenes, most of them involving the little girl Katen fighting people much bigger than her. Dan Chupong has one fight, and it might be the best in the film, but even it remains unmemorable in the grand scheme of the movie.

The kids are funny and charismatic, both of them will have good acting careers if they make better script choices, but this showcases their talent just fine. For Nathan Jones, he needs to either take meatier roles that require more acting, or stick to the action heavy that comes in as a final frontier before the hero faces off with the villain. I believe he can do more than that, but if he continues to choose silly scripts with meandering plots, he's not going to get the choice of roles he's looking for, but you can see the attempt here to show a softer side.

Interesting for what it is, but in the end it's a PG-13 rated kid's film about Muay Thai, and while I know the younger generation is a large commodity in Asia, I don't see the appeal of this movie anywhere on US soil. Again, this is only really too bad for Nathan Jones, who could benefit the most from the exposure.

7.6/10 (C)