‘Bangkok Breaking’ (2024): Over-the-Top in Every Way

Directed by: Kome Kongkiat Komesiri || Produced by: Kome Kongkiat Komesiri,
Piyaluck Mahatanasab

Screenplay by: Kome Kongkiat Komesiri || Starring: Sukollawat Kanarot, Sanya Kunakorn, Atitaya Tribudarak, Yasaka Chaisorn, Isariya Chanupala, Sonny Chatwiriyachai, Ekkamol Jamsai

Music by: Terdsak Janpan || Cinematography: Thanat Kittikhun || Edited by: Weerapat Tembundit || Country: Thailand || Language: Thai

Running Time: 147 minutes

Thai cinema and me, like most southeast Asian cinema in general, have had a limited yet uneasy relationship. My first exposure to Ong Bak (2003), the star vehicle and Muay Thai acrobatic showcase for martial artist and onetime aspiring Buddhist Monk, Tony Jaa, bored me as much as most classical Chinese wuxia movies. With increasing democratization of modern filmmaking technology (e.g. HD and 4K digital video capture, lightweight handheld cameras, etc.) and the rise of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services, however, feature-filmmaking opportunities for international filmmakers have blossomed with ever diversifying options for international cinema distribution; this includes genres that challenge storytelling stereotypes or audience preconceptions of what types of movies typically blossom from different film industries.

Despite a few obvious CGI enhancements, the riot prologue of Bangkok Breaking: Heaven and Hell is the best part of the film.

Enter Bangkok Breaking (BB; 2021) and Bangkok Breaking: Heaven and Hell (BBHH; 2024), a six-episode series and standalone feature-length sequel, respectively, detailing citywide corruption and gangland crime drama in Thailand’s capital and largest city. I never watched the former given how averse I am to open-ended longform television series with mediocre reviews (BB ’21 is still listed on Netflix as a single-season rather than a limited series), but I gave the latter a try thanks to its comparatively “modest” length. BBHH follows protagonist Sukollawat Kanaros as an emergency medical technician (EMT) called to work in a notable Bangkok slum, which is set to be demolished by the local government for unscrupulous foreign developers.

The movie starts with a bang, both literal and metaphorical, as homeless and poverty-stricken locals riot against tactical police forces in protest of said demolition. Kanaros is a fitting audience point-of-view vessel to experience the urban chaos thanks to his neutral political stance, Good Samaritan profession, and everyman persona; the backdrop, likewise, feels raw and well illustrated thanks to a plethora of dedicated extras, ample street violence, and impressive handheld camerawork; the latter lends cinema verité realism to the events without obscuring the physical action with “shaky-cam” movement. This memorable opening sequence establishes most of the major players of the movie along with the primary Bangkok slum setting, and is perhaps the strongest element of the entire movie.

Other than a couple memorable car-chase set-pieces, however, the rest of the movie is an inconsistent, elongated mess whose story and characters overstay their welcome regardless of the aforementioned competent protagonist and production values. From its engorged supporting cast (one of my biggest pet-peeves as a cinephile) to its 147-minute runtime, writer-director-coproducer Kome Kongkiat Komesiri seems to believe that more of everything is always better: More side-characters and secondary to tertiary villains, even if they add nothing to the story; unnecessary subplots excusing numerous summary executions to increase the body count; repetitive fight sequences that don’t advance the narrative… all the above pads out what is yet another simple Lone Wolf & Cub (1970-1976)-formula. 

If you told me that Komesiri planned for a full television season’s worth of material — perhaps a standalone or anthology sequel series to BB (2021) — but had to rework his plans at the last minute when Netflix only provided funding for a feature-film instead, I would believe you. BBHH feels like a limited series condensed haphazardly into a longwinded feature where characters run/drive around in circles for two and a half hours; the filmmaker’s overindulgent artistic vision appears to supersede any semblance of forward narrative momentum or rigorous editing rhythm.

Easily the second best part of the film is the vehicular chase sequence toward the end of the first act, where nursing staff, our EMT protagonist, and child actor Natthaya Ongsritragul are kidnapped from a hospital.

Adding insult to injury is how much BBHH undercuts its otherwise admirable street violence with obvious digital plugin FX for firearm muzzle flashes, blood squibs, explosions, and fire. I struggle to recommend BBHH even for its action scenes because its impressive production values feel retroactively cheapened by reliance on obvious digital FX, which might as well be the bane of developing countries’ film industries at this point.

At the end of the day, Bangkok Breaking the movie is another well meant, ambitious, yet forgettable Netflix Original from overseas, an adventure with an impressive narrative scope but whose execution will only appeal to domestic (re: Thai) audiences. Not only does this continue my “losing streak” with unappealing, unimpressive southeast Asian films, but it also reaffirms my general preference for sampling unknown feature-films vs long-form series; trying the former only risks, at most, 2.5-3 hours on a bad day, while trying the latter risks far more.

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SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATION: Raw and gritty from the outside yet unfocused and cheap upon closer examination, Kome Kongkiat Komesiri’s Bangkok Breaking reads like a student forced to condense their multichapter dissertation into a short essay. Komesiri fails both from a writing standpoint, assuming his screenplay resembles the finished product at all, as well as a directorial perspective given the movie’s abhorrent pace, plethora of unnecessary characters, and eyesore digital FX.

— However… the central premise about an EMT having to safeguard a little girl (Natthaya Ongsritragul) out of a notorious slum infested with evildoers and preyed upon by corporate overlords is memorable. The prologue in particular is a banger.

—> Despite the narrative promise at its core, this rendition of Bangkok Breaking is NOT RECOMMENDED.

? I still don’t view those kidnappers (Sonny Chatwiriyachai, Isariya Chanupala) as sympathetic by the end.