Mercury Man

I was going into this hoping for a so-bad-its-good type movie, but for the most part it's just plain old bad. There are some of the ridiculous moments I was hoping for, like the horrific CGI superhero rescuing people, random atomic artifacts that give superpowers or blow up, and out-of-left-field plot contrivances, but they are rather sparse in a movie that is essentially Thai Magneto vs. Osama Bin Laden. It drags badly in several places to the point that my friend and I were seriously considering just turning it off, but every time it would drag us back in with a slow motion leap over a random couch or the hero sliding down a rope from the top floor of a burning building on his fire axe. In the end, though, I wouldn't recommend it. If you're looking for a movie to take seriously, this one has too many CGI, plot, and dialogue problems. If you're looking for a fun bad movie, it doesn't have enough of them. It's stranded in that limbo between good and bad that is worse than either. If about an hour of plot dialogue had been cut out of this nearly two hour movie, it would be decent, but as it stands, it's not worth your time. If you're looking for a good bad superhero movie, Condorman or Return of Captain Invincible are better. If you're looking for a good Thai martial arts movie, stick with Tony Jaa. Either way, stay away from this one.

This film is the best superhero film ever I've seen... it's even far ahead of the dark knight (lmao)...the director's vision is much powerful than any American director...he made a movie that even Christopher Nolan can't do(lol)...my rating for this extraordinary film is 100/10.

I hate giving movies low ratings. Makes me feel like one of those professionals who bash movies. In fact if a movie is bad, I don't write reviews. But I had to write one for this movie.

Story was absolutely, needlessly, mind numbingly bad. I guess they couldn't decide on what plot to make the movie on. There's everything in this movie from thugs to terrorists who not only hate thailand but the whole world.

The movie had a budget of 60 million baht ($1.6 million), which is quite a lot for their currency. I guess they spend most of the budget on the fx. All the FX redering was very well done considering the budget. Probably the only positive thing in the movie.

The director mentioned that the goal of the movie was to appeal to the international movie audience. Well..... FX isn't just enough to appeal to audience. With FX one needs good acting. "Good Acting" this movie does not have. Even if you are watching this movie in thai, you can tell that the actors are quite bad.

The movie's crew involved a lot of people from the crew of Ong-Bak and Tom Yum Goom. Ong-Bak was good. Tom Yum Goom sucked but Mercury Man is better than that. Maybe their next movie will be better.

Good basic story with obvious differences if made in America. Improved "Production Value" would have helped the distribution, worldwide!

Note: The Charlton Comic Book Character "Mercury Man" and all the characters of the Mercury Man Adventures in the comics of the early '60's is now owned, copyrights and Trademarked by Producer, Tommy G Warren & Spiderwood Franchise!

Development plans are in the works to publish a new and up-dated Comic Book, then go into animation and live action productions for TV and possibly Motion Pictures.

Mercury Man and his Robotic friend, "Zoom" are from a far away Galaxy of Mercury and was forced to earth when their space craft malfunctioned after being hit by a Meteorite. He has taken on a human Comic friend, Dr. Erika Penn.

At the time of its release, MERCURY MAN, Thailand's first foray into the superhero genre was one of the more expensive movies ever made in the country, but it's dismal box office performance there didn't bode well for its producers' hopes that it would "go international" or have the box-office muscle of Sam Raimi's SPIDERMAN, the film it's most obviously been modelled on, right down to the lead character's sinewy-rubbery costume, which can be easily duplicated in a computer for those dazzling flights of fancy across urban landscapes.

The film is flawed enough that it probably never stood a chance of cracking the international market anyways. Glossy production values aside--and they're often rare in Thai cinema--there's a weird sense that the whole thing is some kind of thinly-veiled propaganda.

After having part of a mystical "Solar Mercury" amulet embedded in his chest, a hot-shot fireman (Vasan Kantha-u) must learn to control his temper (in a country known for silencing dissent, no less, not to mention alienating religious minorities) if he's to defeat not only various hooligans around the city, but also a small band of Muslim extremists led by a dude named "Usama" who bears a rather unfortunate resemblance to Richard Lynch in the Chuck Norris classic INVASION U.S.A.

The terrorists need the amulet, paired with it's sister--the "Lunar Mercury"--to aid their plans to attack the literal and symbolic American interests around the country (Helloooo, massive McDonald's & Hard Rock Cafe product placements!!). Interestingly, the film features a little boy with psychic powers who opens the film by demonstrating his ability to stop a stopwatch at will. Funny that they'd need a scene like that...

For the money the filmmakers spent (which still wasn't much by American standards), everything looks pretty good, but the computer effects are hobbled on occasion by a clear misunderstanding of the laws of physics on the part of their creators, such as those that would govern the car Mercury Man kicks into a billboard, where it becomes stuck rather than crashing through! Yes, I know it's a fantasy, and I can accept Mercury Man's metal-based powers allowing him to "fly" between metal objects without the aid of machinery or ropes or webs, but billboards can't stop cars! The cast is generally quite dull, but I've come to expect that in Thai cinema. Pretty faces, but not much expression, including the ones Mercury Man's boyish alter ego must suppress for fear of catching on fire, as his crotch nearly does when he cops a few glances at a Penthouse magazine tucked away in his drawer.

The action choreography, by Prachya Pinkaew and his ONG BAK/TOM YUM GOONG team, are the main reasons this is watchable, but there's a certain recycled feeling about them now, with only the more expensive costuming and modern-looking locations differentiating them from those seen in the earlier Tony Jaa films and virtually everything else that Pinkaew has touched to date. On top of that, there's one hell of a lot editing going on in these sequences. Every connected blow is followed by an immediate cut to a closeup or a long shot, which tends to make you wonder just how many stunt doubles are being disguised with every splice. Fans of BEAUTIFUL BOXER, the life story of trans-gender Muay Thai boxer Parinya Charoenphon, might enjoy watching her, largely undoubled it would seem, kick the snot out a batch of evildoers in white lab shirts.

And the final fight between Mercury Man and the villain's right hand babe, who's absorbed the power of the Lunar Mercury amulet, is worth watching for any number of reasons, notably the latter's transformation into a semi-naked frost warrior.

Though undoubtedly intended as an A-list picture in its homeland, and indeed, with its slick visuals and breezy pace, feeling and looking much more like one in comparison to a lot of the sloppily made crap that passes for populist cinema there, MERCURY MAN is nonetheless best viewed with lowered expectations, particularly if you aren't familiar with Thai cinema, otherwise you'll inevitably be tempted to actually compare it to the American superhero films it so brazenly dares you to.