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Cassandra has a strange hobby.

She pretends to be drunk in nightclubs, waits for a 'nice guy' to take her home and, when he attempts to take advantage of her, drops the charade and confronts him.

This film was not the cringey, heavy-handed #MeToo parable I was expecting. It is very watchable and nuanced even as it demands little attention.

A lot of credit goes to Carey Mulligan, whose portrayal of Cassandra is sometimes endearing, sometimes prickly, sometimes vulnerable, but always compelling.

Her co-stars give a lot to work with, notably smug trad-wife Alison Brie, 'Doctor Decency' Bo Burnham, and anguished lawyer Alfred Molina.

The production is unsettling in its simplicity. There are almost no extras to distract from the intensity between cast. Danger can also be found in warm and pastel colours.

The script is also deceptively simple, but telling in what it omits (e.g. Victims, flashbacks). The ending may seem unexpected.

But then again, so is sexual assault.

Unless of course you tell yourself she was asking for it.

Born to a Thai gangster mother after an affair with an expatriate Yakuza member, Zin is an autistic waif savant with super-human reflexes, senses, mimicry, and fear of flies.

Faced with her ailing mother's mounting hospital bills, Zin and her adopted brother Moom find her mother's loan book and go about collecting monies owed from businessman debtors, overcoming their reluctance by causing gratuitous workplace injuries.

Director Prachya Pinkaew has learned from the bloated Tom Yung Goong and gone back to basics. The story, though tortuous, is tighter. More effort is spent on composition, colour, and allowing every character a chance to shine.

Zin's strong-but-loving mother (Ammara Siripong) is given a full backstory with Hiroshi Abe, which pays off later. Moom is the annoying chubby sidekick (a Pinkaew trademark) who redeems himself through novel solutions. Perhaps this sharing of plot was due to doubts that JeeJa Yanin (Zin) could carry a movie like Tony Jaa.

Those misgivings are completely unfounded as Yanin is amazing at drawing and holding empathy despite her character's jerky movement and laser glare.

That is perhaps one of many happy accidents among clear weaknesses. The mood shifts from dreamy Asian cinema in which sentimental slow-mo is abused, to cheap Kung-Fu arena. The sound design is spotty. Editing introduces continuity errors rather than removing them. A grander vision would have made these shortcomings more pronounced.

The film delivers its promise of a non-communicative girl delivering elbows to heads. However, you also get what could easily have been overlooked: a decent story, likeable characters, and solid filmwork.

Kham (Tony Jaa) comes from a village of royal elephant 'protectors'. When his elephant and calf are stolen - I'm not sure by whom, triads, Aussie bogans, or chefs - he sets out to give the horde of kidnappers their well-deserved violent chiropractic adjustments.

Bigger in every way than its predecessor, Ong Bak, The Protector (originally: Tom Yum Goong) loses its focus frequently, with jarring cuts and putting spectacle over coherence. The longest single-take fight scene is impressive, but tiring, and lends nothing to the story. The dated CG dream sequences seem purposeless.

As for the characters and sub-plots, there's gangsters, sure, but also police politicking, and a Game-Of-Thrones mafia struggle in the mix. The middle of the film is aimless.

Thankfully, the elephants return to drive the emotional and action-packed final chapter.

The fight choreography makes up for most of the film's shortcomings. While some sequences seem repetitive, at a 1 hour 30 minute run time, nothing gets a chance to overstay its welcome.