Nothing to see here, just another country and another culture coping with the Zombie Apocalypse.
“Ziam” is basically a test for those of us committed to watching any thriller featuring Muay Thai martial artists facing and dispensing with hordes of foes. We got hooked thanks to “Ong-Bak,” so it’s not our fault.
The film, directed and co-written “The Up Rank” filmmaker Kulp Kaljareuk, is generic in the extreme, finding little new to “say” about zombies and how they came to be in a literal or political/allegorical sense. Fighting off lurching, lunging monsters with “BRAINS” on the brain with your feet and fists isn’t wholly novel. But some effort was made to set this up differently from all the other zombie films that preceded it.
Climate change has brought human civilization to the brink. But Thailand has discovered a way out of mass famine. The mysterious scientist/tycoon Mr. Vasu invented nutrition bars that fill the food gap. The totalitarian government heralds this as their way of making Thailand “Siam” again, a nation of great import and a major player on the world stage.
Singh (Mark Prin Suparat) is a not-quite-retired boxer making his living as a delivery driver, one who’s able to fend off hijacking attempts. That latest load that he and his partner got stuck with? Fish.
That turns out to be Mr. Vasu’s latest miracle. He has made fish safe to eat again, or so he thinks when he gives his investors and top lieutenants a serving. The fact that Vasu’s not there should be their tip that every experiment needs guinea pigs. Somebody gets very sick.
Vasu (Mark Prin Suparat) has all but moved into the hospital, trying to find a miracle cure for his deathly-ill wife. But when one of his minions is brought there, sick and raving, Vasu won’t be the only one facing the consequences.
There’s Dr. Rin (Nuttanicha Dungwattanawanich), coming on duty after her latest argument with Singh over his dangerous line of work. Her favorite nurse (Pimmada Boriruksuppakorn) and that nurse’s asthmatic little boy (Wanvayla Boonnithipaisit) are also inside when that one raving patient becomes an outbreak that could threaten the city, the country and the world.
Luckily, Singh shows up to fend off the zombies and battle the SWAT team sent to fetch the tycoon, his wife and the doctor he now insists he needs to keep her alive.
Young Buddy is the one who’s seen lots of zombie movies, the kid who shouts “Hit’em in the HEAD. The brain controls everything” (in Thai with subtitles, or dubbed into English)! Buddy’s asthma is only evident when Mom gives him his inhaler. The character’s a cliche. And in such thrillers, so is his illness.
“Ziam” — the title’s a zombie “Siam” pun — is a slow-footed affair, delivering a few energetic if not all that interesting brawls, but little else.
Suparat, of “Necromancer 2020,” handles the fight choreography with ease. It’s not the most demanding we’ve seen, and other than that, there’s little that plays as “original” in this latest dance with the undead.
Our tycoon never admits his hand in this disaster, the kid veers from terrified to amused at all these lumbering, bloodied monsters who seem to have it in for him.
The doctor is plucky, but only in the dullest and most predictable ways. Self-sacrifice shows up at the most expected moment. And the ticking clock third act has been here and done that in more movies than one can count.
Still, as the headline says, “Ziam” is Muay Thai vs. Zombies. If they’d just titled it that they might have saved a lot of us 97 minutes that we’ll never get back.
Rating: TV-MA, gory violence, body parts, entrails and what not
Cast: Mark Prin Suparat, Nuttanicha Dungwattanawanich, Wanvayla Boonnithipaisit, Johnny Afone, Pimmada Boriruksuppakorn and Jason Young
Credits: Directed by Kulp Kaljareuk, scripted by Nut Nualpang, Weerasu Worrapot and
Kulp KaljareukA Netflix release.
Running time: 1:37
