On DVD in Singapore: Power Kids

Quick follow-up to the Singapore DVD release of Sahamongkol's actioner Somtum and the thriller Burn, there's also the kiddie Muay Thai comedy-drama Power Kids. MovieXclusive has it.

In many ways, Power Kids is a companion piece to Somtum, sharing some of the same cast and shot at the same time with the same stunt choreography team from Panna Rittikrai and producer Prachya Pinkaew's Baa Ram Ewe. With long production history that involved injuries and reshoots, the movie features Vietnamese action star Johnny Nguyen as a bad guy who leads a hostage-taking raid on a hospital where a donor heart is being held for transplant into the little brother of one of the hero kids. So the kids -- students at a Muay Thai school -- enter the hospital and take on the terrorists in order to get the heart and save the little brother.

MovieXclusive's John Li gives it a favorable review:

Above all, the story of how the four kids are trying to save their friend is a universally feel good one. To add depth to the movie, there is even a subplot involving a misunderstood villain to make things even more heartfelt. Action fans also won’t be disappointed with the dazzling fight scenes and well choreographed sequences. Good looker Johnny Nguyen (with an attempt to look disfigured with some skimpily done make up) is also roped in to provide some kick-ass action. Watch him fight it out with the kids! Watch him fire the ammunition! Watch him get comeuppance for the bad deeds he’s done!

By the end of 73 minutes (a very welcoming duration for movies these days), you’d be smiling to yourself, simply because this doesn’t feel like one of those exploitative and pompous Thai action movies that have been flooding your senses in recent memory.

DVD extras include a behind-the-scenes and another featurette that "imply visual montages which do not provide much in depth information about the making of the movie."

But these days, just having the movie with English subtitles is enough.

(Thanks Nekoneko!)