A young Yukol makes his bow with The Cop

A hot-headed police inspector ("Tao" Somchai Khemklad), under investigation by internal affairs, is called back to duty to probe the murder of a government minister's daughter. He's partnered with a veteran sergeant (Bamrer "Note Chernyim" Phongintakun) and the young female lieutenant (Krystal Vee). Meanwhile, the killer has the cop in his sights, setting out to ruin him by exposing his possible misdeeds in a previous case.

The movie is Sarawat Mah Baa (สารวัตรหมาบ้า), which literally means "inspector mad dog", but for now the international English title is simply The Cop.

It's the feature directorial debut of MR Chalermchatri "Adam" Yukol, son of veteran filmmaker MC Chatrichalerm Yukol. Having grown up on movie sets and graduated from film school in Australia, Adam sought to make a name for himself, starting a new-media company with the cheeky moniker FuKDuk Production. He immersed himself in the latest technology while shopping his first film project to the Thai studios.

For The Cop, Adam has said he aimed to capture the spirit of police films of the 1980s, taking inspiration from Lethal Weapon, though The Cop is much more serious in tone than the Mel Gibson action-comedy. And, it might also hark back to the gritty 1970s and '80s action films of his father, such as The Colonel, The Elephant Keeper and Gunman.

There's a trailer embedded below.