Thai action cinema started the year with a whimper, but it's going out with a literal bang with "Kon Fai Bin" ("Dynamite Warrior"). Starring Chupong "Deaw" Changprung, Phutiphong "Leo Phut" Sriwat, Samat Pahaykarun and Panna Rittikrai, this is an explosive martial-arts action film that fires on all cylinders. In terms of story, acting and special effects, it's one of the best Thai films of the year.

There's a lot to be said for a story that uses the 1855 Bowring Treaty as a kernel from which to sprout. As the plot has it, the Lord Bowring pact brought Siam into the world commodities market, putting pressure on the farmers in the central plains to grow more rice. However, all the water buffalo are in Isaan, so unscrupulous cattle traders are moving the draft animals south.

Deaw portrays Siang, or "Jone Bang Fai", the enigmatic masked "Firecracker Thief" who raids the cattle traders and hands the animals over to the poor farmers who have had their beasts stolen. A folk hero in Isaan, his name comes from his use of rockets to decimate his foes. He's also a fierce muay Thai fighter, leading with his knees to crack heads. And one other thing - Siang strips the shirts from his enemies, to see if they have a tattoo that matches the one of the man who killed his parents and left him an orphan.

Into the picture comes Lord Waeng (Leo Phut), a silk-clad dandy with a speech impediment, who hopes to sell steam tractors to the farmers. But at Bt1,000, the price of 10 buffalo, the machines are too costly for anyone to afford. So Waeng devises a scheme to steal all the buffalo in the region and kill all the cattle traders. For muscle, he turns to "The Thief", a hulking madman (Somdet Kaewleu) with an insatiable appetite that borders on cannibalism, who wields a buffalo yoke in each hand to beat down those who oppose him. He leads a band of muddy men in the forest.

Their first target is a cattle herd run by a trader named Sing (Samat Phayakarun). The attack reveals that Sing possesses supernatural powers, including the ability to heal his injured men, and imbue them with powers, depending on their tattoos (one man becomes a tiger, another a monkey).

Sing also has a tattoo, on his chest, and watching the attack from a hiding place is Jone Bang Fai. When he sees Sing's tattoo, he joins the fight, defeating the monkey and tiger fighters and coming closer than anyone to fighting Sing.

This gives Lord Waeng an idea - use Jone Bang Fai to defeat Sing, with the help of another magical warrior, the Black Wizard (Panna Rittikrai). At one time, the Black Wizard and Sing were friends, but Sing cursed the Black Wizard, leaving him unable to withstand sunlight.

The Black Wizard also has a daughter, E'Sao (Kanyaphak Suwankut), and she provides a romantic interest for Jone Bang Fai, getting him to reveal more of his story - including the part about him being orphaned while he was a monk, and then leaving the monastery to become an apprentice in a fireworks factory that doubled as a muay Thai academy - the perfect upbringing for a young man with a grudge.

Like a Thai film of the 1960s or '70s, "Kon Fai Bin" has something for just about everyone - bone-crushing action, shameless comedy, tearful melodrama and sweet romance.

Directed and co-written by Chalerm Wongpim ("Seven Street Fighters"), the story holds together all the way through, which is much more than can be said about most of the Thai films produced this year. This especially goes for the action films, from the ill-conceived cheesecake crimefighting flick "Chai-Lai" to the overblown comic-book heroics of "Mercury Man".

It tops many other Thai films, which had half-baked special effects, with top-flight stunt choreography and convincing wirework and effects that don't distract from the action or story.

There's some great performances - Deaw as the strong-but-silent anti-hero, Leo Phut as the hilariously evil Lord Waeng, former boxer Samat as Sing and martial-arts choreographer Panna as the Black Wizard.

"Kon Fai Bin" has already been picked up for US distribution by Magnolia Pictures, under the title "Dynamite Warrior". Magnolia now has two strong Thai titles to exhibit in 2007, the other being the even more fanciful and just as explosive Thai western, "Fai Talai Jone" ("Tears of the Black Tiger") from 2000, which Magnolia rescued from Miramax's vaults. Next year, westerns from the East will steal their way into the US.

For Thai audiences, "Kon Fai Bin" is a great way to close out the year.

Wise Kwai

The Nation