So Loony Toons it should have "Midnight Movie" stamped on the film cans, KILLER TATTOO is a rock 'n' roll action comedy from Thailand destined for instant cult status. First reel, painting a dystopian Bangkok 10 years hence in which the city's in chaos and the greenback has become the official currency, portends a regular Asian actioner, with flashy lensing and lots of gratuitous violence. An expensive contract is put out to kill the chief of police, so-called Iron Cop, and a washed-up ex-con, Pae Buffgun, is mistakenly given the job.
It's only when Pae assembles his team that the pic gradually morphs into a crazed comedy, with first-time writer-director Yuthlert Sippapak gradually piling on the absurdities as the movie really takes off. Pae's collection of misfits includes Ghost Rifle, a long-haired middle-aged gun maniac who accidentally shot his wife; Dog Badbomb, a cool dude in shades who's freaked by the sight of blood since his wife's murder; and an Elvis impersonator who insists on speaking only English from a roughly three-word vocabulary that his associates nevertheless fail to understand.
The hit on Iron Cop, neatly staged in a modern art gallery, ends in chaos, with Iron Cop's daughter shot instead, and the police firing on one another. Because of the botch, another assassin, Kid Silencer - who's searching for the tattooed man who killed his parents - is hired to take out Pae and his whole team. Pic's second half is set on the picturesque Thai coast, which becomes a battlefield for rival hit men. It all sounds extremely silly, and frequently is, but the director spoofs so many genres and assembles such a likable collection of hopeless hoods that the move has a genuine, infectious sense of fun, with an endless supply of physical gags.
Derek Elley