Elephant White - DVD

Film: The mysterious professional killer Church (Djimon Hounsou) is a master of his trade. When he takes on a job, his clients can assume that it will be done cleanly and that no marks will be left behind. But when Church is hired by a businessman to blow up a group of Thai white slavers who have kidnapped his daughter, Church becomes a target of Bangkok's underworld. With the help of arms dealer Jimmy (Kevin Bacon), the professional killer figures out that the grieving businessman wasn't quite telling the truth and that there were other motivations behind the job.

Elephant White is the U.S. debut of director Prachya Pinkaew, who made an international splash with Ong-Bak. Filled with a lot of symbolism and interspersed supernatural mysticism, he has succeeded in creating an action thriller that has some dramaturgical weaknesses, but is quite convincing in the fight sequences, car chases and moments of suspense.

While Kevin Bacon seems to be somewhat underwhelmed with his supporting role, which he perfectly conceals with infectious enthusiasm, lead actor Djimon Hounsou is the film's biggest surprise. Hounsou, who established himself as more of a character actor in films like Gladiator, Blood Diamond, and In America, delivers a really strong performance as the taciturn action hero. He makes Church a very interesting character who is a pleasure to watch even in the rather weak moments of the film.

The story that Elephant White tells has a very real and sad background. It is evident from the film that Prachya Pinkaew was keen to deal with the issue of trafficking in girls appropriately and in the least lurid manner possible. But his decision to fill this aspect of his film with moments of a certain spirituality and supernaturalism, especially in the context of the drastic depiction of violence, sometimes seems a little strange. This makes sure that in the end you are left with the feeling of a certain unfinishedness, which costs the film a bit of its quite positive overall impression. So Elephant White is a decent action thriller with some engaging moments, but also with some weak ones. Genre fans, however, get enough for an entertaining DVD evening. And the teaming of Djimon Hounsou and Kevin Bacon provides some nice moments that make Pinkaew's U.S. debut worth watching after all, despite its weaknesses in the end.

Picture + Sound: The picture provides some atmospheric images with its atmospheric coloring, which come across clean and in pleasing sharpness. Here and there, however, the whole thing seems slightly washed out and the contrasts artificially exaggerated. The audio has powerful surround effects in the action sequences, which come across convincingly, especially with the good DTS mix. Good!

Extras: In addition to a brief look behind the scenes (approx. 5 min.) and impressions from the shooting (approx. 9 min.), the DVD still has the trailer for the film, as well as some insightful promotional interviews (approx. 17 min.) in the program. Good standard!

Conclusion: Elephant White is a decent action thriller, which comes in the quieter moments a bit overambitious, but in the fight sequences and chases can fully convince. Technically the DVD is on a good level, the bonus material is of good standard. For action fans despite some dramaturgical weaknesses well worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp