This 2007 Thai action movie was sort of a swing and a miss.

But I am getting ahead of myself here. When I sat down in 2022 to watch "Brave", from writers Nut Nualpang and Thanapon Maliwan, then I virtually had no idea what I was in for here, aside from it being a Thai action movie.

The movie started out quite alright, but then quickly grew stale and sort of monotonous. Why? Well, because the storyline was flaccid and didn't have much any proper contents to it. The plot felt like it was written by a high school student having to write an action story for a term paper. It was all flash and bang and nothing else.

The action in the movie was good, and in quite an abundance, I have to say. But there is only so much that action can do to carry a movie without a proper storyline or script. "Brave" sort of felt like a watered-down imitation of the 2011 Indonesian movie "The Raid".

I wasn't familiar with the cast in "Brave", but they put on fair enough performances, despite having virtually no script to work with. Michael B. (playing Bee or B) actually was quite good at the action and martial arts. This was my first time to see him in a movie though.

If you enjoy action movies, then "Brave" is not the best of choices, unless you prefer brainless action movie where the virtually is nothing else going on but the action. I managed to sit through the movie, though it was quite an ordeal, as it was lacking contents in the story department.

My rating of "Brave" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

After a gang of organised criminals kidnap his brother, ex-con Bee (Mike B.) is left no choice but to follow their demands and break into a bank to steal its customers' credit card details—a course of action that leads to all kinds of danger…

Having proved his action credentials in Tony Jaa's excellent Muay Thai movie Ong Bak, stuntman Mike B. gets the opportunity to show the world that he can be more than just a fall guy—and completely blows it!

As the unlikely hero of action comedy Brave, Mike B. once again performs an impressive array of death-defying stunts and martial arts moves, but fails to deliver the charisma and screen presence that is also key to becoming a true martial arts movie superstar. Although his character is clearly intended to be a lovable rogue, he actually comes off as a thoroughly charmless smart-arse throughout; it's a performance that is unlikely to win many fans.

Mike's bid for stardom is further hampered by lousy direction (loads of wobbly camera-work and rapid-fire editing which frustratingly obscures a lot of the stunt work),some painfully unfunny comedy, and an equally irritating turn from fat Malaysian comedian Afdlin Shauki as Bee's useless brother.

Bee is forced into robbing Wealthy Bank of its credit card subscribers in order to save the life of his brother. Things then go sideways as they try to unravel the question of why they were singled out and how the robbery fits into the death of a bank president. Thai action film which proves that with some films no real plot is needed and any attempt at going deeper than the surface will get in the way of the action.

Forget the plot here. It makes zero sense no matter how you look at it. I mean there really isn't one for half the film so why did they bother create one in the second half since it feels completely made up on the spot. With the plot dismissed you're left with a film that is mostly a series of action set pieces. The first half of the film is comprised of two, the opening robbery and a chase that culminates at a building under construction. And when I say they are the first half of the film I mean it. Almost all of the first 45 minutes are just these two pieces. After that the plot kicks in and its painful going until we get to the extended fight scene that takes up a good chunk of the final half hour.(The last ten minutes of the film is the non-action resolution and makes zero sense) I put this film as a goof. I thought I was going to just have it on as background noise before I went to bed, but amazingly the momentum of the first half of the film kept me watching. I winced when the talking started and they tried to have a real plot, but it wasn't long before we were back in the thick of the fighting and the film became fun again. It's a pure popcorn movie.

Its far far from a great film on any level, but its flailing bodies makes for some interesting eye candy. Worth a cheap rental or if you can pick it up like I did in a Chinatown bargain bin for a fiver.