If you weren't already aware of it's roots, you could easily be excused for passing off 'The Tiger Blade' as any run of the mill "Blockbuster friendly" American B-movie. Sure it has a touch of Thai culture and contains a smattering of Martial Arts but its the distinct Hollywood influence that prevails and results in a film that is not only lacking in originality but predominantly boring. In truth, the filmmakers could easily have utilised the blueprint from every American cop movie as their inspiration (with the added bonus of a sparsely used subplot regarding special powers) but no one told them it would have been far more beneficial to invest the time and money in creating a film with Thai heritage or at the very least, a semi-original narrative. The only real plot point that even lingers in the memory is the "corrupt cop" scenario but that is simply because every single character in the film is suspected of being a double agent at one point or another. Acting wise it also comes up short as performances are bland and easily forgettable although in all fairness to the actors the characters possess very few defining qualities, especially the hero who is just another typical "on the edge" cop who comes good just in time to save the day and win the girl (yawn).

When it comes to the fight sequences in 'Tiger Blade', one wonders why they opted to go with the wire fu approach rather than capitalise on the success of Thailand's recent realistic action choreography. This decision is made all the more crucial considering the film's disappointing storyline but all they are capable of serving up is a bland mix of amateurish gunplay and the typical 'Matrix' inspired effects-laden fights that appear extremely slow and clumsy. Added to this, the actors don't actually demonstrate any kind of physical ability (or perhaps any real talent is just masked by the effects) and they spoil any ounce of realism by blatantly gripping the wires that they are attached to and swinging around awkwardly. Unfortunately, the lack of a climactic final fight between hero and bad guy doesn't assist matters and the audience is left to limp away with nothing more than a dull Mexican stand off that is the result of another one of the film's monotonous double crosses. Oh and of course I can't fail to mention that the amazingly powerful Tiger Blade that the film is named after is only really used once in the film and serves no real purpose other than to add a sense of the spiritual to the overall proceedings.

Those of you assuming that Thai action cinema can do no wrong after highlights such as 'Ong Bak' or 'Born To Fight', will be bought back down to earth with a bump after watching 'The Tiger Blade'. Quite why the makers chose to imitate Hollywood's dismal efforts is beyond me and this goes to show that countries should stick to evolving their cinematic efforts from their own pedigree rather than look to earn a quick buck copying other people's ideas.