Customer Reviews

Fireball

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Matrix Fan broke this flick down perfectly so I'll just toss in my two cents. Fireball is an entertaining gumbo with elements of Ong Bak, B-13, Rollerball, The Venoms Series, and other fight films tossed in. The action scenes are very gritty and will have you on the edge of your seats. I didn't think the basketball/fight club combo would work but it is very convincing. To sum this all up, buy it if you collect Martial Arts films or rent it for a quick action fix. Offbeat goodies like this never end up on cable television's so-called action channels.

When I stepped into my local video store last week, I was looking for an action movie, but I couldn't decide what to choose. About halfway down the shelves, my eyes settled on this movie's cover and I saw the words:

"Basketball as an Underground Blood Sport"

Basketball _and_ Thai Boxing? I couldn't think of a better combination since Reese's combined chocolate and peanut butter! I had high hopes that I would be watching an epic brawler - and I was not disappointed in my choice.

PLOT:

We start off with the main character, Tai, getting released from prison. His twin brother, Tan, put up a sizeable amount of money to make this happen. Tai soon learns his brother earned this money by playing an illegal sport called Fireball - and Tan is now in a coma from being beaten within an inch of his life.

In order to raise money to get his brother a life-saving operation, Tai slips into his brother's identity and joins one of the Fireball teams, with the goal of reaching the finals to win a sizeable cash prize. Tai also learns his brother's would-be killer is playing on another team - so he's got some revenge to dish out before the tournament is over.

Each team has 5 players. Whoever scores a point first is the winner. However, if no one scores, the team with the last man standing is the winner. Whether it's the first game or the final tournament match, there are no replacements...no fouls...no referees...and no mercy.

From the second the basketball was thrown onto the closed court, I knew I was going to enjoy this rental. Forget throwing elbows, these guys were throwing HAYMAKERS! As soon as someone attempted a layup or an alley-oop, I knew an axe-kick or a body slam would be sure to follow...and they did! Flying knee kicks to the chest and head, foreign weapons thrown in, kicking a guy when he was down, fighting in the rain, I never knew what was coming next!

Now with every film, there is some down time...and Fireball is no exception. There are moments off the court where we see small glimpses into each player's life and why they need to win the tournament. Most of the acting is pretty hammy, they all want to solve their problems by winning money - similar to the plot of 13: Game of Death, another Thai film. I was itching for the next action scene to kick in, and thankfully I never had to wait very long.

As good as the fight scenes were; some of the visuals were choppy. A Steadicam was being used but sometimes it looked like the camera was shaking during the fighting. I couldn't decide if this was purposeful or accidental..try to imagine a Thai version of the fight scenes in the Jason Bourne series and you've got the general idea. The lighting was well done so you could always see the action, a huge plus!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The special features are pretty skimpy, but there's enjoyment to be had:

(1) Behind the Scenes:

This is a 12-minute featurette with interviews with the director Thanakorn Ponguswan, Preeti Barameeanant (who played Tai/Tan), Sam Kasem (who played Zing) and Archua Tosawat (who played Tun). Each person offers thoughts on the film and their individual character. Each cast member enjoyed making this movie and it shows in their enthusiasm! I really enjoyed the segments with Archua because he talked about doing action sequences for up to 7 hours and being completely exhausted...and he had a smile from ear to ear.

(2) Fireball movie trailer

(3) Also From LIONSGATE

These are 5 movie trailers with everything an MMA fan wants...fighting, fighting and more fighting!

Jackie Chan's Wushu
Death Warrior
Four Dragons
Bodyguard - a new beginning
Never Surrender

This movie can be watched with English or Thai language, and subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie. It was a great rental, and I definitely recommend it to other action movie junkies or fans of Thai films. Though the plot was flimsy and the ending was somewhat disappointing, I was looking for an adrenaline-packed action movie - and I got one!

I hate when you watch a film that not only feels like a waste of time but when you lament that time could have been spent elsewhere from watching a better film or cleaning the toilet. I knew not to expect an Ong Bak or a Chocolate. Also, I recently enjoyed the Legend of the Tsunami Warrior which was not a great film, but you can see the maturity of the Thailand popular cinema in terms of special effects and film techniques so I was curious on this film. Sometimes curiosity is dangerous.

Many times when you are watching a martial arts film (sometimes this goes with musicals as well) you can forgive an inane plot, idiotic characterizations and pretty much everything else if the fight scenes are sagacious. Usually when they are not it is because you are presented with actors (and/or choreographers) who know nothing about showcasing the proper aesthetics and the artistic ability to convey the beauty that makes martial art cinema great. Sometimes, like in this film, the actors have the martial arts ability, but it is the director, editor and cinematographer that help make this film an irritable exercise in how long can you sit at a time while watching this before you change and watch something else. I can forgive the film quality which has the feel of a low budget TV movie. I cannot forgive (besides the plot) the elliptical editing, the cinematography which seems to be done by a 300 pound ex-alcoholic after running a mile who is suffering delirium tremens, and the soundtrack with exception of the cool Thai rap heard early in the film. Honestly, I have no idea what they were trying to accomplish with the editing. Were they trying to outdo Michael Bay?

The plot was not much better. Here we have Tai (Preeti Barameeanat) a criminal who was set free because of his twin brother's Tan's (same actor) cash contributions that left Tan in a coma. Tan was making money with the underground basketball game called Fireball. Tai takes his identity and gets back into the game to find out who was responsible for his brother's condition as well as try to make money to pay for an operation for his deteriorating brother. In the meantime he is falling for his brother's girlfriend. I like the idea of having an underground basketball game featuring Muay Thai and run by drug lords. But the execution of it could have been better. Allowing weapons to be used really made it silly and stupid. I know I should not be thinking, but who would put themselves into that situation without much money or without having their family held hostage? Ultimately the best situation for this type of game where you win by scoring once (or dispatching all of your opponents) would be to hire very fast players who could score right off of a fast break (even with individuals trying to beat you up) since a good basketball player should be able to do a layup/dunk even with two or three guarding and not getting hit. With full disclosure I am a basketball fan - I have no idea whether that would predispose my thinking one way or the other for this movie.

One of the benefits of lower budget films is that much is done on location. You get to see a lot of city life and as a byproduct of the frenzied fight scenes I found myself enjoying the surroundings more (it is usually a bad sign for a film when you start paying attention to things like background people, possibly product placement and anything but what you are supposed to be focusing on). The attempt at creating a commentary on the social-economic conditions of these youths ultimately did not work because of a few plot threads that either made you to hate the drug lords yet put your sympathy on the one upcoming drug lord who recruited the protagonist and a few others who you get to see a bit of their daily lives.

The Lionsgate release had no issues though it does seem that there are dubtitles - so there is an English dub along with this as well. Special Features include a trailer for the film, additional Lionsgate trailers (Wushu, Death Warrior, Four Dragons, Bodyguard: A New Beginning, Never Surrender) and a Behind The Scenes which lasts around 11m 44s. The Behind The Scenes is in Thai with intercut scenes of the movie in English dub and even has some outtakes and behind the scene footage (where wires are shown). It has the director Thanakorn Pongsuwan talking about the origin of the story, the plot of the film and choice of actors. Also featured are: the producer Sangar Chatchairungruang (can't believe he stated that goal of the film was creating fun), the lead actor(s) Preeti Barameeanat (from Clash Band), actor Sam Kasem (Zing; in real life he is a Thai boxer who fights in Japan) and actor Arucha Tosawat (Tun).

"Fireball" ("Muay Thai Dunk") may look like Thailand's answer to "Shaolin Soccer." The fact is the Thai action movie, almost totally free of humor, takes itself much more seriously than Stephen Chow's action comedy. The tone of "Fireball" is closer to that of the action films Jean-Claude Van Damme made in late 80s and early 90s, but with less of the martial arts skills and charms the Belgian star brought to the screen effortlessly.

"Fireball" follows the story of Tai (Preeti Barameeanat), a man recently released from the prison. Tai soon learns that he is free because of his twin brother Tan's financial assistance. To his great dismay, Tan has been hospitalized, being in coma after suffering severe injuries. To know the truth and exact revenge on those who are responsible, Tai, disguised as his brother, enters the illegal basketball games, which are actually bone-crushing, bloody martial arts battle tournament.

In short, to win the game, all you have to do is put a basketball into a hoop just once. Just one point. Players are allowed to do anything to get it, and to prevent their opposing team from getting one. The premise of "anything goes" is silly, to be sure, but has potential. But there are still two problems about "Fireball": story and action.

The main plot about Tai/Tan is paper-thin and contrived, and the background stories about Tai/Tan's romantic interest, Tai's boss who recruits him for his team, and other players who join forces to survive the tournament, drag on in places, but they are acceptable.

What disappointed me is the film's action. Actions almost live up to the expectations you might have after watching some other Thai action films recently released. There are plenty of kicking and punching, plus impaling and others, and the players are all professional, doing fine jobs here, but the action set-pieces need better editing and choreography. Actions in such films as "Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior" and "Chocolate" brought some style to the stunts, which "Fireball" somehow lacks.

"Fireball" is a missed opportunity for a better martial action movie.

<strong>Fireball</strong> (Kristoffer Tabori, 2009)
<strong>Fireball</strong> (Thanakorn Pongsuwan, 2009)

There were two movies called <em>Fireball</em> released in 2009. One of them, directed by Kristoffer Tabori (a serviceable TV series director with two big-screen features under his belt), is a Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie starring Lexa Doig. The other is a Thai martial arts film about extreme basketball. I'll give you a few seconds to decide which of them is the better film.

Now that you're done laughing hysterically, we'll continue by noting that the single keyword attached to the American film on IMDB is "panties". And I have no idea why, despite watching the DVD version rather than the TV version. Which should tell you how much I remember about this movie. I remember, as I mentioned, that it stars Lexa Doig, whose appearance in a movie immediately sends it into the dumpster (viz. <em>Jason X</em>, her last big-screen appearance for a decade), and has to do with a big, dumb prison escapee (Aleks Paunovic from <em>Wishmaster 4</em>) who finds himself with pyrokinetic abilities. Screenplay was written by Kariag Wenman, who was responsible for such cinematic classics as <em>Intermedio</em> and <em>Confined</em>. Basically, you get what you pay for.

On the other hand there's <em>Fireball</em> the Thai sports flick, and I am able to admit that my weakness for sports films (despite my general dislike of actually watching sports) probably accounts for my liking this more than a lot of people did. It, too, involves Tan, a guy who just got out of prison (Preeti Barameeanat) thanks to his brother Tai basically bribing him out. His brother, however, is now in a persistent vegetative state, and it's up to Tan to figure out why. Thanks to a lead from Tai's girlfriend, he starts hanging around in the same places, and is eventually approached by people who think he's Tan (they're twins) and want him to get back into playing Fireball, a combination of basketball and May Thai where anything goes and billions of dollars are exchanged in underground gambling rings. There's a pretty ridiculous revenge subplot, some cheesy acting, the obligatory woeful subtitles, and the balance of big fight scenes to actual plot advancement is tipped way over, but for simple turn-your-brain-off fun you can do a lot worse than this. Like, for example, <em>Fireball</em>.

Fireball (Tabori): * ½
Fireball (Pongsuwan): ***

This movie title gave me hope. "Fireball". I imagined Shaolin Soccer with a flaming basketball and Dragonball-done-well wushu wizardry. It was none of that. The movie is about a fighting-fusion sports team.

Before their first game, this team of thrown-together Street Hoops-loving brawlers is nervous because they've never played together (as a team) before. But what do they have to fear? I'll explain...Welcome to your first game of Fireball, where the teams are composed of Spidey-sense quick Thai dudes with a mean hook shot and a meaner right hook. The rules? Pretty simple: don't die. I feel this movie would have done just fine if the rules were exactly like basketball, except that you could beat each other to a pulp with no fear of a foul. When the clock hits zero, the highest score would win, right? That's not the case here. During a criminal coaches' union meeting it is revealed that "the rules have changed since last year." The new rules stipulate that whichever team has the last man standing wins regardless of the score. So why even keep score!?! Why have a ball? It's Rollerball all over again.

It seems that the team's worries are irrelevant. If they can kick ass, they'll do fine. Despite these rather clear rules the teams, for reasons beyond my comprehension, actually try to play against each other. They mix elbows, punches and kicks in with dribbling, lay-ups and the like. Much like watching Dennis Rodman in a game with blind officials, this really should have been cool. Here, it's not. There is no action moment worth mentioning.

Basketball plus martial arts should equal AWESOME. But woe is the viewer who shared my misconception. Making up for none of this disaster, the movie also boasts poor camera work and mediocre film quality. As the camera shifts in attempts to follow the action the scene is blurred. The translators' interpretation of what passes for slang nowadays was also disappointing. Worse yet, the combat choreography was God-awful! With the high combat quality of so many foreign and domestic releases, I feel that the action scenes in this movie are an affront to action-moviegoers of any age or nation.

After suffering through movies like this I just want to blacklist the director or choreographer. Fireball demonstrates a complete lack of innovation. If you enjoy martial arts movies, do NOT see this. If you have an appreciation for martial arts and your friends say they loved this, disown them. Watching this made me miss The Last Airbender (I NEVER thought I'd say that).

I'll submit that there was one fun, marginally acceptably done scene in the whole movie when the members of the team have an interesting practice. They all start on the roof of a building. The first one to shoot a basket (in the court at ground level) wins. Go! It was like an obstacle course chase scene. Sadly, I was so overwhelmed with disappointment by the time I got to this scene that I don't think I even cracked a smile in response.

The movie also had many elements which we expect from sports movies...1) Dude throws a game for money because he's in financial trouble and has a baby on the way. 2) Game in the rain. 3) Loss of a player to injury (= death). 4) A fight with the coach results in a key player quitting. 5) There's a wildcard new guy brought to the team. None of these elements performed their intended function as they did so well in Any Given Sunday or Varsity Blues...which is to make me care.

How would I rate this? What's worse than an "F"? Is something worse? My rating of this movie is twenty kicks to the nuts. How about that? If this is your only movie option, you must be in Hell. If you wanted a good sports flick then try Any Given Sunday or Varsity Blues. For Thai martial arts try Chocolate, The Protector or Ong-Bak.