Director: Chalit Kraileadmongkol, Chitpol Ruanggun
Year: 2022
Country: Thailand
Alternate Titles: Leio: The Terrible Giant
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
With his pop career going downhill, a man goes back to his native village where he accepts an offer to partake in a drilling competition that could get him a lot of money, but the underground tunnels hide more than just water as what they do not realize is that a mysterious beast lurks underground.
Review:
Generally, there's a lot to like with this one. Most of the positives here stem from the familiar yet still strong setup that allows for a highly familiar series of immersion points to develop. The whole setup of the popstar retiring from his life in the fast lane to return to his roots and rediscover his childhood friends works to start everything with a well-worn concept that serves to introduce the audience to him as a man who's attempting to do the right thing rather than looking for an easy payout. Looking to use the money as a means of helping him to reconnect with his family legacy with his friends while reconnecting with his childhood friend who stayed behind in the village comes off as a common tactic but still works well here. The concept of the competition drilling to find the water source for the community also serves to get people out of the community and into the desert where the creature can utilize several advantages quite effectively. Utilizing the undiscovered nature of its existence to launch several surprise attacks or its massive tunneling speed to travel quickly undetected, everything comes off rather nicely.
With that strong of a setup, the film manages quite a lot of fun creature attacks. Using the aspects of its biology and physical attributes quite well, the ability to burrow at high speeds and pop out of the ground allows for some solid ambushes in the first half of the film. Likewise, the gliding ability is put on display in several genuinely impressive attacks where it launches out of the sky to grab unsuspecting victims. The centerpiece sequences here are far more impressive, though, letting the creature pull off massive attacks in broad daylight with multiple participants trying to evade it and get away alive, resulting in sequences like the initial attack on the drillers in the middle of the desert, the escape attempt where it crashes the campsite to find a place to nap, and the stellar trap to catch it while a rescue mission is launched to rescue the captured victims. This sequence shows off the creatures’ abilities in some rather fun high-energy action scenes that are given a slick, glossy appeal that provides plenty to like about it.
There are some minor issues in this one but are luckily not that detrimental. The main drawback here is the rather overlong running time that emerges from having a bit too much excess in the first half. The exploits involving how he gets caught and dumped from his career forcing the return visit are much too long especially when coupled with the flashbacks involving him growing up together that serve a fine point but get included a few too many times. As well, there's the usual amount of rather wacky and somewhat confusingly-added comedy present that becomes somewhat of a hindrance. The smarmy driller constantly hitting on the female host comes off as expected, but the slapstick antics and mugging that goes on involving the workers who are a part of the water-searching competition. The other issue with this one is the small issues that crop up involving the creature, which are quite easy to see. The fact that it's shown way too early in the film feels like a mistake as the reveal should've been done once it attacks the group rather than being seen near the beginning. As well as the obvious CGI used in bringing it to screen, these issues stand out and bring it down overall.
Overview: ****/5
Maintaining a slew of positives and only a few minor drawbacks, this one features quite a lot of likable features which make the film a lot of fun and another in an emerging line of impressive Thailand genre efforts. Fans of high-quality monster movies or looking for a similarly-styled genre effort will have plenty to like about it while just those who don’t appreciate this format and approach won’t enjoy this one.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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