Elephant White

Plot synopsis:
American assassin Curtie Church (Hounsou) is completing a job in Thailand when 18-year-old child prostitute, Mae, witnesses Church killing a group of her captors, the Chang Cao gang, and afterwards framing the Jong Ang Gang for the murders. Church collects his payment for the job from his client, Rajahdon, whose daughter was murdered. Church travels to his hideout near a monastery and within sight of Kitty Kat, a Jong Ang Gang club. While Church is eating, Mae arrives. After interrogating her, he ties her up and gags her. Church has strange dreams of Mae, then awakes in the monastery. He leaves immediately and kills the snipers watching the club of his weapons dealer, Jimmy (Bacon), taking one of their cellphones. Church arranges a meeting with Rajahdon, but hides outside until Rajahdon leaves. Church follows him back to a brothel and pays for a room. After entering the room, he asks the girl if Rajahdon is the boss and where he is. He sees Mae riding a white elephant toward him and wakes up at his hideout. He tells Mae his business is finished in Bangkok. Church then wakes up and it is revealed the previous fight sequence was all just a dream.
Boss Katha and Advisor Bhun discuss how to find Church when Rajahdon walks in. It is then revealed that Rajahdon is Katha's son. The planned assassination of Bhun and the gang war was secretly intended by Rajhadoon as a means for him to ascend to power. With Bhun out of the way, Rajhadon would kill Church and win himself back into his fathers good graces. Rajahdon says he will take care of Church himself. Church calls Jimmy to tell him he's leaving, but wants Jimmy to take care of Mae. Jimmy tells Rajahdon that Church is leaving, but Rajahdon still wants to kill Church to assure his position as successor to Boss Katha. Church drives to the gang headquarters and crashes through the wall into the room where Boss Katha and Advisor Bhun are. Church holds Katha hostage while Jimmy and Rajahdon arrive. Church begins to tell Katha about the bounty Rajahdon placed on Bhun, so Rajahdon tries to shoot him, but Jimmy kills Rajahdon first. The guards then shoot Jimmy. Church takes a picture of Mae off the wall and Katha says she was the first girl he brought in. Bhun says that was thirty years ago. Church is confused, but agrees to a deal for all of Katha's girls. Jimmy and Church leave with the girls, but Church tells Jimmy he has to go back. Jimmy says he will make sure the girls get help.

Tags: revenge, plot twist, flashback

Review:
I do have to say that the award for worst accent of 2010 goes to Kevin Bacon, but all in all I was entertained with the movie and have seen far more futile attempts in the past.
Bacon plays Bacon, as usual, just his English accent its kinda funny.Altogether, like I said, worth watching, for those who like action movies and for those who won't be shocked or disturbed to see how harsh real life really can be and obviously is, for some children!.
His accent is a cross between Jason Statham and Dick Van Dyke with a good dollop of Ramsey-esque swearing thrown in.Djimon Hounsou plays 'Curtie Church' (seriously) a troubled, spiritual mercenary with a conscience (Steven Seagal must have been unavailable).
He has little to do in the film apart from shooting, slicing and generally rolling around an ever increasing number of bad guys.The characters are all stereotypical, the script is lazy ("You're dark, and I don't mean your skin tone...") and the action scenes are bland, boring and forgettable..
Of course, as is so typical with films like this, the bad guys are always terrible shots and probably couldn't hit a barn door at ten paces which is always annoying.
Fortunately, of course, it wasn't fatal but it certainly gave the film a bit more credibility.Kevin Bacon really suited playing an Englishman.
He is obviously respected among his peers enough to have been elected president of the Thai Film Directors' Association.So watch Elephant White with an open mind and enjoy it for what it is.
The acting is actually pretty good, led by Djimon Hounsou and Kevin Bacon, but the action is what drives the movie.
Very few action movies have a twist at the end that makes you want to re-watch right away to see if you can catch the moments that lead up to the twist, this is one of them.
the spiritual aspect of it made this take a different direction compared to most movies of the same genre please go see this and don't discard it just because someone else said it was bad, this was a really well executed concept kind of delayed watching it cause a lot of people gave this a lot of bad reviews of which at this point i don't get at all..
Bad direction, Weak plot, bad acting (Kevin Bacon's accent=horrible)The action scenes tried hard to look cool and stylish but just fail.
Moreover, the story line about human trafficking and child prostitution is a one which is very real and about time more is done to tackle it in the real world, anyway the twist at the end of the film was surprising and completed the well rounded story.
I have to say that Djimon Hounsou is a fantastic actor and did not disappoint in this film, Kevin Bacon was alright as well apart from the strange accent ( I actually thought my speakers were broken when he first began to talk !, I am from the UK and trust me no one talks like that here !).
I was also impressed by Jirantanin Pitakporntrakul, who I thought acted really well and played a really good character, Mae and I hope to see her in more films in the future.So would I recommend this film, well the answer is yes, it was an action packed film with a good story line and good acting, and more importantly the bad guys get their asses kicked, which is something that we don't really see to much of nowadays..
Every Kevin Bacon movie that I have watched he has always delivered his character's with style and grace and a great work ethic and the same can be said for Djimon Hounsou.What always upsets me personally is all of these jokers becoming movie critics and bashing on everyone, because their own lives suck.I enjoyed this movie from start to finish; it was a good action movie, with good acting and a good story, now here is the part where most of the idiots that have reviewed this movie didn't get, because they are too shallow...The movie is speaking to a much deeper issue as addressed in the movie, "Taken" and several others.HUMAN TRAFFICKING IS A MAJOR SICKNESS on this planet and it's poignant movies like this that keep addressing the issue.
(Kevin Bacon) Nearing the time when he feels he can retire, Curtie is on his last assignment when he is enjoined by a fleeting but beautiful young girl name Mae.
Still it is a good film, despite the low caliber actor in the lead role, Bacon is relegated to a subservient part but manages to keep the audience's attention while the movie makes it's obvious point.
Kevin Bacon is probably the best thing about this, although his supposed British accent keeps going 'down under' into Australian.
It also looked like it had to be over-dubbed afterwards as he clearly doesn't do accents well.Djimon Hounsou is very believable, and the action scenes where he partakes in hand-to-hand combat are realistic and well executed.
I'm not familiar with the Thai director and I dare say in other hands the film might've been very different, but then access to Thailand may have been more restrictive, so swings and roundabouts.Kevin bacon's small part is interesting but Djimon Hounsou makes this worth watching, for the integrity of the action if nothing else, but it's perhaps better suited to a home viewing rather than a ticket at the cinema..
Job done, the employer proposes another contract to Curtie to kill the lord of the traffickers that had addicted, prostituted and murdered his daughter.Curtie seeks out the Englishman Jimmy (Kevin Bacon) that is an arm dealer and he rents heavy weapons.
Kevin Bacon is weird with his British accent and I do not understand why the production didn't hire a British actor for the role of Jimmy.
What it does have is a constant flow of entertainment and action but also scripted in a way to get you to think about the lives of those forced into prostitution and the revenge that so easily came about in this movie has very little affect in the real world.
Well, Kevin Bacon has a limited role in this flick, the star being some good looking black dude with an impossibly hard to pronounce name.
If Kevin Bacon takes another project like this, he too will lose star power.This movie is BAD.
Seems like every scene is shot at night too.Dialogue is forced, choreography is poorly executed, and Kevin Bacon's Scottish accent is phony.
Firstly I would like to start by saying that I am a big fan of both of the leads in this film and have always had a soft spot for Kevin Bacon movies.
I can truly say that this is the worst English accent which I have heard since old Dicky boy in the mighty Mary Poppins, now i know that however awful Dick Van Dyke was Mary Poppins was truly a fantastic film and the accent can be overlooked - this however cannot be said about this movie as it was totally horrific!
I can truly say that this film is the worst film i have seen in several years (and i have watched Piranha 3D so need i say more).Is this the end of Kevin Bacon ??
Another movie based on the less appealing side of Thailand...let's see: a cute Thai girl following a black guy (something smacks of a stereotype which porn films have successfully exploited), a sleazy Aussie involved with the underworld = honestly, I think this was one of Kevin Bacon's worst acting roles ever - i.e., girls, bar scenes, supplier of guns ...
That is why he brought in Kevin Bacon and Djimon Hounsou, whom I watched in disbelief after remembering them in great movies like "A Few Good Men" and "Amistad".
Back to 'Elephant White', I couldn't understand why Mae chose Curtie Church (Djimon Hounsou) as her 'avenging angel', since she repeatedly warned him about killing so many people.
What I somehow understood was that as he was the one hired by the Head Honcho's son (disguised), to avenge 'his daughter's death' (how come a seasoned hit man didn't see through trick?), she became involved, although you will learn things go somewhat deeper, if you can get through the jumpy scenes, poorly filmed actions, disconnected story lines, incoherent sub-plots.If you want to see naked Thai girls being forced into prostitution, drugs being injected between their toes, bullied, killing after killing, an Aussie and a hit-man in a silly rent-my-guns-today-but-break-my-nose-tomorrow, then this is the movie for you.
This film was not only well written, produced and performed, the action scenes were as good if not better than most movies of its genre.
Kevin Bacon has done what he always seems to do better than any other actor, he has a niche for picking great movies to act in, and then gives an impressive performance.
How can Kevin Bacon do a movie like this!!
And Kevin Bacon had this terrible British accent...I cant believe 2 great actors would agree to do a movie like this.....what a joke and an insult to Hollywood....I don't even know if they got paid for this movie, but if they did it would be a disgrace...What a waste, really if you see it you will think it is a joke!
I was curious to see this film because of very different reviews - i love Kevin Bacon as an actor and i could not believe that he would choose to take upon a bad role - thou many here said that this was his worst film ever...
Films like this are a dime a dozen and yet the strength of the central character and the filming style kept me watching and entertained despite various flaws in the narrative.Djimon Hounsou is well cast as an assassin, a sniper who latest job is to take down a drugs gang who've turned a businessman's daughter into a heroin accident.
Hounsou is a tough, taciturn hero and his role as a sniper leads to some great assassination scenes; I think snipers are underutilised in cinema and I love watching films about them.
Helping Hounsou is an out-of-place Kevin Bacon, giving a hilarious performance (complete with Dick Van Dyke style Cockney accent) as an arms dealer.There's plenty of action here, alongside a slim storyline with at least one good twist I didn't see coming.
There's not an awful lot to say about 'Elephant White' (apart from observations regarding Kevin Bacon's accent, but we'll get to that later).
Like Bangkok Dangerous before it, the film relies a fair bit on the cityscape to pull it through and benefits from the wonderful visuals that of the city.Kevin Bacon's performance as Jimmy is embarrassing, but thankfully Djimon Hounsou gives a stolid, moody account of the hit-man Curtie Church who's hired to kill some unsavoury thugs.Church's involvement deepens as he rips his way through the layers of the prostitution underworld like a marine gone mad, ammunition, guns and curt advice always on hand from the now hilarious "what the hell is that accent' Jimmy, Church is now joined by a local Thai girl who forces Church to start questioning his motives.A bit of Bangkok Dangerous, a bit of Leon and a bit Man on Fire, the film struggles to be really great at any of them.
Alongside is Kevin Bacon, an arms dealer known as Jimmy who assists Church while he tracks down the men who committed this terrible act.The horrific abomination that this movie is seeps through from the very start where subject matters are introduced and dealt in truly sleazy ways.
She comes across and whiny, annoying and self centered, which could all be down to poor direction but that would not change the fact her character was not believable or easy to relate to.There is absolutely nothing to take from Elephant White, aside from a semi-enjoyable sniper segment but even after that you'll have a sour taste in your mouth just for even thinking there was something enjoyable to take away from this film.
An offbeat, but muddled and unsatisfying hit-man / revenge fare by film-maker Prachya Pinkaew (Ong-bak) in the mould of Liam Neeson's "Taken", but with a surreal spiritual take on things and a forced message (on human trafficking and child prostitution).
The seedy narrative is an odd one, so are some of the performances with out-of-place Kevin Bacon using a strong cockney accent as a larger-than-life British arms dealer and Djimon Hounsou sleep-walking through it as the sleuth assassin.
Kevin Bacon (what's he doing in a direct-to-video movie?) gives a strange performance, speaking his dialogue with a weird accent.
There has been many movies which has unnecessary and fuzzy action.This movie has logical story and concept,although little tragic in the end.In Thailand girls are Illegally sent into flesh trade and are sedated heavily so that the continue doing their work with out any problems.The lead guy in the movie gets a contract from a father to rescue his daughter.
When he finds she's been killed, it turns into a revenge assignment, for which he enlists the help of Jimmy 'The Brit' (Kevin Bacon, with a surprising and quite good English accent) with his cavalcade of weapons, as well as the unwanted assistance of Mae (Jirantinin Pitakporntrakul) a young girl he rescued from the villains.
But as events roll on, he finds he can actually trust nobody.Released straight to DVD under a cloud of hot air, Elephant White could well mark the downfall of selective Hollywood actor Kevin Bacon, whose Brit accent is the most impressive thing about this whole farrago, which should really say it all.
The film seems to be aiming at some kind of social conscience, highlighting the plight of teenage prostitution on the streets of Bangkok, but this is made to look as hollow as it is, in light of the apathetic, piecemeal story and inconsistent action, the main thing you're watching it for.
First, it is never made clear until the end of the movie when the closing credits are rolling that we are talking about human trafficking rather than prostitution.
In addition, the closing credits describe "children" as those being trafficked, but none of the victimized girls in this movie looked like children to me.
Even good actors can struggle when instruction is not up to top notch work.Djimon Hounsou and Kevin Bacon isn't able to lift this film from mediocrity.The start reveals the films problem.
Human trafficking and child prostitution are the focal points of this very dark, noisy, brutally frank film, and if those preliminary adjectives don't deter then there are a few reasons to watch this direct to DVD film, mainly the contribution of producer/star Djimon Hounsou.
The acting by a very large cast of Thai actors is basically relegated to shooting and getting shot so there isn't a lot of character development possible.The setting is Bangkok where Curtie Church (Djimon Hounsou) who is a prolific professional assassin who has accumulating a sizable cash reserve from his trade.
Kevin Bacon does his best in a thankless role but is bogged down with a twitchy British accent.
I was absolutely shocked when i found out this really was him in yet another diabolical Thai made movie, which i can get used to as most Thai movies really are this bad.As for the director, i think he got lucky with ONGBAK 1 because the lead actor was truly an amazing martial artist, ONG BAK 2 was an absolute let down and apart from the fight scenes, again no plot, shallow scenes.But this Elephant White truly does top one of the worst movies ever made.
The camera and some of the scenes are not that bad - but the acting of MAE is absolutely terrible, it seems whoever sponsored this movie or had some power of investment wanted their daughter to get a lead role, despite having zero acting talent or charisma, and there we go...
All right, my summary might have confusing however this is a kind of movie which some people will give a thumps up but on the other hand some will give a thumps down...A very simple plot, acting is "ok" overall except Djimon Hounsou and Kevin Becon.
What I feel about the movie is it lacks speed and some good action scenes.
The story of the movie is very simple, one man (Djimon Hounsou) try to kill all the bad people in the society who do human-traffic and a girl follows him from his first kill and last till the end but at the end he got to know this girl has a secret....The person who helps Djimon is Kevin Bacon by providing him guns and other explosives.
I'm not sure what Kevin Bacon was thinking, but this is easily his worst film to date.
The movie deals with the child prostitution trafficking in Thailand as a background, but does very little to expose the horrors, but rather concentrates on killing.A man hires Djmon Hounsou to find his abducted daughter working somewhere in a Thai brothel.
Kevin Bacon collects guns used in movies.
turned out to be a dream sequence.Some will surely criticize Kevin Bacon's Brit/Aussie accent, but I didn't find it all that distracting.
I found Bacon's flip-flopping not good not bad character to be one of the only redeeming qualities in this movie.A twist thrown in late is completely ineffective.I can definitely recommend NOT watching this one.
I think the only thing that remains from this film is that Hounsou made his claim as the potential star of bigger action movies.
I think these might be a problem for him in the future lest he ends up becoming another Dolph Lundgren.I can't seem to find a thing I liked about this film apart from watching nice bits of Thai noir cityscape.