Mayhem! (2024) KUNG FU KINGDOM
Nassim Lyes plays the protagonist of “Mayhem!”, Samir, with Loryn Nounay playing his wife Mia.
Olivier Gourmet portrays the villainous crime boss of the movie, Narong, with Chanantica Chiapa playing Samir and Mia’s young daughter Dara.
Vithaya Panringram also appears in “Mayhem!” as Hansa, with Sahajak Boonthanakit playing Sombat.
Many moons ago, Samir lived a life of crime in his native France, but eventually elected to turn over a new leaf and relocate to Thailand, competing in local Muay Thai fights while working in a hotel and marrying the love of his life, Mia.
Samir and Mia raise the latter’s young daughter Dara and make plans to save enough money to relocate Mia’s restaurant to one of Thailand’s scenic beaches, but their ambitions run head on into not only the bureaucracy of local property development, but also sinister crime boss Narong.
Narong uncovers Samir’s criminal past, and offers to let Samir and Mia buy the land they need in exchange for Samir using his skill set to complete an illicit courier job for the developer.
Unfortunately, the job goes south with Samir finding himself on the run from local Thai authorities and the day ending tragically with Narong’s gang arriving to kill Mia and burn down their home.
After recovering from his injuries, Samir embarks on a mission to avenge Mia’s killing and rescue the kidnapped Dara.
One might expect a movie entitled “Mayhem!” to kick off with the craziest action scene it can conjure up, but the movie actually takes a relatively conservative approach to its fight scenes in its first half.
“Mayhem!” places its immediate focus on Samir’s family life with Mia and Dara in Thailand and his efforts to leave his rough past behind him, and the movie handles his low-key life with such deftness and care that it’s easy to forget one is watching a gritty action flick in the first place.
Nassim Lyes brings a youthful empathy and likeability to his somewhat soft-spoken portrayal of Samir as a devoted family man, and one who has gotten a mostly raw deal ever since the bad situation that forced him to leave France.
Samir’s quiet, idyllic life with Mia and Dara makes for a heartwarming introduction to a family that is just trying to play by the rules to achieve their professional and economic dreams but who continue to have to navigate an obstacle course to get there.
That’s not to say that “Mayhem!” is completely quiet in its first half, though, with the movie delivering a few appetizers of the intense action it has in store early on in Samir’s construction site brawl that led him to flee France and a few of his semi-pro Muay Thai fights.
While all of them get the job done on their own terms, none really rise to the “mayhem” level of intensity, but viewers shouldn’t feel shortchanged either – because that’s very clearly by design.
Once Samir’s courier gig is botched, “Mayhem!” kicks into overdrive with hard-hitting, fast-paced, and gripping action scenes.
Samir’s failed attempt to defend his family and homestead is a true hero fighting a losing battle action scene as Samir slams his enemies harder than ever out of sheer desperation, but ultimately failing to win the day.
“Mayhem!” subsequently switches into a different kind of emotional point-of-view with Samir powered by a combination of determination and fury on his dual revenge-rescue mission, which the movie’s fight scenes continue reflecting.
Samir’s hotel Muay Thai brawl with a band of henchman shatters glass cases with the zeal of “Police Story” as he and his enemies (including a cameo by Dutch superkicker Ron Smoorenburg) unleash knees and roundhouse kicks upon one another. A splendid martial arts brawl on its own, to be sure, but the finale is where “Mayhem!” truly becomes mayhem.
Side-stepping spoilers about a major plot twist in the movie’s final ten minutes, the final smackdown of “Mayhem!” gives martial arts movie lovers a delectable combo pack – a hallway fight worthy of “The Raid” and an elevator showdown worthy of “Merantau”, both with the gloves-completely-discarded approach of “The Night Comes For Us”.
Nassim Lyes really gets to put his kicking skills to work in the former, his roundhouse kicks the work of a Muay Thai Babe Ruth, while the elevator brawl follows that up with a mix of close-quarters Muay Thai, gun-fu, and blade-fu with the DNA of Indonesia’s patented action-horror hybridized approach to fight choreography.
As a bonus, it also sets up one hell of a bad guy demise that draws some surprising but clear inspiration from “Robocop” and does Samir’s cybernetic fellow protagonist proud.
“Mayhem!” takes a bit more time reaching top speed than you might expect, but saving the bulk of its mayhem for the second half serves it well as both an action film and a family drama.
The movie’s early story of Samir trying to restart his life in Thailand resonates well through Nassim Lyes empathetic and likable performance with the film showing everything that he’s fighting for.
Once “Mayhem!” goes all out in its second half, it gives action lovers everything they’re looking for and then some, including a finale that is among the wildest and most intense final showdowns in a long time.
“Mayhem!” keeps itself well-focused on its story and protagonist to not be completely out of control, and even with that kind of discipline, the mayhem it delivers is plentiful and plenty wild!
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