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Review Archive
FILMS
Garuda (2004)Garuda marks my second foray into Thai cinema. (Ong Bak being the first.) And I have to confess that I was pretty excited about "discovering" a new movie market. So I'm a little reluctant to admit that I didn't enjoy Garuda as much as I'd expected to. I really, really wanted to dig this movie. (And in all fairness, it often happens that when I'm really anticipating a movie, I'm disappointed on first viewing.) So this review is likely to be as much about what I'd hoped Garuda would be as what it actually turned out to be.
The basic premise of Garuda is based very loosely on Hindu myth. Garuda is a Hindu god. King of birds, enemy of serpents, avatar of the sun, and taxi service for Vishnu and Lakshmi. In the movie's version, the garuda were an ancient race that existed concurrently with the earliest man. Benevolent on the whole. But one renegade garuda is born who immediately sets about slaying and eating its brethren. The other garuda succeed in imprisoning the renegade and then fleeing the land for presumably greener pastures.
Fast forward to the 1970s. A French scientist named Pierre (of course) locates the fossils of the garuda in a cave, only to have the cave destroyed by the advancing Pakistani army. He escapes with only a single garuda claw as evidence of his theories that the garuda represent an evolution in reptiles and birds (which are apparently more closely related than you might expect) that parallels that of humanity.
Fast forward again to the present day. Sara Leigh plays a young scientist seeking funding from the Thai authorities to continue the archeological work started by her father, Pierre. She meets with a lot of resistance because, as her uncle Wichai explains, she is half caste. (Her father is French and her mother Thai.) And her assistant Tim is a farang (the Thai term for foreigners). On top of that, in proving that garuda represents a phase of evolution, the scientists encounter a predictable level of resistance from those who believe garuda is indeed a god.
It's not long, though, before Sara and Tim get a summons from Uncle Wichai. Apparently, while tunneling for a planned subway route under Bangkok, workers unearthed more garuda fossils. Sara and Tim are brought in to investigate the area under the watchful eye of a young Thai military commander (played by Sornram Thapitak) and his motley band of commandos.
This is where Garuda really gets underway. The band unearths a cave and the decidedly unfossilized renegade garuda. (Naturally, it's the evil one that has the good sense to go into hibernation rather than just taking the dirt nap.) And from that point on, it's commandos versus monster with hapless scientists caught in the middle.
Garuda pretty clearly draws from several other sci-fi monster movies. Reign of Fire leaps to mind obviously (releasing a long-dormant mythological monster while trying to drill a subway). As does Predator (rag-tag band of commandos versus indestructible creature). And a little-known effort by director Larry Cohen, entitled Q: The Winged Serpent. David Carradine versus a huge flying serpent (man, who do you root for there?!), the presumable source of the Aztec myth of Quetzalcoatl. Much like garuda, the real creature ends up being not nearly as benevolent as the god in the myths. Quetzalcoatl turns out to be more of a swoop-down-and-kill-you god than a preserve-your-crops god. The greatest part, to me, is the tagline. "It's name is Quetzalcoatl. But you'll only have time to say 'Q' before it tears you apart!" (Nevermind that the Q in Quetzalcoatl is pronounced like a K. But that wouldn't make much sense on a movie poster, now would it.)
OK, back to Garuda. I enjoy thinking about this movie immensely because it builds a really strong foundation for a really badass story. But then it builds a fairly standard monster slasher flick instead.
That said, Garuda is stylish and does have some very cool scenes in it. There are plenty of shots of cool-looking men doing cool-looking things. Brandishing elaborate automatic weapons, standing nonchalantly by as explosions go off, walking in slow motion. And so on. This is all slightly off-balanced by the scientists, mind you. Sara pitches a lot of fits throughout the movie. And her voice makes me want to shoot staples at my groin. Her assistant, Tim, appears to be the comic relief. (I wonder whether I should read into it that the one obvious farang in the film is kind of a dipshit.) Mostly, Tim tries to elicit laughs by looking surprised and exasperated. (Apparently, the way to emote surprise and exasperation is to model your facial expressions on those of a large mouth bass.)
Forget the scientists for the time being. They're the least interesting element of the film. It's the commandos who demand the attention. Commander Sornram heads up a branch of the military tasked with (get this) fighting gods. Yep. Gods. Throughout Garuda, we see Sornram flashing back to a previous assignment in which several of his men died. Fighting a naga. The hindu serpent spirit that dwells in the underworld. In the myths, naga have the heads of humans, serve as patrons of water, and are the staunch enemies of Garuda. In the movie, the naga is a giant serpent.
Man, there's so much cool stuff to work with in that setup. Nagas versus garuda. Commandos who hunt down and kill the creatures that form various mythological cycles. That's good stuff. Unfortunately, I don't feel like Garuda really capitalized on it.
Garuda also doesn't follow up on any of the cultural themes it sets up quite nicely. Issues of religion (faith versus science), cultural integrity (Thais versus farang and half-caste), and fate. Sornram fixates on the image of one of his commandos losing resolve in the face of the naga and resorting to prayer. Uncle Wichai tries the same tactic when the garuda corners him. The message is pretty clear in both cases. The monster doesn't give a toss for your prayers, so you'd better be prepared to save yourself. I'd love to have seen that theme filled out a bit more. I'm certain the filmmakers were going somewhere with that.
In another scene, the commando guarding Tim is brandishing a customized machete with an odd pattern etched into it. A magical charm, the commando explains, that allows the blade to harm gods. (Coming from a knight in platemail armor, that might sound cliche. Coming from a Thai commando in tactical vest and combat boots, it sounds badass.)
Spoiler: He gets to test that theory a few minutes later. In a scene reminiscent of Predator's Sonny Landham (the Native American scout), the commando goes toe to toe with the monster. Unlike Predator, we actually see the exchange. And to his credit, the commando does get a piece of the garuda. But garuda gets the upper talon. Curiously, that's where it cuts. We never see or hear the commando's fate. But we can guess. (In Predator, we hear Landham's character buy the farm but don't see any of the fight beforehand. Between the two, we've got a full fight scene.)
I'm going to watch Garuda again. And perhaps I'll dig it more the next time. There are certainly enough cool ideas to keep me thinking about the film for a while, even if the execution didn't take advantage of all those cool ideas.
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