Dynamite Warrior is a strange movie. You might initially think it's a stupid movie, and to some degree you would be right, but while watching the film, the simple fact will grow on you like a fungus until you realize in your mind's eye, “This movie is fucking bonkers.”
It's 1855, and Thailand's economy is just starting to boom thanks to the Bowring Treaty and the demand for Thailand's bountiful rice harvest. However, as the rice is grown in the central regions, buffalo have to be transferred from the Northeast by merchants called the Nai Hoi. Unfortunately for these buffalo merchants, Jone Bang Fai is on the hunt for the man who killed his parents, and he's armed with the knowledge that the murderer works with the Nai Hoi, and he's bringing an obscene amount of ammunition with him.
While Jone Bang Fai is beating up the Nai Hoi with his infinite collection of rockets, the posh Lord Waeng is busy trying to sell the local yokels on the latest and greatest in farming technology: the tractor. But when the simple people of Siam reject the steep price tag, Lord Waeng decides that the best way to deal with the situation is to hire a psychotic, cannibal murderer with an eating disorder to kill off the Nai Hoi, steal the  buffalo and leave the population with no other choice but to buy these newfangled machines that are probably forged by the devil and run on black magic.
Lord Waeng sends his murderous cohorts to destroy another Nai Hoi camp, but this buffalo campground is headed by Sing, a trader with magical powers who can not only kill you without laying a single finger on you, but who can also turn his workers into tigers and monkeys. Well, not really. They're still human, but they have the ability to crouch over, growl and jump really far. That's as good as being a tiger as far as I'm concerned.
Jone Bang Fai is also hot on the trail of Sing, suspecting the magical man to be his parents' assassin. Lord Waeng devises a master plan: get the goody-goody Jone Bang Fai on their side and maybe they can defeat Sing, albeit for completely different reasons. That's not even getting into the Black Wizard, an incest-driven leper who concocts magical potions using menstrual blood from his own virginal daughter. Pleasant.
 I'm putting extra emphasis on the bizarre aspect of the film because, action-wise, Dynamite Warrior simply isn't all that terrific outside of a few moments involving jumping through things that are on fire. Sure, the sight of the main character actually riding a flying rocket into a crowd of kung-fu fodder is amusing, but it only happens twice in the film.
Wait, I just read that back in my head and it sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it's true.
Theoretically speaking, the fact that the film even has one scene where the main character rides on a rocket like a flying surfboard of doom should work in its favor, but you have to sludge through a lot of ordinary fight choreography and inane character building to get to the interesting bits: Jone Bang Fai jumping through fiery hoops of death, fleeting bits of story that come out of nowhere to surprise you, and Wuxia so out of place even in a movie called Dynamite Warrior that you're left scratching your head wondering just how odd the film can get. Moments like these make Dynamite Warrior slightly endearing, and sadly, the fun I had watching the film is probably for reasons the filmmakers didn't intend.
 Video
Magnolia Films presents Dynamite Warrior in a transfer that adequately shows off a flawed original production. With a hint of grain throughout the film's running time along with a desaturated color palette, it almost feels like an artistic choice, except for the fact that there's nothing really all that artistic about the film in the first place. This isn't a movie with a budget of fifty bajagajillion dollars, and it shows.
But then again, if you've been following the evolution of Asian cinema on the American DVD format, you'll certainly feel better about what Magnolia has done with Dynamite Warrior. This isn't a bootleg copy of Five Deadly Venoms transferred from a 9th generation VHS dub, I'm certainly happy with what I've got.
Audio
As I only have stereo abilities for the moment, I was unable to check out the 5.1 soundtracks that come in both English and Thai, but the stereo soundtrack is consistently active. When it's not borderline overwhelming the action scenes, the gaudy music soundtrack takes over, so at least you don't get a loud/quiet imbalance that will require you to have your remote in hand at all times.
Extras
In addition to the film's theatrical trailer, we've got a behind the scenes featurette appropriately named The Making of Dynamite Warrior, which runs a scant 14 minutes, but manages to include most of the cast and the director in its running time. However, most of it is dedicated to summarizing the film's plot, and we're left wondering about the actual process of filming. It's worth watching once, but certainly won't catch your attention.
 The rest of the features are even more insubstantial - everything is presented in a fly-on-the-wall style, which makes you wonder why they separated these two-minute features (Behind the Scenes Stunts, On Set Footage, and Special Effects Makeup) and didn't just put them together in one bigger lump.
Pass on the extras, stick to the main feature.
Overall
As the action scenes don't pack enough punch to earn a solid recommendation and the extras aren't worth noting, the film's success depends on your tolerance of camp - this film is full of the stuff. If a leper trying to rape their daughter gets you going, you might want to check the DVD out. Traditional action fans should probably stay away from this strange, amusing mess of a film.
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