Power Kids – Review

I know you guys have missed these types of film. Oh, you know them. The bare-bones story surrounded with fight scenes? Yup, we know and love them all to well. Power Kids circles around 5 kids; Wut, Kat, Pong, Woon and Jib, who grow up in a martial art school. Their ordinary life twists when they fight a rowdy gang and it causes Jib’s heart disease to relapse. Jib urgently needs to get heart transplant at a hospital, and the kids unexpectedly are involved in a lethal circumstance when ruthless terrorists are occupying the hospital.

Now, in Singapore this film is a PG so I assume children can go and see it, but its insanely violent so I’m left scratching my head. Bad acting and a hole-filled plot are standard equipment with Thai action movies, but it’s accepted because there will usually be eye-popping stunts, in which case there is. Sadly, if these kids were in a better movie it would have been a far greater showcase for their undeniable talent. Again, don’t be fooled with the word ‘kids’ in the title, after a few minutes the film starts up, assault weapons are being fired and civilians are dropping like flies.

Basically, the film is a combination between 3 Ninjas and Die Hard. Production values are relatively low but the characters are endearing enough. So fans of thai martial arts, pick up Power Kids a.k.a Force of Five because it deserves a place in the collections of all good action movies. The film takes 30 full minutes to set the story in motion, and it’s a long 30 minutes, but once it passes you should be satisfied.

So, if you are a regular reader of this site you probably know these kinds of films by now. It is underdeveloped, weak, and somewhat aggravating, yet awesome action. So how do we grade these types of films? Well, if the action delivers then you can color me entertained, which this film does a fine job of doing. Dialogue doesn’t get overpowered, but I really can’t ever tell when Thai is clear or not, considering how fast that language flies by. The far-fetched plot and intense melodrama enhance the film somehow by unintentionally making the film more fun than intended. All in all, Power Kids is an entertaining, yet fogettable little actioneer. Thumbs slightly above the middle.