Overall 🍿: 7 - 7.5/10 based on the international movies we watched growing up.
Light/Cinematography/Songs: 10/10
Thainess: There could be much much more. If there was Thai festival celebration scene, it would be great. We would really like way more dancing scenes, even training scenes. Thainess or what is uniquely Thai, I think this can be explored much more and interwoven smoothly in daily Mansuang activities if this was a drama.
Storytelling: We feel its similar to the 90s HK movies. It's not complicated to understand. Dialogues can be better appreciated when watching 2nd round.
Editing: Some scenes can be viewed at 0.5x to be appreciated better. For example, emotional scenes, dancing scenes. Apo has many great scenes, but it flashed past too fast, there's no pause or 0.5x button in the cinema. Tbh, I think 2.5hrs would make the story more complete.
Plot/Pace: 1st 10mins or so, the pace and building of atmosphere was very good. Really well done. Apo did very well in those scenes. If it was kept that way, it would definitely lead to a thrilling suspenseful movie throughout.
The pace kind of dropped in the middle, during the investigations. Not sure if due to PG13, we felt it could be better in terms of sinister/evil/dark overall vibes. Personally, I didn't like the occasional humor in some scenes, but that could be a style.
Characters: For fans who have read the intro of each char before the movie, they will be able to appreciate the characters MUCH better and their actions. If not, 2hrs is insufficient for everyone to grasp everything. Special mention, crafting of Bas's char was well done esp his background.
Acting: Apo's scenes were very well done, we could watch him all day. His eyes were expressive and all emotional scenes were even more natural than in KinnPorsche. You can say he has improved by leaps! But the editing broke the flow of emotions invoked in me.
Watching the second round, I had more time to feel Khem. Other characters, had very good expressions and were natural. Esp the dark grey characters in this movie, they delivered their dialogues and expressions very well.
Overall, a 7 to 7.5/10 review, we feel its fair on international standards. We hope Mansuang can be made into a drama with more Thainess interwoven in it.
