Skin Trade (2015) Review!!

Synopsis – After his family is killed by a Serbian gangster with international interests. NYC detective Nick goes to S.E. Asia and teams up with a Thai detective to get revenge and destroy the syndicates human trafficking network.

My Take – I know the title & the presence of Dolph Lundgren screams B-movie, but the good thing is that it doesn’t try to pretend to be more. A passion project of Dolph Lundgren who started work on its script close to eight years ago, it knows exactly what buttons to push to get its core audience satisfied even as it tries to shed light onto a matter close to his heart, i.e. that of human trafficking. So if you’re expecting a very angry Lundgren on a revenge rampage, or a crazy fight between sequence between Lundgren and Tony Jaa, or a similar one between Tony Jaa and Michael Jai White, I assure you that you won’t be disappointed. The story follows two cops in different parts of the world whose interests are aligned as they uncover the a human trafficking industry led by the Serbian / Russian national business man Viktor Dragovic (Ron Perlman) & his four sons. Fourth son Janko (Leo Rano) and his accomplices lure gullible village girls from Thailand, Cambodia and Laos to leave their homes and journey to the city, where they are subsequently drugged and shipped to America and Europe to be sold as sex slaves.

Nick Cassidy (Dolph Lundgren) is a police detective at New Jersey, tracking Viktor’s latest shipment in order to apprehend him and his sons. During which Viktor’s youngest son get killed by Nick. Meanwhile, Tony (Tony Jaa), a Thai police officer works on different angle in Bangkok by performing his own investigation. One thing leads to another until Nick is framed by rogue FBI agent Reed (Michael Jai White) for the murder of Tony’s partner soon after setting foot on Royal Thai soil. The direction of story doesn’t veer too much from revenge or rescue theme, well as expected from B action movie! There are a lot of subplots that could be explored, but the film focuses on the fundamental premise only. Human trafficking issue is a delicate one, the film takes a safe route. Much of the heavy lifting here is done by Jaa, whose speed and agility has not dimmed one bit since his ‘Ong Bak’ days. While his Hollywood debut in ‘Fast and Furious 7’ may have been overlooked because of the crowded ensemble, Jaa’s lead turn here will definitely not go unnoticed. His one-on-one with Lundgren in an abandoned warehouse is the film’s halfway high-water mark, pitting a lean mean warrior against a much hulkier opponent – though there is no question in our minds just who is the one that is the better fighter. It is no wonder then that Jaa is the one chosen to take on Jai White! The fight between them is brutal and ferocious, choreographed specifically to illustrate the strengths of either actor, and next to the noisy and overblown finale at a remote airstrip that it precedes, is easily the climax that the film deserves to be remembered for. Indeed, while a sizable amount of the limited budget on which the film is made for has been reserved for explosions and other fireballs, it is the raw thrill of seeing these natural born fighters go at each other knuckle-to-knuckle that is where its charm lies.

It is no doubt thanks to Lundgren that we get to see Jaa in such a significant capacity – not only in a movie that respects the actor’s Oriental roots but also one that gives him a role with both the breadth and depth for Jaa to showcase his abilities as an actor and as an action star. It is probably also thanks to Lundgren that the likes of Jai White, Ron Perlman, Peter Weller and Cary- Hiroyuki Tagawa have come together in the same film, a combination that is any self-professed B-action movie fan’s wet dream. And it is Lundgren who manages to pull a movie with so many potential cliches together in a respectable fashion – as the latter scenes demonstrate, its director Ekachai Uekrongtham has a long way to go in learning how to stage a proper action sequence. Fortunately, the veteran actors are robust enough to carry the plot and action. Performances – Dolph Lundgren does a great job as the per the film goes. Ron Perlman makes for a great villain with his blank stares when he comes face to face with Nick that show he really has no fear or regret! Tony Jaa kicks serious butt here showing he is ready to take the US market by storm. Michael does a solid job in the supporting role where he gets to have a great fight with Tony Jaa. I have seen many B movies and most are just plain boring cliches. This one is not original but is a solid, well made piece of entertainment. Redundant and extra cheesy dialog at times, however action scenes are very good! On the whole, ‘Skin Trade’ is a highly entertaining B movie which doesn’t divulge into the social theme the film is built around, but instead serves a delicious platter to its action fans!