Fridae

The trashy phase of the zombie genre lasted only a few years. After directors like George Romero finished laying down the rules of the game, the zombie flick became less a film about people shuffling about screaming for brains than an allegory for any or all of the following – xenophobia, political paranoia, corporate greed, military stupidity, bureaucratic paralysis (if government actions to contact the zombie outbreaks fail) or cold-blooded bureaucratic utilitarianism (if the government is effective at culling the outbreak).

Thai action thriller My Best Bodyguard may have no zombies – the crisis is rather old-fashioned, featuring an imminent Ebola virus outbreak – but it plays out just like a zombie flick with all the elements of a zombie flick. HRH Ubolratana is a television investigative journalist poking her nose where it doesn’t belong, Shawn Yue is an egotistical head of a foreign pharmaceutical company who willing to break a few heads to cure Ebola, and Thiraphat Sajakul is a civil servant who is willing to break a few heads and silence a few journalists to keep his country safe. All three will clash with each other – and a mysterious assassin turned bodyguard – to further their goals and at the same time play out the secret zombie DNA of this film.

As expected with a film with royal involvement, My Best Bodyguard is an expensive, well-choreographed visual spectacle that shows you where most of the money went. While very conservatively shot and pitched towards the lower and middle class Thai audiences, one can nevertheless appreciate the meticulous planning and setup for each explosion, car chase and crash, and bullet-riddled action scene – all of which are neatly paced despite the length of the film. Fighting scenes though are not that much of a draw – all four lead actors have no background in action or fighting films and it shows.

My Best Bodyguard may be a decent action film, but it is an above-average thriller and an excellent zombie flick.