Mercury Man is a 2006 Thai superhero martial arts action film. It is directed by Bhandit Thongdee with martial arts choreography by Panna Rittikrai of Ong-Bak, Tom-Yum-Goong and Born to Fight.

After being stabbed with an ancient Tibetan amulet, a Bangkok firefighter named Sharn is transformed into a superhero when his body becomes a massive heat source, which he learns to manipulate to give him super strength, increased agility and the ability to make great leaps.

Sharn’s fate is entwined with an Afghan terrorist, Osama bin Ali, who wants the power of the Tibetan amulet to use in a plot to destroy a U.S Navel Ship. With his terrorist organization, led by henchwoman Areena, Osama kidnaps Sharn’s mother and sister and takes them to the Royal Thai Navy base, where he hopes to launch a rocket at a US Navy chemical weapon ship. Osama also has suicide bombers spread out throughout Thailand, ready to act on his word.

Although this film is named after the short lived Charlton Comics character it is not similar in character of story line. This Mercury Man is somewhat reluctant until he realizes his true power then he is up and running. The film is very direct in it’s recognition of the American Super Hero genre. There are several references to Spider Man and part of the fun to this movie is watching for them.

The film does a good job of moving the story along and even the dubbing is done in a humorous way. The animation is low budget, but once again that adds to the overall strength to the film. With it being a lower budget Thai film they did a admirable job of using animation. There is one rather bizarre animated segment that helps explain the history and mythology around the amulet.

The film provides several moments of good action sequences but sometimes the fast cut sense take away from the the action and remind us that this is a far eastern martial arts film. They remind me of many of the old Chinese Kung Fu films where the fast cut scene help hide the poor quality of the stunts.

I am not sure if the humor was all planed, but one scene where you have mountain Sherpas saying things like “Hey Man how you doing” is just a little too western. But it does make for great humor.

I did find myself getting pulled into the movie and laughing out-loud several times. The film is a worth while watch for the Super Hero/Martial Arts enthusiast, along with anyone looking for a an hour and 40 minutes of light entertainment. It is rated R due to a few scenes of brief nudity, so watching with you kids may not be a great idea. That is too bad, because I thinks some teenagers would enjoy this film.

Comics on line give this film a 4 out of 5 “Karate Chops to the Neck of a Terrorist”