The Hit Man and Censorship in Thailand

The other night I finally watched The Hit Man on cable and found it to be a surprisingly enjoyable actioner. Olga Kurylenko made an instant impression so I went looking for photos of her. Pretty soon I found that as usual Thai cable had given us the for-kiddies version. Scenes like this had been cut...



and the one that follows this one...



After 25 years in Thailand, I wonder how many movies I've seen that weren't cut? In some the cuts are very obvious, in others not so much. The Tudors was butchered so I bought the series from Amazon. Same with Lust, Caution. However, I had to wait until they were cheap.

So, somewhat p###ed off that I couldn't even watch a good action movie without cuts, I ordered The Hit Man (Extreme Edition) and The Replacement Killers (Extended Cut) from Amazon UK. 180 baht each.

This post has been edited by camerata: 01 February 2010 - 05:52 PM

I agree with Camerata's comments here.
The butchery of movies shown in the LOS sometimes borders on madness.
Although The Hit Man has been showing on tv last month and will also this month, I already had the dvd for comparison. Lots more bare flesh from the sultry Kurylenko.
She and Olyphant are well matched and certainly gell together. This film is well cast and everyone performing with authority. Olyphant is very impressive for this role.
I hope they make a sequel. Perhaps like in the Bourne franchise, the bird gets rubbed out and the Hitman heads for the vengence trail.
The Mrs also enjoyed the film. And made the comment that this is the first time she has seen a farang who knew how to walk properly. Like head and shoulders back, looking smart and puposeful.[The camera follows behind the striding Hitman several times.]
I asked her, 'What about me?'
But she laughed and retorted that I look like I'm about to fall over any minute.
Suffering cats! Thse days I only head for JD at weekends.....

lol, can censorship in Thailand be any worse than China?

Some movies don't even get air time in China!

Censorship in Thailand I cannot attest to, but they don't even show kissing on TV in Malaysia if the parties aren't married &c.

Though I did catch them out one night when a usage of the "f-bomb" was missed. It wasn't said as an insult in that tone of voice- "go and f*** yourself" said as casually as "have a nice day".

This post has been edited by Uncle Gweilo: 02 February 2010 - 06:10 PM

skydiver777, on 02 February 2010 - 11:31 AM, said:

Right. I never saw Hit Man at the cinema but the cable version has both the extreme violence and Olga prancing around naked cut out. In a key scene on cable, Olga pushes the hit man onto the bed and he says "This is a very bad idea." Then it cuts to another scene, leaving the impression that they had sex. But what actually happened was she took off her top and made a lunge for him, but he extricated himself.

The extended cut of Replacement Killers just adds a little background to Mira's character. The cable version cut some of the violence, but the DVD is not much different from the cinema version shown in Thailand since there is no nudity.

Frankly, both movies are top-notch B-movies. RK has the Asian angle but HM has Olga almost commando.

Now I'm wondering what I might have missed in the three Transporter movies...

It's kind of sad seeing the feature on Chow Yun Fat, with everyone saying what a great Hollywood star he would be if he could perfect his English. It almost seemed possible at that time, but he never really made it. The Corruptor was a flop. Crouching Tiger was set in China and Bullet-proof Monk wasn't anything special.

Don't get me started on that..., freaking Hollywood casting decent HK actors into shatty films.

camerata, on 08 February 2010 - 01:27 PM, said:

Bloody Hell! I just got the first two seasons of Midsomer Murders from Amazon UK (70% off ) and even that has sex scenes that were cut from the Thai cable version.

The Thai censor morons would welcome this UK TV series with open arms, if ever they got their hands on it.
Or maybe they already have. A Thai friend tells me that Pt1 was shown as a weekly 1hr show last year.
If so it must have been cut to pieces.

UK Royalty is a pet subject of the Mrs, [she loved Diana,] as do many Thais.
But she is currently in favour of the life and escapades of Henry VIII. Vividly illustrated in 'The Tudors' series.
While I was able to obtain Pt1 and Pt2 from Fashion Island Mall, I haven't seen Pt3 yet, but notice its now on Amazon.
1 and 2 are presented in excellent presentation box format. Each series consists of 3 dvds containing episodes 1 to 10.
This is indeed a lavish production, with no expense spared on the sets and costumes.
Jonathon Rhys Meyers, [Henry] attacks his role with gusto.
Sam Neil, [Cardinal Wolsley] does some suitable back stabbing.
Peter O'Tool [The Pope] hams it up in hilarious fashion.
Natalie Dormer [Ann Boleyn] is a real man eater and gets her gear off at regular intervals.
In fact most of the corking leading ladies,and theres a lot, get to go bolloko in turn.
For the ladies, Henry runs around bare assed at opportune moments.
I was particularly amused by one scene, when Henry was confronted by French totty in the bed chamber.
He said, 'Show me what the French can do.'
The bird sinks to her knees and proceeds to perform a full service, resulting in a happy ending......

I look forward to Pt3.

skydiver777, on 24 February 2010 - 12:35 PM, said:

They butchered it. I watched a couple of episodes on cable and it was obvious important dialogue was being missed because of all the cuts of sex scenes. So I ordered the first two seasons from Amazon UK, and later the third. For some reason they never got past Season 1 on cable here. Apparently, the final season is showing on Brit TV now and the creator is working on a new series called Camelot.

This is 'The Tudors' the costume drama or period rompy-pompy, rather than an accurate portrayal of the life and times of Henry VIII. I picked up a couple of episodes on BitTorrent, not watched them all yet.

They've shaved 20 years off him, I guess a fat git with ulcerated suppurating legs wouldn't have got the ratings.

You'll see the ulcerated legs in Season 3. He gets depressed and pathetic, but he never gets fat.