Putting this into some kind of context may be tricky. Even though most Thais are Buddhists, it is not a state religion. Still the Muslim versus Buddhists plot is questionable considering that there is a sizable Muslim minority primarily in southern Thailand. Those more familiar with Buddhism will recognize that the Buddhism displayed in Mercury Man is both generic and exotic, the with the kind of sage advice uttered by Sam Jaffe in Lost Horizon. This world view is somewhat more comprehensible based on the point of view of most Thais which is that the world is divided between ethnic Thais and everyone else.

Even a homegrown superhero movie with Muay Thai Boxing is less interesting than it should have been. Produced by Prachya Pinkaew, the boxing and the wire work are extraordinarily ordinary from the team behind such martial arts fests as Ong-Bak and Dynamite Warriors. In the title role, Wasan Khantaau is pallid next to that gravity defying force of nature that is Tony Jaa. With his Spiderman inspired costume, Wasan gets hot and kicks ass, and is a nice guy out of costume, but lacks the inspiration or sense of humor of the best superheros. Seen way to briefly as a supervillainess is Matinee Kingpoyom. After it is discovered that Wasan became Mercury Man after being stabbed with the Sun amulet that was absorbed into his body, Matinee stabs herself with the Moon amulet. She becomes Mercury Man's unnamed nemesis, freezing cold to his fiery heat. If this character had a name, would it be Ice Girl? Frigid Woman? In any event, I was reminded that I saw this very beautiful woman in another film that had was otherwise not very good, Bullet Wives. And speaking of beauty and boxing, the real Beautiful Boxer, Parinya Charoenphon, is in the cast, aptly named as the character named Grace.