Jailbreak  ★★½

MAINSTREAM South-East Asian cinema tends to consist of familiar Western tropes, but always with a slight twist – romantic comedies are heavier on the slapstick, dramas merge other genres and horror tends to be the supernatural variety.

Similarly, the action films can be either over-wrought and taking themselves too seriously or over-blown, comedic efforts in that Jackie Chan style.

Thankfully, for the past five years or so, post Indonesia’s compelling Raid films, the action genre has become more grounded and visceral.

Unfortunately it doesn’t appear that the Cambodians got the memo and films like 2017’s Jailbreak fail to deliver on their promise.

Based on the premise, without seeing the trailer, this looked like being another heart-pounding, full-on brawl-fest, this time with four police officers caught behind enemy lines in a prison with a bunch of female assassins also breaking in to kill a drug lord.

Director Jimmy Henderson does an impressive job of staging huge fight scenes, but they are missing a key realistic level of blood and gore from the wounds inflicted and even at just 90 minutes tend to become repetitive.

More to blame is Henderson’s script which is not only too slight in plot but also descends into comic and romantic moments that don’t fit the overall tone of the film and detract from any tension.

While stuntman Jean Paul-Ly and MMA champion Dara Our know how to effectively deliver a punch or kick, they are far less adept at delivering lines of dialogue. The one person that does impress is former porn actress Celine Tran who thoroughly enjoys herself playing mobster Madame Butterfly and is even involved in one of the best fights, primarily because it involves sword work.

There is a good film lurking in the concept of Jailbreak but the execution is too haphazard and uneven.