Loved this movie & from the montage at the beginning I was thinking could be a great place for a holiday.. By the end, not so much!!.. This movie turn anyone else of ever visiting Cambodia??!!.. And yes, I realise its fiction..
shareeven though the 'villains' in the movie (spoiler!!!) were Vietnamese, it still painted a bad picture of Cambodia. My cousins (we're Cambodian btw) went to marry over there and they had a great time and came back safely, so I think this is just fiction and over the top.
shareThis was a good movie......sitting down here in Phnom Penh as we speak off course its scary, and not exactly a postcard, but neither was Wolf Creek for Australia where i promised my self never to visit after viewing.........bad things happen everywhere, sometimes your just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and sometimes your just to much of a fool to not understand that you don't understand, like this guy....... This film is not over the top, this is not a far fetched storyline, the question is how often does it happen and will it happen to you? Its like bungy-jumping, without statistics we know the rubber band snaps from time to another, we do it anyway hoping the snap is not meant for us ;) visiting quite a few nations over the years, my opinion is that tourist oriented Cambodia is quite safe, I have never had any negative experience traveling here for months at a time, never had the feeling of being scared or uncomfortable walking home at night alone (, but are you alone, take a tuk-tuk) as i said, you can be at the wrong place at the wrong time, more often stupidity is the reason for trouble, wherever u are, just understand that your not home, and treat any situation with up most humility......Cambodia is truly an amazing place to visit, and much safer then say parts of south-america and other touristy places......its like the guy who went to prison in thailand for several years after getting so angry after a scheme he obviously lost that he threw the lost money on the floor and jumped on them shouting profanity....in thailand you must respect the king no matter what, and on all money there is a picture of the king......understand that you don't understand....., and if u have the opportunity, enjoy Cambodia.....before it gets destroyed by to much tourism like Thailand
sharetotally agree with Patchover
bad things happen everywhere, sometimes your just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and sometimes your just to much of a fool to not understand that you don't understand, like this guy....
Good example of how not to be a drunk dickhead on holiday in an unfamilar country where corruption and crime are commonplace, even if it looks like paradise with the sun shining in front of a beach resort. Via a series of flashbacks we get to know what really happened, namely that the foursome took illegal drugs at a beach rave then one of the guys shagged his wife's sister on the beach then went to a mafia den to smoke more dope and punched one of the gang and provoked a confrontation that got his protective "friend" stabbed to death, put his family's lives at risk and forced him to lie to cops and the wife thus crippling his marriage, etc. A series of stupid choices that led down a very dark path. In between flashbacks it's mostly just Aussie women screaming and acting irrational, and the movie stalls in the middle with too much dialogue/pillowtalk. The stabbing scene was pretty well done though. Shocking and believable as this sort of thing does occasionally happen in SE Asia, especially when combined with booze, drugs and flared tempers - wrong place wrong time (refer back to the part about not being a dickhead).
Meanwhile thousands of foreign tourists have pleasant holidays in Cambodia simply by exercising a reasonable amount of common sense, restraint and respect.
Well said Captain_Bob, I had similar thoughts as yours. Movies like this are God given revelation to all reckless Southeast Asia travelers - don't get skunk drunk, as only few can handle it.
To governments and law enforcements, this movie could help in clearing eternal "dilema" - booze or pot, which one is worse.
As of movie, cast and performance - Aussies are brilliant, as usually.
Totally agree.
"He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator."
You're only looking for trouble when you go to places like this. Or maybe this movie depicts the very "adventure" most people are seeking.
share
I have never heard anything good about Phnom Penh but many good things about Siem Reap.
Cambodia is a beautiful country (mostly) filled with very nice people. This movie is a cautionary tale of what happens when you get involved in the criminal underworld.
The same is true many places you go. Japan has a powerful mafia, but as a tourist you're virtually guaranteed never to know. Hell, Las Vegas has a criminal presence, but unless you're buying drugs and borrowing money, you'll never have a concern.