The Cop is the debut effort of online TV channel’s Fukduk founder MR Chalermchatri “Adam” Yukon (who also happens to be the son of director MC Chatrichalerm Yukon of Suriyothai and King Naresuan fame). But while Chalermchatri’s cinematography is already very self-assured, the script is full of plot holes and poorly written dialogue.

This crime-drama-thriller, set in 1980s Thailand, revolves around bad-boy inspector Vasan (Tao Somchai Khemklad), who is under investigation for his part in a messy drug crackdown, where the accused is now in custody and his wife and two children dead. Vasan is told by his police chief, however, that the investigation against him will be dropped if he can use his mad dog techniques to track down the cold-blooded killer of the young daughter of a prominent minister. Alongside his sidekick sergeant (Note Chern-yim), Vasan must juggle solving this puzzling case with saving his marriage, which he suspects is under threat from his cop colleague-cum-foe (Chalad Na Songkhla). What’s more, a naïve female lieutenant Nalin (Krystal Vee) has been assigned to his team, causing further life and work problems for Vasan. As the hunt continues, they find themselves haunted by the initial dodgy drug case.

While Tao, a notorious hothead in real life is convincing as Vasan, veteran comedian Note Chern-yim is not a good fit for his serious sergeant role. Unfortunately, the film’s most complex character, the revenge-driven Nalin, is let down by Vee’s inability to deliver her lines in proper Thai. Not that the script helps one bit: the characters speak in unnatural HBO-like Thai-subtitle language, to the extent that some bloggers have described it as a stylistic tribute to the 80s crime genre. We think it’s more likely to be lazy scriptwriting. The writers also need reminding that cross-interrogation questions are meant to be done by lawyers, not half the characters in the movie.

With a patchy plot, several simply unbelievable scenes and lots of forced dialogue, it’s hard to feel an emotional connection with the characters. Sarawat Mha Bha tries to squeeze the equivalent of a season’s worth of CSI: Miami into a couple hours, making for plenty of loose ends. Some twists are totally given away by the characters, who, for some reason, all feel the need to explain everything in painful detail. If you can suspend your belief and look past the cheap tell-all speeches, though, the film has some impressive cinematography and is a mildly enjoyable trip into the realms of extreme suspension of disbelief.