Elephant White

Elephant White
Directed by	Prachya Pinkaew
Produced by	Frank DeMartini, Humberto Arechiga, Daniel Bernhardt, SallyLear , Peter Safran, Tom Waller Avi Lerner
Written by	Kevin Bernhardt
Starring	Kevin Bacon Djimon Hounsou
Music by	Robert Folk
Cinematography	Wade Muller
Editing by	David Richardson
Studio	Nu Image Millennium Films
Release dates	April 8, 2011 (2011-04-08)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10 million

Elephant White is a 2011 action-thriller film starring Djimon Hounsou and Kevin Bacon. Filming took place in Bangkok, Thailand.

Plot

American assassin Curtie Church (Hounsou) is completing a job in Thailand when 14-year-old child prostitute, Mae, witnesses Church killing a group belonging to her captor Chang Cao's gang and frame the Jong Ang Gang. Church sees her, but decides to flee the scene. Word reaches Chang Cao Gang advisor, Bhun, that the Jong Ang have broken the truce. However, it seems suspicious that a bomb was used as that is unlike the Jong Ang.

Church collects his payment for the job from his client, Rajahdon, whose daughter was murdered. Church then goes to a club which Jimmy the Brit (Bacon) is visiting, however upon seeing Church, Jimmy flees the premises thinking he is there to kill him. Church eventually catches Jimmy and explains that he was not the target, and he just wanted to buy some weapons. They drive to Jimmy's warehouse where Church purchases a sniper rifle.

Church travels to his hideout near a monastery and within sight of Kitty Kat, a Jong Ang Gang club. While Church is eating, Mae arrives. After interrogating her, he ties her up and gags her. The next day Mae is suffering from drug withdrawal, but Church won't let her leave. That night the Chang Cao attack Kitty Kat, and Church fires at them from his lookout. The attack is repulsed and the survivors tell Boss Katha there were snipers, which again is unlike the Jong Ang.

In the morning Church forces Mae to help him find her former owners (Chang Cao Gang) by threatening to kill the monks. Mae takes him to a landfill, where she reveals she joined a church mission because her father sold her to them. She then takes him to a building with many Chang Cao gang members. Church returns to his client who wants to break the contract, but Church says the agreement was for all the gang members that killed his daughter.

Back at Kitty Kat, Boss Katha and Advisor Bhun have brought the Jong Ang a white elephant as a peace offering. On the way back, Katha tells Bhun he did a good job making the truce, and that his decision for his successor is torn between Bhun and his son.

Church revisits Jimmy to buy another gun. However, Jimmy says the Chang Cao Gang, which Church has been killing, allows him to operate his business and doesn't want to anger them. Church insists and they drive to another hidden weapon cache, where he buys a much more powerful anti-material rifle (AM). Jimmy is convinced Church's new mission is suicide. Church breaks Jimmy's nose to make it appear as a robbery.

Church makes his way to a rooftop in view of the Chang Cao Gang building Mae showed him. After opening fire, he sees that Mae is inside. He is then shot by a sniper, returns fire, but the gun jams. After being shot again, he abandons his gun and hides in an alley as gang members rush by. To make his escape, he hijacks one of the gang's trucks and retreats under a hail of gunfire into oncoming traffic. After stopping he opens the back of the truck to find Mae and several wounded girls. Offering them freedom, most want to go back, thinking they will be found and killed for escaping.

Badly wounded Church leaves in a taxi with Mae, who says she was at the building because she was telling the gang if they stopped what they were doing, Church would stop killing them. The driver keeps glancing back at Church during the conversation and tells Church he is crazy. Mae leads Church back to the monastery where the monks bandage his wounds and draw symbols on his body.

Advisor Bhun and Boss Katha are mad at the failure to kill Church and inspect the gun he left behind. Bhun takes it to Jimmy who lies about it being stolen by an imaginary robber. Bhun doesn't believe him and orders his men to watch Jimmy.

Church has strange dreams of Mae, then awakes in the monastery. He leaves immediately and kills the snipers watching Jimmy's club, taking one of their cellphones. Church wants to buy another gun, but Jimmy refuses. Church answers the gang member's cellphone asks Jimmy if he wants to talk to Boss Katha. Jimmy impersonates a Thai weapons dealer to avoid being connected to Church. Church finally threatens Jimmy at gunpoint and they return to the warehouse, where Church buys a shotgun.

Church arranges a meeting with Rajahdon, but hides outside until Rajahdon leaves. Church follows him back to a brothel and pays for a room. After entering the room, he asks the girl if Rajahdon is the boss and where he is. She tells him the boss is upstairs, but then raises the alarm. Church kills all the guards on the way to the boss, Rajahdon. Church confronts him for lying about an imaginary daughter, but he says he'll double the payment if Church kills Advisor Bhun.

Jimmy is tortured into giving up who Church is, but tells Advisor Bhun that Church will kill them all. Church goes to the forest outside the gang's headquarters, and sees a ghostly Mae through his rifle scope. Wind and leaves paint the symbols back on him the monks had drawn. He then fights his way to compound, killing all the guards, first using his sniper rifle then switching to a handgun and knife. He then leaps through the bushes and slits Advisor Bhun's neck. He sees Mae riding a white elephant toward him and wakes up at his hideout. He tells Mae his business is finished in Bangkok. Church then wakes up and it is revealed the previous fight sequence was all just a dream.

Boss Katha and Advisor Bhun discuss how to find Church when Rajahdon walks in. It is then revealed that Rajahdon is Katha's son. The planned assassination of Bhun and the gang war was secretly intended by Rajhadoon as a means for him to ascend to power. With Bhun out of the way, Rajhadon would kill Church and win himself back into his fathers good graces. Rajahdon says he will take care of Church himself. Church calls Jimmy to tell him he's leaving, but wants Jimmy to take care of Mae. Jimmy tells Rajahdon that Church is leaving, but Rajahdon still wants to kill Church to assure his position as successor to Boss Katha.

Church returns to his hideout and gives Mae a white dress, thanking her for all her help. He makes her promise to wait there for Jimmy. While Church is waiting for his flight at the airport, Jimmy calls and tells him that no one was at his hideout. Rajahdon hears the conversation and sends his men to the airport, however Church is already leaving to find Mae and sees them first. He steals one of their parked cars and drives to the monastery to find many of the monks killed. He enters the hideout and sees the white dress left behind.

Church drives to the gang headquarters and crashes through the wall into the room where Boss Katha and Advisor Bhun are. Church holds Katha hostage while Jimmy and Rajahdon arrive. Church begins to tell Katha about the bounty Rajahdon placed on Bhun, so Rajahdon tries to shoot him, but Jimmy kills Rajahdon first. The guards then shoot Jimmy. Church takes a picture of Mae off the wall and Katha says she was the first girl he brought in. Bhun says that was thirty years ago. Church is confused, but agrees to a deal for all of Katha's girls. Jimmy and Church leave with the girls, but Church tells Jimmy he has to go back. Jimmy says he will make sure the girls get help.

Cast

• Djimon Hounsou ... Curtie Church
• Kevin Bacon ... Jimmy the Brit
• Jirantanin Pitakporntrakul ... Mae
• Weeraprawat Wongpuapan ... Boss Katha
• Abhijati 'Meuk' Jusakul ... Advisor Bhun
• Sahajak Boonthanakit ... Rajahdon
• Ron Smoorenburg ... Bodyguard
• Byron Gibson ... Bodyguard

Marketing

At the beginning of the film, in a shot showcasing Bangkok is a billboard advertising The Expendables, which was also made by Nu Image/Millennium Films the previous year.

Home media

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on May 17, 2011.^[1]

References

External links

• Elephant White at the Internet Movie Database
• Elephant White at allmovie
• Elephant White at the TCM Movie Database