General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20265 min read

Mayhem! (film)

Mayhem! is a 2023 French action thriller directed by Xavier Gens, released internationally under its original title Farang, a Thai word meaning "foreigner". It stars Nassim Lyes as Sam, a French ex-convict and martial artist who rebuilds his life in Thailand, and Olivier Gourmet as the crime lord Narong.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Original title	Farang (Thai for "foreigner"); retitled Mayhem! for English-speaking release²
Director and writers	Xavier Gens; screenplay by Gens, Magali Rossitto, and Guillaume Lemans, with Stéphane Cabel collaborating³
Lead cast	Nassim Lyes (Sam), Loryn Nounay (Mia), Olivier Gourmet (Narong), Vithaya Pansringarm (Hansa), Chananticha Chaipa (Dara)³
Runtime and format	99 minutes, color, 2.39 aspect ratio, French-language production¹
Release	France 28 June 2023; United States limited theatrical and streaming release 5 January 2024 through IFC Films¹^•⁴
Reception	81% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (27 reviews) and 52% on the Popcornmeter; Metascore 55; IMDb rating 6.3/10 from about 3,700 votes⁴^•⁵
US box office	$6.0K gross in the United States⁴

Spoilers

Plot

Sam (Nassim Lyes) is a professional boxer nearing release from a French prison. While on parole, his past catches up with him and he is forced to flee the country. Five years later he lives on an island in Thailand with his wife Mia (Loryn Nounay) and her daughter Dara (Chananticha Chaipa), working several jobs to support the family and buy land for a restaurant. A job gone wrong puts him in the crosshairs of the local crime lord Narong (Olivier Gourmet), who retaliates with brutal violence against his family; Sam survives and sets out on a revenge campaign across Thailand.⁴^•⁶

Production and action design

The film was produced in 2022 as a 100% French production, with Vincent Roget and Dimitri Stephanides as producers and production companies including Same Player, WTFilms, StudioCanal, The Ink Connection, France 2 Cinéma, and Two Suns Productions.¹^•⁴ Jean-Pierre Taïeb composed the score, Gilles Porte was the cinematographer, and Jude Poyer served as second unit director, working with Gens on the fight choreography.³^•⁷

The star's fighting background. Nassim Lyes is a former MMA fighter, described by the Fantasia International Film Festival as handling the film's emotions as well as its intense action; Polygon's review identifies him as a former national champion kickboxer whose grounded choreography is central to the film's effect.⁸^•⁵ Lyes described the elevator fight as especially demanding, saying the scene was already edited by the end of the week in which he was covered in fake blood and guts.⁹

Reviewers repeatedly singled out the staging of the fights. The review site Disappointment Media judged the fights "incredibly complex while still remarkably clear", and Eye for Film wrote that the action is "so impressively delivered that you might miss the storytelling it's doing at the same time".⁷^•¹⁰ Frequently cited set pieces include a hallway brawl compared to Oldboy and a close-quarters elevator battle with knives and guns.¹¹

Release

Mayhem! had its international premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on 8 August 2023, presented in Thai and French with English subtitles, and screened at genre festivals including Slash Film Festival and FrightFest under the title Farang.⁸^•² It opened in France on 28 June 2023.¹ IFC Films acquired the film for the United States, retitled it Mayhem!, and released it in limited theaters and on streaming on 5 January 2024.²^•⁴ The US theatrical run was small: CinéDweller reports it opened on 24 screens and grossed $8,510, while Rotten Tomatoes lists a US gross of $6.0K.¹²^•⁴ The film later streamed on Disney+, Hulu, and AMC+ in the United States.⁴

Reception

Critical response was divided between praise for the action and criticism of the story's pacing. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 81% Tomatometer from 27 reviews against a 52% audience score, and its Metascore is 55, labeled "Mixed or Average".⁴^•⁵ Positive reviews emphasized the choreography: Polygon called the combination of camera movement and grounded fight work "a mesmerizing experience", and Kat Hughes of THN gave it 5/5, calling it "an emotionally charged, adrenaline-soaked revenge story that features some of the best fight sequences in modern cinema".⁵^•⁴

The pacing critique. The most common objection, raised by RogerEbert.com, The Daily Beast, Slant Magazine, and Paste, was that the film spends too long on setup before delivering its violence. Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com wrote that the first half "spins its wheels in set-up that feels like it takes forever", and Slant Magazine called it "a run-of-the-mill revenge flick that practically crawls toward its preordained destination".¹¹^•⁵ Critics frequently measured the film against The Raid and John Wick: RogerEbert.com noted an opening that "portends 'The Raid'-esque non-stop action", and Elements of Madness called John Wick (2014) the closest single comparison, while some audience reviewers found the action bland beside those series.¹¹^•²^•⁴ The film received one award nomination: a 2024 Golden Trailer nomination for Best Foreign Action Trailer.¹³

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action thrillers, 2020s › Crime, assassin, and vigilante thrillers › Titles M to Y

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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