 |  | Impressive Thai war film that gets extra marks for the lead characters incredible mustache(yeah, you read that right!) |  |
Even the proud proclamaition of "Oliver Stone presents" across the top of the DVD wasn't enough to get the masses to check this out... it's a shame too because this is a borderline great(albeit flawed) Thai war epic based on actual historic events. The story follows the tale of a small Siamese village and it's legendary ability to repeatably withstand the invading Burmese empire. Although made with a meager budget(especially in comparison to it's American contemporaries), Bang Rajan is able to deliver in most of the areas necessary to make a war movie work. The battles are filmed well(although the fight at the begining is too dark and shaky for it's own good, thankfully this isn't a continuing trend throughout the rest of the picture) and provides enough cringe worthy moments to keep the ugly realism of war intact(arrows through necks, severed limbs, bashed heads, etc.). A strong musical score fits nicely too, and really helps propel both the action as well as the more dramatic beats. Honestly there is only one thing that holds this movie back... character development. Unfortunately nearly all of the characters are one-dimensional cardboard cutouts(i.e., the drunken warrior, the emotionless leader, the soon-to-be father) who get very little backstory(if any) and are basically the same at the end of the film as they were at their inception(except maybe dead). Don't get me wrong, you still like the characters, however; it's more because you feel for their plight and that they are shown to be good and honorable people(while the Burmese are portrayed as a souless conquering horde) rather than having any growing ties to them. There are definite moments that would have been far more poignant with more expansion of the characters. Another reviewer stated that they felt the acting wasn't up to par, which seems a tad unfair. The film is subtitled so I would argue the difficulty to judge the acting completely without being able to understand the actual delivery of the dialogue. The characters are strong and stoic(especially the leader of Bang Rajan, who it should be noted sports a killer mustache!) and are prepared to sacrifice everything for their freedom, and that comes across perfectly I thought. As Americans we've been spoiled with some truly great and epic war films, Bang Rajan isn't quite on their level BUT it's still a very good film that fans of the genre(and mustaches!) should catch at least once.
March 7, 2008if you like "300" (the movie), you will like this one. Same story line. I actully think that "300" director got inspirayion by "Bang Rajan".
June 12, 2007This film tells the story of a great battle where a group of village of Thai villages held off a major army from Burma history. The story itself, I found well explained. I found the story line appeared to be weak. The acting I thought was poor. The action was okay.
If you are going to do a movie like this, I think you need to spend more money then what people did on this movie.
May 17, 2006the stroyline of the screenplay is a little shallow, but the directing, acting, camera are all good, especially the stunt, the choregraphic design of the fight scenes are amazingly fantastic. the only problem i found in thai historical movie is the hairdo. almost every one of the male and female roles in this movie are with hairdos that only hairdressers could have done and with lot of gel used. but again, the alamo-like fighting scenes are so vicious and realistic just like what best korean movies could deliver.
March 21, 2006The emotion this film captures breaks all language barriers. Dramatic, Action packed, and Powerful. Everyone will love it.
November 20, 2005More reviews at Amazon.com ...
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