Set right before the fall of Thailand's old capital, Ayuttaya, Bang Rajan draws on the legend of a village of fighters who bravely fended off the Burmese armies. With no support from the Royal army, the villagers drives the invading Burmese away many times until their names have become legendary during the time. As each subsequent battles becomes fiercer, the villagers tries to forge a canon to battle the enemy in a final battle where everyone, women and children included, die in combat.
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Reviews
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
Blistering performances.
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Let's start with the positive aspects of this film : Firstly the baseline is rather unique and very strong. A village is opposing an invading army. Where profesionnal soldiers run, ordinary villagers are determined to make a stand, to the last man if need be.Secondly the potential of the characters is very strong. Instead of trained soldiers we see ordinary people and their family. Instead of one hero, there are several protagonists.Thirdly the final act is simply grand. The fact that heroes appear mortal ads to the realism and the emotional impact of the film.Finally the film has some very good ideas and strong images like the guard ignoring command and leaving his post, the burning of the dead or the explosion of a self forged canon.Continuing with the downsides however : The viewer doesn't get a clear view of the map of the village and its defences. It is also unclear how the birmese army command is composed and what their soldiers geographical position is in respect to the village. This makes the attack on the village difficult to follow.The characters of the main villagers should have been more developed. It would have been very interesting to see them in their everyday life before the war.The actors are all rather plain, without great facial expression or gestures. Their foreign names are hard to remember and all but the protagonists look the same. The English dubbing obviously also spoils part of the emotional impact.At first the fighting scenes are rather clinic. People are hacking away at each other but there is hardly any close up or blood and guts flying around. Mostly in the final act we see actual butchering and gore.The storyline is meandering and sometimes chaotic. Direction is not very tight and straight forward.In conclusion the film certainly has a lot of merits. However, a western remake in a medieval setting with a straighter storyline, more development of character and a better geographical picture would take this story to the absolute triumph it deserves.
I assume this to be one of the pittiest movies I have ever seen. It would be sheer flattery to call it a "b" movie. If the fighters from Bang Rajan could come to future, smashing the heads of this films authors would be on top of their to-do list, I guess. Watching till the bitter end makes you think what a bunch of ludicrous posers those guys must have been (they were dead serious, mind you). However there is definite advantage for people involved in making this: You cant be criticized. Who would dare to have something against the heroes of Bang Rajan? I have nothing against them. The scriptwriter certainly does. It has no storyline whatsoever, it is NOT believable and the fighting scene at the end is surpassing my poor English vocabulary(vulgarisms aside). For extreme Rambo fans this film might seem a helluva good movie. You don't mind the lack of substantial conversation, yeah, who cares about that sh*t, there's bloood, buckets of bloood. And the sound of swords cutting human meat, insane "heroism" for no reason at all, hmm, the dying part is a bit out of place, but all in all, this one is banging!
I had the privilege of watching this on its release in Pattaya Thailand, What can i say? William Wallace, pack your bags and go home! This film makes Brave Heart look like Noddy in Toy Town. The choreography of the fight scenes was Fantastic-probably the best I've seen! And funnily enough i didn't understand a Bloody word! The buffalo in the fights is allegedly a genetic throw back to prehistoric times and died shortly after filming, its horns are supposedly over 12feet long! It is now in the Thai National Museum. Thats the History lesson over! Anyhow shortly after i was so bedazzled by this Film i received a VCD copy from a friend in Thailand, Since then I've been amazed by the fact it wasn't released in the UK with subtitles, lets face it we've got Bloody Bollywood and its Crap, we've got some super Gangsta Brit Flicks, the Japs some Fantastic Action-Gangsta movies & the Germans some pretty cool Hardcore! So having seen a number of Thai films inc 1 serious funny comedy about the army--Why Why Why don't we have a movement for Thai movies! After all Hollywood seems to be churning out the same old drivel time after time and with the exception of a few directors, & would do well to watch some of these movies- Super films low budgets and good story lines! As opposed to the same old formulae time and again with Budgets that could wipe out 3rd world debts!(Mr Spielburg)So if anybody knows where i can get an English subtitled version you'd make this 'Tingtong' a very happy man!Keep smiling guysG
***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** zTagline: there are brave hearts but not the "Braveheart"... It has good of its own, but don't compare it with "Braveheart". Braveheart does has much much more to offer. However Bang-Rajan is just war and survival, it may have something else but definitely not deep enough to deliver!! An disappointment if compare to Braveheart.Battle scenes are still "not-bad", a bit messy. Not as powerful, just chops & slashes. The camera angles are jumpy too. Nonetheless, i think they have done a serious job. Good enough for its own name. ***spoilerz***...till the last, even women will go to fight... There's a scene in the last battle i thought which COULD BE the very and the most powerful scene in the movie was when E Taeng Aon got shot on her chest, fell to the arm of her man, both wounded badly. As he was holding her close, also tried desperately to fought off the enemies around them, just sadly powerful. BUT the next second, where the disappointment came, camera changed to he was looking at her, dying, dead, he screamed her name!! That took a total of 10 seconds till he got a fatal sword slash on his back, he died. Personally, i think the 1st part is perfect, but the last part is just there to destroy the 1st, totally wasted. It could have been done in a much much better way, sadly wasted...