Puen yai jon salad
Tags: revenge

Plot synopsis:
Queen Hijau (The Green Queen) of Pattani faces overthrow by the rebel Prince Rawai, who is allied with pirate captain Black Raven. The pirates attempt to capture a huge cannon built by Dutchman Janis Bree and Chinese inventor Lim Kiam, but the Dutch ship carrying the cannon blows up and the cannons sink into the sea.
Meanwhile, an orphaned sea gypsy boy named Pari (meaning "stingray") lies in a fishing village which is constantly under attack by Black Raven's raiding parties. The boy, gifted in the magical art of Dulum, is taken by his uncle Anyar to learn the magical ways of the ocean from White Ray. However, the sage refuses to teach the boy. Nevertheless, Pari is soon able to communicate with the marine life. He grows into manhood and fights against Black Raven's pirates.
Black Raven, who also a practitioner in the Dulum ocean magical arts, has been trying unsuccessfully to raise the huge cannon from the sea.
The local ruler, Queen Hijau, wants her own large cannon and seeks out Lim Kiam, whom she finds is living in the sea gypsy village. She sends away her sisters, Princess Biru (The Blue Princess) and Princess Ungu (The Purple Princess). They are under the protection of the queen's loyal commander, the fierce silat exponent Lord Yarang.
Yarang comes under attack at the village by Black Raven's. Pari helps fight off the pirates, and Yarang escapes. Princess Ungu was thought to have been killed, but she was rescued by Pari and taken to White Ray's remote island.
A romance develops between Ungu and Pari, but Ungu is intended to marry the Prince of Pahang, an important ally of Langkasuka. Pari himself is still tortured by memories of the death of his childhood sweetheart at the hands of Black Raven's men.
Pari encounters Black Ray, an evil, unstable alter ego of White Ray, and begins to learn more about Dulum and the conflict between the black and white sides of the magic.
Eventually, all the forces - the rebel prince, the pirates, the ocean sorcerers, the queen and the princesses - battle for the sunken cannon. During this battle, Black Raven uses a pair of whales to tow a raft with a heavy cannon into range of the castle walls. Pari - previously presumed to be dead - responds by rising from the ocean, standing on the back of a manta ray. He calls to the whales who slip their bonds and breach, landing on and destroying Black Raven's raft

Review: Thai Aquaman meets Pirates of the Caribbean. I saw the English subtitled version at the Montreal Fantasia festival in a fully-crowded theater. I found it to be surprisingly good and of high quality. "Queens" is a fantasy adventure which tells the story of a small kingdom ruled by a queen with 2 daughters (although they look more like sisters, the movie title is confusing and I don't remember it being clearly explained in the film) who are plagued by pirates and a rebel prince. In the preview, they seemed to be proud announcing it was made for over 20 million US dollars, which might not seem a lot by American standards but probably a huge budget in Thailand. Anyways, the money certainly shows on-screen and the visual effects are overall quite impressive with their computer origins not really showing that much. Despite the title of the film and the importance of the queen and princesses, the main characters are an orphaned boy with the potential for Aquaman-type magical powers and the young bodyguard of the queen. This is not a super-hero movie by any stretch of the imagination despite the Aquaman analogy. The actor who plays the orphan looked the part (when adult) and showed strong dramatic intensity especially in non-speaking parts. He could have looked ludicrous at certain points but he sells the role and nobody ever laughed at him during the screening. The bodyguard was rather stoic and earnest but had the most impressive sword fighting scenes and you root for him because of his nobility. Let's mention also an hermit water magic master White Ray and his rival Black Ray (not to confuse with Black Raven) who were fascinating memorable characters. The queen and daughters were OK, especially the younger fighting one, but they were overshadowed by the men. The evil-doers, most of them pirates, were appropriately menacing and despicable but one can only wish they had a little more characterization beyond their looks. I refer to Pirates of the Caribbean in the title of this review but there are no undead, nor is this film intended to be funny or amusing.The water magic powers (called Du Lum) were very cool, especially the "sonic scream" and I loved the underwater scenes that were very well lit and filmed. The sound effects were a bit exaggerated but they helped make the action and explosions more striking. "Queens" is a serious fantasy adventure but at its core it's also a melodrama rife with romance, revenge, tragedy and betrayal (all the good stuff). The audience I was with laughed at 2 dramatic scenes but otherwise didn't laugh so take of this what you will (I think one time was unwarranted, the other was an actress overacting a bit with a booger hanging from her nose). The ending was appropriately epic and exciting but those boats sure didn't move fast. The audience cheered a few times in the last act and applauded at the end of the screening. I found the story interesting but at a little over 2 hours, some might think it feels long (I didn't). This is apparently the talented director's dream project and his love for it shines through. It could have been a corny artificial-looking b-movie mess, it turned out epic yet artful. Overall, I really enjoyed the film and I would suggest catching it if you can. Rating: 7.5 out of 10. Malaysian Queen and Princesses and soldiers protecting their kingdom from the Black Raven Pirates.. THIS MOVIE IS AWESOMEEE.... THe scenery and feeling is very much like  Pirates of the Caribbean, although the characters of the movies are a  bit more special.The special effects are not that great but i don't  think Hollywood could have made it better anyways. The scenes looked  very good, The photography is very much different from other Thai  movies. The soundtrack annoyed me abit, well so did other action movies  soundtrack. Ananda Everingham was great as always. I absolutely loved  it. its really shows what Thais are capable of. This movie has lots of  action scenes. Non-stop action. Some of the scenes reminds me of movies  like Troy, etc. The romance is really cute. The acting was good. Love  it!!!. A bad copy-cat of Pirate of the Caribbean.. Awefully bad film...The plot is all over the places and too naive, childish. The special effects are not good, look so much digitalized and some are really looked like toys. The melodrama of the characters are funny, staged, lacks of depth. Even the name of the pirate is Black Raven makes us think about Black Pearl in the Pirate of the Caribbean...come on, can you come up with a better name than that or you just want the audience to think this is a Thailand version copycat of Pirate of the Caribbean?If i would compare this one with another Asian epic war film like Red Cliff of John Woo, well, this one deserves a generous 2/10. I rented this film in the video club because it was in the Fantasia festival in Montreal last year but i could not attend. I would not, definitely not recommended this film to anyone because i cant find any good thing to say about this film.. If you like bizarre fantasy Thai martial arts set in Indonesia, this is for you. This film is meant to be serious and that is probably a drawback. It is not funny in the Pirates of the Caribbean sort of fantasy way, yet it has similar characteristics and might even be considered a rip off, if Pirates wasn't already a rip off of a cheesy Disney ride. So put all that aside. The story is epic and full of holes, based on a magical type of martial art where you fight with fish. OK, you don't actually fight with fish, but you use fish as part of your power. Got it? This is serious stuff, fighting with fish. Anyway, people breathe underwater, make sonic screams, and hang out a lot with fish. Just saying, if you like bizarre Thai martial arts films, this is certainly one of the more bizarre. Oh yeah, there's one guy with a sword that really kicks some serious ass.If you prefer your bizarre Thai martial arts films to be less fantastical, may I recommend "Chocolate?"