Sorapong Chatri Movies

Muay Thai martial arts master Tony Jaa returns to deliver a bone-breaking barrage of knees and elbows in this action opus that finds the star not only delivering blows in front of the camera, but calling the shots behind it as well. Despite the title's indication of this film as a sequel to 2003's Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, this movie has no narrative connection to the events of the earlier work, despite the fact that both films star Jaa. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Inspired by a true story, this drama from Thailand tells the story of Nong Toom (Asanee Suwan), who was born in a small community where his family struggled with poverty, and Nong Toom himself was the target of bullies who made fun of his delicate nature. From his early childhood, Nong Toom felt more like a girl than a boy, and when he encounters a transsexual for the first time, he comes to the realization that he also is a woman trapped in a man's body. While Nong Toom is not by his nature aggressive, one day he is forced to fight a bully to defend one of his friends, and he discovers he has a natural talent for kickboxing. Nong Toom begins training with a skilled kickboxing coach, Pi Chart (Sorapong Chatri), but despite the best efforts of Nong Toom and his best friend Pi Bua (Natcha Bootsri), the secret of his unorthodox sexuality leaks out. To his surprise, Pi Chart accepts Nong Toom as he is, and boxing promoter Pi Mo (Somsak Tuangmukda) embraces his lifestyle as a marketable gimmick, as the fighter now battles his opponents while wearing makeup -- and wins more often than not; however, Nong Toom begins to alienate his new following when he declares that his embrace of women's clothing and makeup is not a joke and that he's saving his prize money to one day have a sex-change operation. While Beautiful Boxer was based on the life story of Thai kickboxing champ Nong Toom Prinya Charoenphol, the fighter himself did not actively participate in the making of the film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A crucial moment in the history of Thailand comes to life in this epic-scale historical drama, written and directed by Chatrichalem Yukol, a member of the Thai royal family. In 1528, Ayuthaya (the nation which would become Thailand) was divided into two kingdoms, north and south, and beautiful Suriyothai (M.L. Piyapas Bhirombhhakdi), a member of the southern kingdom's royal family, loves Piren (Chatchai Plengpanich). Early in her life, however, Suriyothai comes to the realization that her duty to the people of Ayuthaya outweighs her personal needs, and she instead weds Prince Tiren (Sarunyoo Wongkrachang), whose father is the ruler of the northern kingdom. After the death of Tiren's father, the king of the southern nation makes a bid for power by seizing control of the North, but he has chosen as his consort Srisudachan (Siriwimol Charoenpura), a woman with nefarious alliances, and soon the king and his queen are battling for control of Ayuthaya. As chaos reigns at home, the ruler of neighboring Burma, King Tabinshweti (Suphakit Tangthatswasd), sees this as a perfect opportunity to conquer Ayuthaya, and he soon leads his armies in a bloody invasion. With the leadership of the twin nations in tatters, Suriyothai bravely commands Ayuthaya's troops from atop an elephant in a final battle for freedom. Filmed on a budget of 11 million dollars, Suriyothai was the most expensive film ever produced in Thailand, and went on to become a massive box-office success in that country. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A pair of feisty fellas fight the furious foe in this chop socky adventure. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

In this hard-nosed Thai action/thriller, a hitman with a tragic wartime past comes up against a cold-blooded policeman, too cowardly to have fought in any war -- but not cowardly when it comes to killing his own unarmed victims. When the hitman goes to rescue his son from a hospital room -- set as a trap for him, the policeman tracks him down and the final fight between good and evil begins. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Sirin (Jarunee Sooksawat) is a schoolteacher with a classic problem: one of her students misbehaves on a regular basis, but she can do nothing about it because he happens to be the son of the school's patron and principle financial backer. The little boy is a cherub at home, so no one -- not even his fair-minded brother -- can believe that he is doing anything wrong at school. Now Sirin's problem has just gotten worse because she caught the little kleptomaniac in the act of stealing -- should she just give up and let the incident go, or should she try, once and for all, to wake up his powerful father to his misdemeanors and risk the consequences? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

For English-speaking audiences, one of the more unusual aspects of this Thai action film is the name of its producer, Pornpimol Poopilomlat. The film itself, however, hews fairly close to the director Kom Akadaet's popular technique of exploiting fight scenes as much as possible. Parakote (Sombat Metanee) is the father of an illegitimate child named Phayu (Sorapong Chatri). The two are destined to team up against their common enemies, and Phayu eventually learns the truth about his birth. The last, long gunfight determines which of the main protagonists will survive, and which will not. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Jula Treekul is a singularly cliched Thai romantic drama set in India and featuring the overworked theme of doomed lovers. Because a queen has violated the moral code imposed on her by a strict society, she is drowned in the Jula Treekul River. Her crime was an illicit love affair. As time goes by, her daughter is forced into an arranged marriage and ultimately meets the same fate as her mother, for the same crime against society. In the meantime, the country is plagued by unrest and when not killing off their queens, the citizens are killing off each other in very strange battle scenes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In childhood, Rongram (Pismai Wilaisak) was expected to do everything better than her siblings, and was punished horribly for failing to do so. No latitude was extended to her, in contrast to the treatment given to her better-looking younger sister. When she grows up, she becomes a powerful petty tyrant, exacting revenge on a sort for the events of her childhood. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Saeng and Prang (Sorapong Chatri and Vidya Umarin) are a husband and wife who live on a houseboat on the Chao Phya river in Thailand. In this film, they are travelling up the river at the end of a long line of barges to make port at a tourist spot. Also on board are Prang's sister Tabtim (Lalana Sulawan) and an infant. When Prang goes missing, Saeng looks for her for a long time before concluding that she cannot be found. His eye then lights upon his sister-in-law as a possible mate. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Censorship forced this Thai sex comedy to be rewritten. In it, five schoolgirls get up to mischief and mayhem. It was rewritten to allow them to discover the error of their ways, though they are prevented from warning five other girls whom they see are preparing to do much the same things they did. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi