The long awaited movie about Pahuyuth Muay Thai Chaiya is out the end of August in Thailand. More info and trailer here:

http://www.kungfucinema.com/news/2007/072902.html

MUAY THAI CHAIYA, a new martial arts movie from director Kongkait Komesiri is gearing up for release in Thailand on August 30th and I’ve found a few goodies to share. An incomplete official web site is up with basic information about the production and the cast. There’s also new poster art out (see left) and a trailer up on Youtube (see below).

The film takes place in a rural Thai village in the mid-1970s and stars Akara Amarttayakul, Thawatchai Penpakdee and Sonthaya Chitmanee as three friends training at a Thai boxing camp, each with aspirations of becoming champion fighters.

Tew (Samart Payakarun), the father of Amarttayakul’s character, Paik, shows up and trains the three young men in the ancient art of Muay Thai Chaiya after they became interested in his old training manual. The variant of standard Muay Thai emphasizes defensive fighting techniques to exploit the opponent’s weaknesses. The trio take this training with them to Bangkok to test their skills in the capitol’s professional boxing rings.

The film lacks star power and mainstream pizzazz akin to the Hong Kong-inspired action of BORN TO FIGHT director Panna Rittikrai. Yet based on the gritty action in the trailer and Komesiri’s year-long historical research that formed the backbone of the movie, MUAY THAI CHAIYA looks set to become one of the most authentic and hard-biting Muay Thai movies to date.

TRaILER HERE

This looks cool. Here's some more info about the film:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muay_Thai_Chaiya

Did anyone get a chance to see this?

saw it. didn't like it.

What didn't you like about it, anurak?

I just got it, I'll review it when I'm done watching it.

the plot was waaaaaaaaay too convoluted. i think the story should have been told in a tv drama instead (tv dramas in thailand are usually approximately 10 or 11 2-hour episodes and usually have over-developed stories). it felt like the plotlines of the movie were never explored in depth / there wasn't enough character development or plot development.

the action was mediocre at best. neither of the main stars actually showed any real skill. i liked that the movie tried to show muay chaiya's effectiveness in both real-world fighting and in-ring fighting, but the art of muay chaiya seemed like it was just another under-explored plot device. i think the movie did succeed in showing muay chaiya as a viable art for people who don't have tony jaa's seemingly super-human abilities, but i also think that wasn't intentional.

after i watched it, my first thought was "i can't possibly dislike this movie as much as i think i do right now... i should give it another shot." but i still haven't been able to convince myself that the movie is worth giving another shot.

I watched the movie for 10 minutes, turned it off, and put on John Woo's "The Killer" instead.

I finally saw this movie today and I still don't know what to think about it... It's not really my kind of movie...