"Edge Of The Empire" is based on a 1973 novel by Sanya Pholprasit. Set in southern Mongolia over 1,000 years ago, a small tribe called Tai was a colony under the power of the Great Han who e... Read all"Edge Of The Empire" is based on a 1973 novel by Sanya Pholprasit. Set in southern Mongolia over 1,000 years ago, a small tribe called Tai was a colony under the power of the Great Han who enslaved them. Oppressed by the Han, the Tai unites to strike back for their freedom, justi... Read all"Edge Of The Empire" is based on a 1973 novel by Sanya Pholprasit. Set in southern Mongolia over 1,000 years ago, a small tribe called Tai was a colony under the power of the Great Han who enslaved them. Oppressed by the Han, the Tai unites to strike back for their freedom, justice, and country. This Thai historical epic revolves around heroes who sacrificed themselve... Read all
Storyline
Edge of the Empire's uneasy overall feel begins with a title sequence imbued by that of graphic novel iconography, with it a voice-over detailing the horrific liquidation of various villages and those of whom were young enough to escape and set up new societies. These people live in peace with one another, they accept the past and do not seek vengeance; they fight, but it is preordained for means of sport between the various newfound establishments and stands in stark contrast to that of later societies invading their space. The film covers young Lampoon (Thanakorn), a man whom, in spite of existing many centuries ago and in poverty, is a toned and muscular individual. With Lampoon arrives his sister Bunchawee (Sontirod), a young woman whom spends most of her screen-time looking like a model who has just arrived following the engaging in a specially themed Native American princess shoot. She's in love with a young lad, someone who's actually in the nearby Han dynasty, those guilty for the liquidation during the opening – a dynasty still rather angry that some of them got away.
Things kick off when a young Han warlord arrives with a group of anonymous henchmen to invade the peaceful; tranquil; butterfly-ridden haven of the village – but he and his men are easily dispatched. This angers Qin, the Han chief, and he dislodges the village's mayor-of-sorts with his own: a cackling, sadistic, power-mad individual named Litongjia (Suwanbang) whom we first see making use of a brothel's facilities, despite already being married. With Litongjia arrive scenes of the man that are drenched in a hue of blood red, echoing his overall role of bringing about murder; a sense of fire and brimstone enrapturing all around him additionally arriving as he stands on his perches dishing out pain and punishment, something that sees Kaljareuk construct a demon-like presence about the man. With his coming to power, Litongjia happens to illegalise all actions and ways of life that Lampoon and Bunchawee live by; so no relationships with Han's and no more weapons allowed rendering Lampoon, a sword-maker, redundant: what a coincidence.
The villagers in the various townships, and their now oppressive living conditions, combine their fighting spirits and create a droll, repetitive arc for the film to bed into; something which depressingly draws on inspiration from that of video games in that with each General arriving and failing, the next 'level' of bosses or antagonists that the characters must effectively foil becomes apparent – the whole thing building, as is in a standard video game framework, to that of a huge confrontation with the 'big' boss and his armies. A terrible sequence sees an archer remarkably intercept three of Litongjia's arrows with that of his own, and yet is unable to just put one through the guy's neck thus saving all manner of bother and life. Throughout, Kaljareuk strikes us an an enthusiastic director but one with a lot left to learn; his hopping from an awfully executed rape sequence to the casual execution of helpless innocents, which is incidentally shot as if an action sequence in its rabid cutting and crash zooming, reeks of a man drawing the audience into offense as things escalate from rape to genocide to that of the threat of a child being murdered.
Kaljareuk's film is mostly, if not entirely, complete nonsense from its beginning to its end; principally, the film falling into that deathly unforgivable trap of entrusting sequences of warfare happening to double up as sequences of action, and as a result, ought to be shot accordingly; that spectacular scenes of on-rushing 'sides' in a battle is exciting, and that the capturing of it as sheer spectacle is how it ought to be done. Some of its content wouldn't necessarily go amiss in a film like Schindler's List, other content wouldn't necessarily feel out of place in a Stephen Chow movie, whereas the persistent overhanging sense of it geared towards that of a juvenile audience distracts greatly from what should essentially be a harrowing tale of tyranny and oppression. If one were to be caught looking for a recent film, from that continent of Asia, about war and oppression and all the nastiness that comes with that, but explored properly as well as played truthfully and correctly, then one must incline one towards seeing Chuan Lu's City of Life and Death; and by all means possible, are recommended to steer clear of this nonsense.
- johnnyboyz
- Jun 19, 2011
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Edge of the Empire - Der Kampf um das Königreich
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $3,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $103,432
- Runtime1 hour 57 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1