Yamada: Samurai of Ayothaya

The only good thing in this movie is Buakaw Banchamek, enough said. The action scenes with Buakaw in it is very good but story and the lead character are crap.

Watched it only because of Buakaw. Buakaw is my favorite Muay Thai fighter ever. The plot is simple and the story is crap. I would say if you take Buakaw as the lead character the movie would have been a whole lot better than this.

Under average movie about the morals of fighters, what a true fighter respects and how he confronts the death issue. The story and acting scenes could have been better. Hope you enjoy it the same as i did.

Highway to heaven (or hell for all I know) that is. A very OTT movie, that does not involve much acting, but does rely on a historic event (though you won't be alone if that "fact" brings up a chuckle or two, especially during the movie). The fighting is pretty good, the (obvious) CGI not that much.

Language switches between Japanese and Thai, while the story goes places you will expect it to go (no surprises there). There are of course better movies out there, but if you are a fan of "eastern" movies you can risk a look at this. Especially if you don't mind the (CGI) blood that'll spill all over your screen!

Just because a heroic saga is based in history doesn't mean it's going to be interesting. The narrative of a severely injured Japanese warrior being healed in body and spirit by the kind and wise residents of a Thai village is slow and tedious for a Muay Thai action flick. If you're looking for lots of soothing flutes, pastoral visuals and calm voice-overs of basic moralizing, you'll find plenty. For those less patient, there's still a big payoff. There is a smattering of one-on-one training bouts that are high on style and energy. In the latter half we are treated to two mass fight sequences replete with all the swordplay and hand combat one might hope for. The penultimate battle in daylight by a river is among the most exciting, bloody, superbly choreographed of its kind in all of Asian martial arts fare, vintage and current. My rating of 6 is a split between 4 for the excessive amount of calm setup, and 9 for the too-sparse, yet glorious, action.

YAMADA, WAY OF THE SAMURAI is another historical Thai martial arts flick along the lines of BANG RAJAN, although it's a far cry from the quality of that movie. This is a low-budget misfire that purports the tell the true story of a Japanese samurai warrior who finds himself fighting on the side of the Thais against some evil oppressors and assassins.

The story's okay but the execution isn't. For an action film, YAMADA, WAY OF THE SAMURAI is remarkably short on fight scenes. There are a few scenes of training and the like, but the action is limited to only one battle scene and the final fight. While the hard-hitting choreography is acceptable, too much of the fighting is hidden behind poor added effects; silly slow-motion to emphasis the hits early on, and rubbishy CGI sword thrusts and spraying blood later. It hardly makes for a realistic viewing experience.

The script is minimalist and the characters largely one-dimensional. Seigi Ozeki has zero screen presence as the lead and his character is largely a bore. The Thai actors fare better, but the kind of elbow-slamming action you'd expect from a Thai martial arts flick is in short supply. Instead we get a predictable story and a dull narrative lacking in genuine incident.

A thin plot strings together a series of martial-arts displays.

The boxing looks realistic, I assume this is real Thai Boxing as it actually occurs. But the sword-fighting is improbably one-sides.

A brief depiction of a border war is ridiculous.

The highly interesting politics of the time is entirely ignored. Both the internal conflicts and the role of the Dutch are wholly ignored. It was a kingdom that often had civil wars and which was finally destroyed by the Burmese.

The Japanese settlement was also interesting, including both Christian rebels and some of the losers from the wars which established the Tokugawa shoguns. All ignored.

The real life of Yamada Nagamasa would make an excellent film, but this is not it.