RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Bang Rajan
Bang Rajan

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
  • Bookmark and Share

Bang Rajan (2004)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
69 %
Tomatometer

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted: 29

Fresh: 20

Rotten:9

Average Rating: 6.1/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Aug 6, 2004 Limited

Synopsis: Oliver Stone presents a beautiful and violent Thai film; the true story of a rural 18th century Siamese village that managed to battle an army of 100,000 invading Burmese soldiers to a standstill... Oliver Stone presents a beautiful and violent Thai film; the true story of a rural 18th century Siamese village that managed to battle an army of 100,000 invading Burmese soldiers to a standstill for five months. When Bang Rajan's fearless warrior chief (Chumporn Taephitak) is wounded in battle, the men of the village elect a mighty rogue fighter who has been making raids on Burmese supply lines, Chan (Jaran Ngamdee), to step in and guide them. Along with the village's sage Buddhist priest (Teerayuth Pratyabamrung), Chan inspires the villagers to new heights of courage. In between bouts of bloodshed there are some subplots. One concerns the wife (Bongkod Kongmalia) of one of the mightiest fighters, Nai In (Winai Kraibutr). She learns she's pregnant, and fears her husband will lose his fighting spirit if he finds out. In another, a young warrior named Muang (Atthakorn Suwannaraj) fights to impress the chief's warrior daughter (Soontree Maila-or). The camera prowls continually among the lush greenery of the Asian jungle, and the beautiful faces and bodies of its people, drawing the viewer deeply into the sense of community, time, and place. The battle scenes are intense, lengthy, and horrific. With its lush cinematography, haunting music, and ensemble of uniformly strong performances, BANG RAJAN deserves a place next to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and BRAVEHEART in the pantheon of great historical films about war and sacrifice. [More]

Starring: Winnai Kraibutr, Jaran Ngamdee, Bin Banleurit, Teerayuth Pratyabamrung

Starring: Winnai Kraibutr, Jaran Ngamdee, Bin Banleurit, Teerayuth Pratyabamrung, Chumporn Taephitak, Atthakorn Suwannaraj, Bongkod Kongmalai, Soontree Maila-or

Director: Thanit Jitnukul

Director: Thanit Jitnukul
Screenwriter: Kongat Komsiri, Boontin Tuaykaew, Patikarn Petchmunee, Thanit Jitnukul, Sittipong Mattanavee
Producer: "Uncle" Adirek Wateela
Composer: Chatchai Pongprapaphan
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Oct 11, 2005

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Bang Rajan

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
08/16/07
Time Out

The buffalo are big, the battles brutal and bloody in this gritty Thai epic - but unfortunately the characters are too blank to be interesting.

Full Review Source: Movie Gazette | comment Comment
02/26/05
Anton Bitel
Movie Gazette
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
11/24/04
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The acting is facial-expressions- visible-from- 100-feet overdone and the choppy editing makes for awkward storytelling. However, the battle scenes, which make up at least half the movie, are killer.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
10/21/04
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

It's far too bloody for the art house crowd and too leisurely paced and obscure for more general audiences.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
09/29/04
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Jitnukul can direct action, and every slice of the blade, thwack of the arrow and the glistening of sweat on near-naked bodies makes Bang Rajan a mostly pleasurable diversion.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
09/24/04
G. Allen Johnson
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

From the first battle to the heartrending climax, you will emerge feeling dirty and scarred.

Full Review Source: New Times | comment Comment
09/24/04
Gregory Weinkauf
New Times

It's a humid, rough-edged epic that occasionally finds startling beauty amid devastating carnage.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
09/17/04
Jeff Shannon
Seattle Times

The thuddingly blunt epic is obvious and intermittently clumsy... yet winning in its own charmingly naive right.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
09/16/04
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

At two hours, it tests the stamina of even the most ardent action movie fan.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
09/11/04
Maria Garcia
Film Journal International

Jitnukul serves up heaping plates of history and entertainment with this tremendously exciting epic set on the eve of Bangkok's destruction by Burmese forces.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
09/10/04
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Features scrumptious-looking jungle battles, with a cast of thousands -- not to mention elephants and water buffalo.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
09/10/04
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

While co-writer/director Tanit Jitnukul's vision is unapologetically graphic and slightly marred by an artistic awkwardness, this is a rare and worthwhile glimpse into another nation's historical legend.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
09/10/04
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Plucked from its cultural context, Bang Rajan is being offered to American audiences as another example of Asian extreme action movies, and gore hounds will find it gratifyingly full of spurting blood and flying limbs.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
09/09/04
Dave Kehr
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The story suggests a more violent Seven Samurai, full of jungle mayhem and eloquently filmed action-movie suspense.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
09/09/04
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

It becomes, after a while, little more than a mind-numbing bloodbath.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
09/03/04
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Even without deep knowledge of Thai politics and history, fans of war pictures will be impressed by Jitnukul's achievement in creating a detailed and graphic, if overheated, account of this ultimate underdog story.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
09/03/04
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The noncombative scenes can be melodramatic and broadly acted, but that doesn't rob the movie of a certain inherent power.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
09/03/04
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Yes, Bang Rajan introduces Westerners to a slice of history worth noting, but its stirring lesson is told in a way that's too long, too brutal, and too clunky to recommend enthusiastically.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
08/27/04
Janice Page
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The dramatic ploy is so disjointing, it's not often clear if Jitnukul's narrative is in the past or present.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
08/26/04
Robert K. Elder
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
See More Topics...

Related Forums for Bang Rajan

Click here to be the first to post a message on this forum.

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
79%
79%
Gran Torino
30%
30%
12 Rounds
23%
23%
Confessions of a Shopa…
—
The Code
39%
39%
Inkheart

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
22%
22%
Push
12%
12%
The Unborn
29%
29%
The Little Red Truck
—
Five Fingers
—
Night Train

More New Releases…

RT On Current TV

What’s Hot On RT

5 Favorite Films

5 Favorite Films

Director Kathryn Bigelow on Hurt Locker, more

Revisiting Hogwarts

Revisiting Hogwarts

Day 2: The Chamber of Secrets

Humpday Clip

Humpday Clip

An exclusive peek at the indie comedy!

RT on Current TV!

RT on Current TV!

Check out the RT Show this Thursday!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Spider-Man 4 Gets Its Third Writer Source: Latino Review
48
  • Warners Wins Favorable Ruling in Superman Case Source: Variety
16
  • Remo Williams Rides Again Source: Risky Biz
9
  • Mortal Kombat 3 Filming in September? Source: Slashfilm
82
  • MacGruber Gets a Director Source: Variety
39
  • PG-13 Turns 25 Source: VideoETA
8
  • Weekly Ketchup: Universal Takes on Asteroids
92
  • Brandon Routh Talks Superman's Future Source: Moviehole
98
  • Sony's Amy Pascal Explains Moneyball Balk Source: Los Angeles Times
6
  • Three Theaters Getting Harry Potter in IMAX Opening Day Source: Collider.com
18
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Deconstructing Harry, Day 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
66
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Transformers and Ice Age Tie for Top Spot
59
  • Weekly Ketchup: Universal Takes on Asteroids
46
  • Five Favorite Films with Kathryn Bigelow
39
  • RT on DVD: Knowing, Push, The Unborn Unleashed
26
  • Total Recall: Mock Docs That Rock
25
  • Deconstructing Harry, Day 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
22
  • Critics Consensus: Bruno is Certified Fresh
21
  • Five Favourite Films with Jaime Winstone
17
  • Watch RT on Current TV
6
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • RT Interview: Director Carlos Cuaron on Rudo and Cursi
0
  • RT Interview: Tony Scott on The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
10
  • Cannes 2009: RT Interview - Sally Hawkins on We Want Sex
2
  • RT Interview: Tilda Swinton on Julia
5
  • Hollywood Legend Debbie Reynolds Reflects On her Life in Showbiz
10
  • Exclusive: McG Talks Terminator Salvation
24
  • Georgia Groome - Fresh Talent on RT
5
  • RT Interview: Reading The Reader with Stephen Daldry
11
  • RT Interview: Oscar Nominee Melissa Leo
7
  • Carey Mulligan - Fresh Talent on RT
7
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Bang Rajan at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Bang Rajan at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
Point-Counterpoint: Bruno
Point-Counterpoint: Bruno External Link

MSN's David Fear and Frank Paiva go head to head discussing the pros and cons of Bruno star Sacha Baron Cohen.

The New Cult Canon
The New Cult Canon External Link

The AV Club's Scott Tobias takes a second look at David Lynch's cult classic, Lost Highway.

Tom Cruise's 10 Best Roles
Tom Cruise's 10 Best Roles External Link

TIME takes us on a 25-year long journey into the superstar's career, giving us a look at his 10 best roles.

A Baywatch Comedy?
A Baywatch Comedy? External Link

BuzzSugar reports on Paramount's plans to rebirth the iconic TV show as a comedy film.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.