This movie is available for purchase at www.edaymovie.com

Rating:

7

Year of release: 2002

Genre: martial arts/drama

Director: Thanit Jitnukul

Stars: Voravit Kaewpand, Jaran Ngamdee, Sririwat Chevasud

Not rated; contains R-level violence

DVD Information

Company: Tai Seng

Format: widescreen

Languages: Cantonese, Thai, English

Subtitles: Chinese, English

Extras: trailers

Notes: Not much for extras and the picture is a bit washed-out, but a fairly decent DVD overall.

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Sema: The Warrior of Ayodhaya

Sema left an impression on me of a Thai version of Braveheart. In the movie, a young man named Sema returns to his village after learning swordmanship to find it under the control of a cruel general. He enlists in the army in order to save his father's shop, and soon runs afoul of his commanding officer, due to his budding romance with a princess. Sema is set up and branded as a traitor, and so he must try to prove his loyalty, as the village is preparing for a war.

Like many Thai films, the production values aren't so hot. But I think the film-makers did well with what they had to work with. There are a couple of stunning large battle scenes that are full of spurting blood and loose limbs, which should please fans of Mel Gibson's epic. The actors also did a good job; the story is fairly generic, but the actors managed to create some unique and likeable characters. Overall, Sema is one of the better movies I've seen recently, and should please fans of Hong Kong swordsplay/martial arts films.