Every country has a legend, and in Thailand, The Ramakien is one of several epic tales that paint a solid picture of good triumphing over evil. Here, King Rama and Tosakanth are opposites, and when the latter kidnaps the queen because he’s in love with her, this lord will fight back! What’s presented in Mantra Warrior: The Legend of the Eight Moons requires knowing the source material to truly appreciate it; otherwise, what’s presented like a Siamese version of Final Fantasy on steroids.
That’s because of the bold character designs and colour choices used to bring this mythic world to life. I want to compare this work to Gundam because of all the giant robots featured. Even though they look nothing like, the fact they carry oversized weapons with crazy nicknames is enough to make me think that director Veerapatra Jinanavin had this anime in mind!
When we’re dealing with god busters on a cosmic scale, these weapons these mechanised warriors can carry are deadly. But when the tech the opposition built can resist those blasts, I’m rather impressed. Although I’m not watching this film for the massive mecha fight sequences, there’s actually a tale to follow:
Here, Prince Raam (Apinan Teeranantakul), his wife Sita (Ranee Campen) and his brother Luxshaman (Manassavin Malevong) live in exile. Instead of Tosakanth, there’s Emperor Tossakaan who wants the lady’s hand. in order to take away her power to create and destroy universes! Although the spellings are different, it’s easy to figure out who is whom here, and as for who else gets involved in this fight are three brave rebel warriors: Vayu (Sorrawid Tongtheng), Wela (Pattaeshin Sasipattanatada ) and Budsaba (Nalinee Cheewasakorn). When a movie gets quite overstuffed with various story arcs and me not sure who to really root for, I did get lost very easily.
There’s a lot of material being crammed into 90 minutes! Had this adaptation been broken into an episodic series, I’d most likely enjoy this film more. I’ll give it another chance when I can sit down and mellow with what’s going on, but when everything feels rushed, perhaps its best to give this film an edit before presenting it again when it hits streaming services, if the information found online is correct.
3 Stars out of 5
Mantra Warrior:
The LEgend of the Eight Moons Trailer
