Chai lai

This is a Thai version of Charlie's Angels. Here there are five girls instead of three. Its a total goof. Everything about the film from the plot (the angels have to protect a little girl who has a rare pearl) to the characters (one is a guy in drag) to the action sequences (they are sending up action sequences) are very silly. At no point are we ever expected to take any of this seriously on any level, even if they are playing it all reasonably straight. If you go in expecting a straight action film you are going to be disappointed. if you go in expecting a Thai blend of action (the action is the reason to see the film) and comedy then you are more likely to have a good time. If there is any flaws its that the film doesn't quite work in the non-action scenes. The comedy there comes off as heavy handed. Thankfully the talking scenes tend to be brief. Worth a look for action fans with a high tolerance for silly things.

Forgive me for not saying more but the plot is very slight. Its the action that stand out, and thankfully its all set pieces beginning with a fight on an airplane thats cross cut with a fight in a house and car chase on to the kidnapping of the girl to a fight in towels in an office tower on and on to the final girls in white dresses bit which takes things about as far as you can go. Its all well done and very tongue and cheek (often suitably cheaply) 6.5 over all. 8 or so for the action scenes.

I sat down here in 2022 to watch the 2006 Thai action comedy "Chai Lai" (aka "Dangerous Flowers"). However, I must say that the comedy elements in the movie were near non-existing, though the movie was basically non-stop action from start to end.

And having just sat through it, I have to say that I didn't really fathom what writer and director Poj Arnon wanted to tell with this particular movie, as there wasn't really a coherent or particularly well-constructed storyline here. It felt like it was a movie about a group of women going from one scene to the next and just shooting or beating up a new group of enemies. And that was essentially all this movie had to offer.

"Chai Lai" was watchable enough for the sheer amount of action and shooting, despite it being somewhat cheesy. However, this is not a movie that has the contents to support more than a single viewing, nor is it a movie that I would recommend fans of the Thai cinema to rush out to get to watch.

Ironically, then one of the ladies in the movie said "do you know who I am?" with just 15 minutes left of the movie, and I had to admit that I didn't know who she was. In fact, I didn't even know the names of any of the characters in the movie. Yeah, that was the level of layering the characters in the movie. They were all just pretty faces with guns running around shooting and fighting. There was zero character development in the movie, nor did any of the characters have distinguishing feats or flaws to set them apart from the other characters.

"Chai Lai" is a movie that came and went without leaving a lasting impression. I sat through it without being particularly impressed or entertained.

My rating of "Chai Lai" lands on a four out of ten stars.

Chai Lai Angels: Dangerous Flowers is an action comedy that's loosely modeled after Charlie's Angels, the movie not the show. The story is pretty weak. Apparently there's some ancient orb that shouldn't fall into the wrong hands. The fights and gun play are not believable. It doesn't seem like any of the actresses know martial arts. There are some decent laughs and silliness. Having said all that, the main reason to watch this movie is the 3 main characters. They are incredibly beautiful! I wish they had made a few sequels for that reason alone. So if you're a guy and you like silly humor, or if you just like hot girls, give Dangerous Flowers a shot.

Rose, Lotus, Pouy-sian, Spadix and Hibiscus are collectively Chai Lai; secret agents who just happen to be attractive women. As the film opens an attempt is made to kidnap Miki, the daughter of a Japanese businessman, aboard a flight... this is thwarted by four of the Chai Lai. The fifth is outside her father's house where he is being threatened by thugs. It turns out the thugs, led by a man known as Dragon, are after the 'Pearl of the Andaman's'; it is owned by Miki's father but she too knows its location. Dragon's next attempt at kidnapping Miki is successful; the Chai Lais must rescue her before Dragon gets his hands on the Pearl.

When I sat down to watch this I wasn't sure if it was going to be utter rubbish or good cheesy fun... it was the latter and as it happened better than I'd hoped for. The story is relatively simple but serves to provide a near constant stream of action set pieces. The action isn't exactly realistic but it is exciting; providing thrills and laughs in equal measure. The five protagonists are as sexy as one would expect in a film inspired by Charlie's Angels; the acting might not be the greatest but it was far from being bad. The antagonists were decent; Dragon was okay but his henchman, the cross-dressing 'King Kong' steals most of the scenes he is in. There is a fair amount of blatant fan service as the girls fight in bikinis and towels and in one scene Rose dances in her underwear; this might not be politically correct but it never crossed the line to being sleazy. Overall I'd say that while this might not be a great film it is a lot of fun if you like action/comedy films led by good looking women!

These comments are based on watching the film in Thai with English subtitles. Of possible interest the DVD I watched claimed to be 'Region One' but played on my 'Region Two' DVD player.

Chai-Lai Angels, as the name implies, is Thailand's version of Charlie's Angels, no doubt about that. They work as undercover secret agents, they have various disguises, they fight criminal organizations, they look good while delivering those high kicks, report to a "Bosley", the list just goes on.

Opening this year's Sawadee Film Festival, this is one action comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously. Filled with plenty of camp, jokes, implausible situations and crazy antics, you'd half expect the Angels to be slick, efficient, and the likes. Not! I actually found it quite amusing that they turned out more bumbling than effective!

In a 3 beauties and 2 erm, more mature looking ladies fronting the team (no guesses who came over to Singapore for the press conference), Chai-Lai Angels doesn't have too deep a storyline to boast, suffice to know that there's a Japanese household who holds the secret to the location of the Queen of Andaman pearl, which could fetch the bad guys billions of dollars in some black market auction. So it's up to the Angels to thwart this dastardly attempt so that the oceans, nature and the entire ecological system of the world will not be thrown into disarray (don't ask).

While they are not too busy fighting criminals, plenty of whom are generic foot soldiers commandeered by a gender-bender working for a characteristically bland villainous chief, they too have time to ponder on love, or the lack thereof. Taking a chip off Charlie's Angels and even Kill Bill (!), we see familiar wedding scenes, and that gyrating hips sequence ala Cameron Diaz in the former movie mentioned. But bottom line is, it's never easy being in this line, and keeping love interests (move away guys, we're here to see the girls in action!)

Some of the set action pieces are quite weakly done, so cheesy that it's laughable, but you'll probably never dismiss them as the girls get to do battle in various garbs0 like wet towels, bikinis and even wet nightgowns. The feminists might go up in arms with this, but hey, this movie's not for them anyway.

It's particularly violent for a PG rating, not that I'm complaining though, as almost everyone, ranging from a young girl to a cock-eyed villain, take turns to execute kicks, punches, stabs with plenty of gushing blood, and those bullets in the heads. As mentioned, don't take this movie too seriously, as it almost always threads on fantasy. The male one that is.