From the Rental Vault(2008): Legend of the Tsunami Warrior

Originally released in 2008 as Queens of Langkasuka, Legend of the Tsunami Warrior is a Pirates of the Caribbean/Star Wars/Aquaman meld that goes on a little too long and meanders around a little bit too much to be a great action picture. Even so, its big scope, big vision and big ideas make it more fun than a lot of the things that will decorate multiplex screens this summer, and it's both shorter and less expensive than Avatar. Plus, no James Cameron.

In the early 17th century, a Thai coastal city-state contracts with a Dutch armorer to build some overpowering cannons to defend itself from enemy kingdoms and pirates. But the pirates attack the transport fleet, killing the builder and sinking the cannons. Only the Dutchman's Chinese apprentice Lim Kium and baby Pari survive the attack.

The pirates are led by Black Raven and a scheming prince who is the enemy of Langkasuka, its brave Queen Hijau and her daughters, Biru and Ungu. They collect armies to pressure the city, and make several attempts to infiltrate the palace with assassins. One such attack is led by Black Raven himself, and is thwarted by the warrior Jarang who kills the Raven's wife.

Meanwhile, Pari's own small attempts to fight Black Raven's pirates have brought the pirate's wrath down on his village, costing everyone, including his new bride, their lives. Pari wants to learn the ways of Du Lum magic, a kind of oceanic symbiosis, so he can attack the pirates and take revenge. But the Du Lum master White Ray will not teach him, because Pari wants to use Du Lum for violence and be controlled by his hatred. Even without the Du Lum, he is a great fighter and joins Jarang in rescuing the two princesses from Black Raven's island lair -- only everyone believes Pari and Ungu killed when they are trapped on White Ray's island by the monsoon season.

It's all pretty entangled, and it gets more so when we start to see family relationships wound into the mix. Thai films tend to be pretty heavily censored, so the actors playing Pari and Ungu have a hard time selling the idea that they have fallen in love; they act more like a couple of high school freshmen in a Ferris wheel car. Some of the English-language voice actors who dub the movie don't do it any favors; Queen Hijau's entire part sounds read out of the phone book. But the last hour pulls out the action as Pari and Jarang battle the pirates, both in their lair and in a great battle between Langkasuka's fortress cannon and the recovered great cannon used by the pirate ships.

Plus, the characters are trying to deal with some big concepts like vengeance vs. forgiveness, the snowballing effects of violence, the responsibility of duty and so on. Whereas the creative geniuses in the world's premier movie industry are serving up the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie and Hangover 2. Gotta hope the Thai moviemakers are slow learners in this regard.