Sahamongkol Film’s CHAI LAI ANGELS: DANGEROUS FLOWERS is a screwball comedy actioner from Thailand that borrows heavily from CHARLIE’S ANGELS and Hong Kong girls-with-guns films while incorporating its own awkward mix of black humor, bikini romps, bizarro characters, and a campy pro-environment theme. Plentiful zany action sequences are akin to an elaborate girl’s slumber party pillow fight fought with wirework, mediocre martial arts fighting, lots of guns, tuk tuks, and a tank. In this way, this fast-paced, witless film actually delivers the kind of vacuous, low-brow entertainment one might expect from a Thai CHARLIE’S ANGELS and as such could be considered a success if you measure success by the amount of crotches kicked, boobs fondled, transvestite mutilations, racial gags, and bullets fired in one movie.
Dragon (Nithichai Yotamornsunthorn) and his criminal organization of misfits, including a male transvestite named King Kong (Wanasak Srilar) and a dimwitted, cross-eyed underling, are intent on finding the priceless Pearl of Andaman. Only one man knows where it is and they decide to kidnap his daughter Miki, played by SOM TAM child actress Narawan Techaratanaprasert, in order to get the location.
Comedian Petchtai Wongkamlao (Tony Jaa’s sidekick in ONG BAK) plays the “Charlie” role of a secret crime-fighting agency boss who tasks five female agents with protecting Miki and stopping Dragon from acquiring the pearl.
Rose (Bongkoj Khongmalai) is the sweet yet fierce high-society beauty with a simple-minded, baby-faced beau she hopes to marry. Pouy-sian (Kessarin Ektawatkul) is another attractive agent with the strongest martial arts skills among her peers. Lotus (Supakson Chaimongkol) is a revenge-seeking agent still haunted by the death of her husband-to-be during an assassination attempt at her wedding. Hibiscus (Jintara Poonlarp), named “face cow” in the original credits, is a homely and klutzy member of the Chai Lais who gains unexpected support from her new boyfriend, Chen (Krit Sripoomsed), a resourceful young police officer who looks like a front man for a boy band. Last but not least there is Spadix (Bunyawan Pongsuwan), the most aggressive and butch member of the team who gains near-superhuman strength when angered by such things as being groped.
From a skirmish on an airplane to an urban chase sequence through city streets, these ladies quickly go from one extended action sequence to the next as they battle with Dragon’s thugs. Additional battles see them emerge from a massage parlor in bath towels to fight King Kong and his cronies around a lobby escalator. When the bad guys attempt to turn the tables on the ladies by attacking their residence, the fight goes from a James Bond-inspired underwater skirmish in a pool to an elaborate series of duels outside. The girls appear to be trapped and outnumbered as baddie forces surge until Hibiscus and Chen arrive with the cavalry by way of a military tank.
Miki is eventually kidnapped but not before unleashing a world of hurt upon Dragon’s thugs who are unable to contend with her heavily wire-assisted fighting skills. She eventually inadvertently reveals the location of the pearl to Dragon at an underwater location off a small island. The bad guys and three of the Chai Lais, sporting fetching bikinis, converge on the spot for a brief exchange before Dragon escapes with the treasure.
With screen time apparently running short, director Poj Arnon cuts to the final chase as Dragon holds a private auction for the pearl that the Chai Lais and police predictably crash. The bad guys scatter, leaving the Chai Lais to separate and run them down.
Exaggerated wirework and stylized editing are abused throughout the action sequences and none of the actors appear particularly talented at screen fighting. The CHARLIE’S ANGELS films, for all their faults, were superior in their presentation of stylized, Hong Kong martial arts fighting thanks to the involvement of fight choreographer Yuen Cheung-yan. Arnon seems content with favoring quantity over quality. To be sure, there is a lot of competently orchestrated action in this movie that’s played both straight and for laughs but it’s too much like the bland and regurgitated stunt work seen in Hollywood during the Hong Kong invasion of the last decade.
The film still has a few things going for it. Three of the leading ladies have genuine sex appeal that Arnon readily exploits without being excessively crude. The bath towel fight sequence is more silly than sexy with various shots occasionally exposing flesh-colored bathing suits underneath. I can’t tell if this was a gaffe or intentional. Near the end I couldn’t help but notice what looked like a nipple slip during a fight sequence but it could have been tape used to hold a strapless dress up. Regardless, there seems to have been some wardrobe malfunctions that slipped through editing, either that or I was simply watching this film a little too closely during select scenes.
The comedy in this film is broad and often physical, which helps it to find its way through translation but I still get the impression that I’m missing some of the context. Wongkamlao has the best line in the film when he straight-faced describes Hibiscus as having a “hillbilly face.” There is another crude, but amusing line from him that references snakes and holes but I’ll leave it at that.
The physical comedy is dominated by the degenerative interactions between the transvestite and a cross-eyed, pot-bellied female cohort who keeps inflicting more pain and bodily destruction on him as the movie progresses. It’s like an Inspector Clouseau versus Charles Dreyfus scenario from the Blake Edwards’ PINK PANTHER films but more bloody and predictable. Unfortunately, there are not enough verbal zingers or genuinely funny physical gags to balance out the action and the few unnecessary, semi-dramatic scenes. It’s like a Stephen Chow film with maybe 10 percent of his comedy and action genius spread thin by a lot of filler. I even started to notice missed opportunities for humor that could have taken the film further into wacky Blake Edwards or Mel Brooks territory.
Girls-with-guns genre fans may find added value in a bonus action sequence at the end that acts a mock preview of a sequel. Now joined by Miki and another female member, the Chai Lais get into a completely over-the-top gun battle near a river. Miki, who looks like a skinny 12-year-old, is firing an M60 from the top of a moving Jeep while another girl is lobbing grenades in every direction and the rest are shooting assault rifles and machine guns. It’s a goofy, upbeat way to end a goofy action comedy.
Don’t expect much from CHAI LAI ANGELS and you might get some passing enjoyment out of it. I probably enjoyed this film more than I should have but that’s not to say that I was entirely engaged either. It’s the kind of background movie you can watch while inebriated or distracted without worrying you’ll miss anything. The film is little more than a jumbled collection of silly and pointless action sequences sprinkled with bits of politically incorrect comedy, blood and bare skin. It’s crude and violent enough to be potentially inappropriate for family viewing but also tame enough to leave serious fans of edgy Asian action and comedy unsatisfied. I can also say with certainly that anyone who dislikes fantasy, wire-assisted fighting in a reality-based, modern setting should steer clear of this film. Still, the film is what is and doesn’t try to hide it. I would liken it to Hollywood buddy/road movies like Bing Crosby and Bob Hope’s ROAD TO MORROCO or Brett Ratner’s RUSH HOUR films. What CHAI LAI ANGELS shares is a basic plot framework for broadly defined characters to bungle their way through a series of misadventures. The point isn’t to reach a destination but to go along for the ride. Just be sure you leave your brain behind.
by Mark PollardRelated Topics:
Chai Lai Angels: Dangerous Flowers (2006)
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