The King Maker (2005)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

Director:

Lek Kitaparaporn

Writer:

Sean Casey (writer)

Release Date:

20 October 2005 (Thailand)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

A warrior's path. A king's destiny.

Plot:

In 1547 Fernando De Gama, a young "Soldier of Fortune" from Portugal, set sail for the Orient in a bid to find the man that murdered his father and...

Plot Keywords:

King | Queen | Siam | Arab | Soldier

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Gary Stretch	...	Fernando De Gamma
John Rhys-Davies	...	Phillippe
Cindy Burbridge	...	Maria
Dom Hetrakul	...	Tong
Nirut Sirichanya	...	King Chairacha
Yoe Hassadeevichit	...	Queen Sudachan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dean Alexandrou	...	Ninja
Akara Amarttayakul	...	Pan Bud Sri Thep
Korawij devahastin na Ayudhya	...	Nobleman
Byron Bishop	...	Scar-Face Ninja
Thanet Chimpol	...	Dang
Tanapol Chuksrida	...	Mandarin #1
Daam Dasakorn	...	King of lanna
Shaun Delaney	...	Fernando's Father
Korawit Devahastin	...	Nobleman
Emma	...	Fernando's mother
Fei Gao	...	Flying ninja
Michael Hardie	...	Fernando as a child
Nate Harrison	...	Portugese Soldier
Prasita Katirattanachai	...	Tong's daughter
Rattanaporn Klongkan	...	Maria's maid
Peter Maiocchi	...	Singha
Damian Mavis	...	Portugese soldier / Village dancer
Faisal Zakaria Mohamed	...	Queen's bodyguard
Daniel O'Neill	...	Portuguese Soldier
Francisco Pereira	...	Antonio
Uraiwan Phattanasilp	...	Malee
Antonio Pineda	...	Don vincenti
Artthapan Poolsawad	...	Tong's son
Oliver Pupart	...	Lord Chakkraphat
Amora Purananda	...	Yai Jun
Cameron Roberts	...	Drummer boy
Mark Sobels	...	Father Pedro
Colin Stevens	...	Portugese soldier
Nicolas Torio	...	Mandarin #2
Charlie Trairat	...	Prince yod fa
Jonathan Winters	...	Andreas, the young soldier

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

100 min | Japan:88 min

Country:

Thailand

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:R | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Ayuthaya, Thailand

Company:

Winters Hollywood Entertainment Holdings Corporation

Trivia:

The Film is based on a true story set in 1547 in Siam. The real Queen at the time killed her husband and son to install her lover as the new King.

Quotes:

Mandarin #1: There must be something funny about your cock!

Soundtrack:

King Of My Heart

Even the Best of Intentions...

THE KING MAKER will doubtless be a success in Thailand where the similar (but superior) 'The Legend of Suriyothai' set box office records. The film directed by Lek Kitaparaporn after a screenplay by Sean Casey based on historical fact in 1547 Siam has some amazingly beautiful visual elements but is disarmed by one of the corniest, pedestrian scripts and story development on film.

The event the picture relates is the arrival of the Portuguese soldier of fortune Fernando de Gamma (Gary Stretch) whose vengeance for this father's murderer drives him to shipwrecked, captured and thrown into slavery and put on the bloc in Ayutthaya in the kingdom of Siam where he is purchased by the beautiful Maria (Cindy Burbridge) with the consent of her father Phillipe (John Rhys-Davies), a man with a name and a past that are revealed as the story progresses. There is a plot to overthrown the King and Fernando and his new Siamese sidekick Tong (Dom Hetrakul), after some gratuitous CGI enhanced choreographed martial arts silliness, are first rewarded by the King to become his bodyguards, only to be imprisoned together once Queen Sudachan (Yoe Hassadeevichit) reveals her plot to kill the king and son to allow her lover Lord Chakkraphat (Oliver Pupart) to take over the rule of Siam. Yet of course Fernando and Tong escape and are condemned to fight each other to save the lives of their families (Tong's wife and children and Fernando's now firm love affair with Maria) with the expected consequences.

The acting (with the exception of John Rhys-Davies) is so weak that the film occasionally seems as though it were meant to be camp. The predominantly Thai cast struggle with the poorly written dialog, making us wish they had used their native Thai with subtitles. The musical score by Ian Livingstone sounds as though exhumed form old TV soap operas. But if it is visual splendor you're after there is plenty of that and that alone makes the movie worth watching. It is a film that has obvious high financial backing for all the special effects and masses of cast and sets and shows its good intentions. It is just the basics that are missing. Grady Harp