I saw the English subtitled version at the Montreal Fantasia festival in a fully-crowded theater. I found it to be surprisingly good and of high quality. "Queens" is a fantasy adventure which tells the story of a small kingdom ruled by a queen with 2 daughters (although they look more like sisters, the movie title is confusing and I don't remember it being clearly explained in the film) who are plagued by pirates and a rebel prince. In the preview, they seemed to be proud announcing it was made for over 20 million US dollars, which might not seem a lot by American standards but probably a huge budget in Thailand. Anyways, the money certainly shows on-screen and the visual effects are overall quite impressive with their computer origins not really showing that much. Despite the title of the film and the importance of the queen and princesses, the main characters are an orphaned boy with the potential for Aquaman-type magical powers and the young bodyguard of the queen.
This is not a super-hero movie by any stretch of the imagination despite the Aquaman analogy. The actor who plays the orphan looked the part (when adult) and showed strong dramatic intensity especially in non-speaking parts. He could have looked ludicrous at certain points but he sells the role and nobody ever laughed at him during the screening. The bodyguard was rather stoic and earnest but had the most impressive sword fighting scenes and you root for him because of his nobility. Let's mention also an hermit water magic master White Ray and his rival Black Ray (not to confuse with Black Raven) who were fascinating memorable characters. The queen and daughters were OK, especially the younger fighting one, but they were overshadowed by the men. The evil-doers, most of them pirates, were appropriately menacing and despicable but one can only wish they had a little more characterization beyond their looks. I refer to Pirates of the Caribbean in the title of this review but there are no undead, nor is this film intended to be funny or amusing.
The water magic powers (called Du Lum) were very cool, especially the "sonic scream" and I loved the underwater scenes that were very well lit and filmed. The sound effects were a bit exaggerated but they helped make the action and explosions more striking. "Queens" is a serious fantasy adventure but at its core it's also a melodrama rife with romance, revenge, tragedy and betrayal (all the good stuff). The audience I was with laughed at 2 dramatic scenes but otherwise didn't laugh so take of this what you will (I think one time was unwarranted, the other was an actress overacting a bit with a booger hanging from her nose). The ending was appropriately epic and exciting but those boats sure didn't move fast. The audience cheered a few times in the last act and applauded at the end of the screening. I found the story interesting but at a little over 2 hours, some might think it feels long (I didn't). This is apparently the talented director's dream project and his love for it shines through. It could have been a corny artificial-looking b-movie mess, it turned out epic yet artful. Overall, I really enjoyed the film and I would suggest catching it if you can.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
