''Chai Lai'' (, English title: ''Dangerous Flowers'' and also known as ''Chai Lai's Angels'') is a 2006 Thai

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

about five female top-secret crimefighters, each with the codename of a flower, Lotus,

Hibiscus ''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Malva, mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising List of Hibiscus species, several hundred species that are Native plant, native to warm temperate, Subtropics, subtropical ...

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

, Spadix and

Crown of Thorns According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns ( or ) was placed on the head of Jesus during the Passion of Jesus, events leading up to his crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion. It was one of the Arma Christi, instruments of the Passion, e ...

. The premise is modelled after ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts for ABC. It originally aired from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, airing for five seasons consisting of 115 episodes. It was produ ...

''.

Plot

The film begins on a passenger plane, where a young girl named Miki and her step-mother are taken hostage by a man and a

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

woman. They call the father of Miki, but he has his own problems; another man is menacing him and when he tries to take the gun a fight breaks out and the father is shot. One of the Chai Lai members, Rose, enters the house and gets into a fight with another henchman. Miki gets upset that her father is shot via the mobile phone and she stabs the man who has taken her hostage in the hand with a pipe, which sets off a fight on the plane. The members of Chai Lai are fighting along with a young police man named Chen. Meanwhile, Rose (

Bongkoj Khongmalai Bongkoj Khongmalai (; ), nickname "Tak" (; born 15 April 1985), is a Thai actress, model and producer. Career Films she has appeared in include ''Tom-Yum-Goong''. She portrayed a young Thai woman forced into prostitution in Australia who comes ...

) has gutted the henchman at the house with a

machete A machete (; ) is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe, or in combat like a long-bladed knife. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the Spanish language, the word is possibly a dimin ...

and chases the man, who shot the father but crashes her car shortly after. When the man drives and misses her, she shoots the gasoline pouring out of the vehicle and it explodes. A crime boss named Dragon yells at his henchman at a meeting for failing their mission to which the cross-dressing woman is named King Kong, whom she blames Chai Lai for their failures. Miki's step-mother barges in on the meeting, revealing that she works for them. Chai Lai's boss tells the girls that it is alright that they failed their mission despite that the father is dead and the men escaped. The new plan is to protect Miki at school. They fail to keep Miki safe at her school on the first day and she gets kidnapped by the henchman. Chai Lai chase them but when member Hibiscus ( Jintara Poonlarp), after being freed from the van and saved by Rose, gets out a

rocket launcher A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the attachment of a rocket motor to the shaft a few i ...

and fires but remembers that Miki is still inside. Luckily for Miki, the van swerves and the rocket hits the

tuk-tuk An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many other terms in various countries, including three-wheeler, Adaidaita Sahu, Keke-napep, Maruwa, auto, ...

that Spadix was driving instead with her and Lotus ( Supaksorn Chaimongkol) narrowly escaping. The van escapes as the train goes by, stopping them. Later, Miki attacks the henchman but is quickly stopped and tied. Miki's Step-mother, Ms. Mei Ling, pretends to be beaten up by King Kong so that she can reveal the secret location of the Andaman Pearl but it backfires. The next day, the Chai Lai are getting a massage with Ms. Mei Ling and King Kong. Soon, a fight quickly breaks out with them wearing nothing but towels. Eventually, Ms. Mei Ling escapes and the henchman join in the fight. During the fight, Ms. Mei Ling gets into her car and menaces Chen in the car park until Hibiscus appears and tries to gun her but she quickly escapes. Soon into the fight, a woman in a suit shows up and fights, King Kong escapes and Rose is about to chase after until she is pursued by two henchman outside. King-Kong runs into Spadix, who tries to gun her but fails. After Lotus, Rose and Pouy-Sian (

Kessarin Ektawatkul Kessarin Ektawatkul ( Thai: ), nicknamed Nui (), is a Thai film actress and singer. Career A former national champion in taekwondo, she has been featured in several martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films tha ...

) finish they meet Spadix outside just as she throws King Kong and she escapes. King Kong hires the four-nation bounty hunters to finish the Chai Lai off, Rosen goes on a date with her boyfriend, Gud, who proposes to her. Dragon's henchman arrive with a beaten up Gud, the girls end up fighting their way into the swimming pool, and they escape through hatch that is in there. The exit is in a medieval castle, which is filled with weapons the girls stock up on, because King Kong is outside with the four-nation assassins. Kathleen, who is a goofy cross-eyed assassin girl, who becomes King Kong's sidekick. The girls are captured in a cage except Hibischus, who arrives in a tank and attacks as the girls escape but unfortunately Gud is still captured. The Chai Lais have no clue how Dragon knew where their house was and also they decide not to love anyone again because of Gud, new orders are given to the girls from their boss by iPod. Dragon get the idea the Andaman Pearl is on an island called Thai Baht due to Miki and they travel there. The men find the Andaman Pearl and escape with it after being attacked by Lotus, Rose and Pouy-Sian. At a party to sell the Andaman Pearl, Miki's father arrives as a surprise bidder. The Chai Lais, soon enter the arena, where a fight starts. Ms. Mei Ling shoots Gud in the back in cold blood with Rose upset and in her anger, she guns Ms. Mei Ling down and the SUV driver guy. Dragon is chases by Lotus, Spadix and Pouy-Sian as he has the pearl and Miki hostage, whom she escapes from. Dragon heads to the roof for a helicopter escape, with Lotus chasing after. Miki is pursued by King Kong and Kathleen in a park and the rest are with many henchman in another part of the park. The henchman are all dead, Dragon shot in the head twice by Lotus and Kathleen shoots King Kong many times. Chai Lai's boss reveals that Kathleen was a spy and he has some kind of relationship with her. Miki is made as a member of Chai Lai. Chai Lai (including Kathleen and Miki) goes to battle; the members are dressed in white with machine guns fighting on the Afghan beaches near the Afghan jungles.

Cast

as Kulap (Rose) * Supaksorn Chaimongkol as Bua (Lotus) * Jintara Poonlarp as Chaba (Hibiscus) *

as Pouy-sian (Crown of Thorns) * Bunyawan Pongsuwan as Na-wua (Spadix) * Krit Sripoomsed as Chen * Narawan Techaratanaprasert as Miki * Nithichai Yotamornsunthorn *

Petchtai Wongkamlao Petchtai Wongkamlao, (, , ; born 24 June 1965) is a Thai comedian, actor, martial artist and film director. He is best known in Thailand by his stage name, Mum Jokmok (, , ); and is a popular Thai television personality. He is credited as Mom Jo ...

as the Chai Lais' handler

Production

Director Poj Arnon acknowledged he was asked by

Sahamongkol Film International Sahamongkol Film International Co. Ltd. (, also Sahamongkolfilm, Mongkol Film or SM) is a Thai film production and distribution company. It is the leading movie company in Thailand, ahead of GMM Grammy's GDH 559, Five Star Production and RS Film ...

to copy the style of ''

'', but that budgetary differences – 35 million baht compared to the US$92 million budget for the '' Charlie's Angels films'' – and Thai styles of fighting (

muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

) make ''Chai Lai'' different. One scene called for the actresses to wear only towels while fighting with the bad guys in a shopping mall. To avoid any accidental exposure, they wore

bikini A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features one piece on top that covers the breasts, and a second piece on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but usually exposing the navel, and the back generally covering ...

s underneath the towels and had the towels taped to their chests. "But the towels still came off a few times,"

told Channel NewsAsia. The actresses sustained some bruises and scratches in the fight scenes, also during a diving sequence in

Phuket Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the Southern Thailand, southern Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, List of islands of Thailand, the country's largest island, and another 3 ...

and when they were dressed in

negligee The negligee or ''négligée'' ( ; ), also known in French as (; ), is a form of see-through clothing for women consisting of a sheer, usually long, dressing gown. It is a form of nightgown intended for wear at night and in the bedroom. It was in ...

Soundtrack

The closing-title song, "Chai Lai", performed by Jintara Poonlarp, is featured on Jintara's 2006 album, '' Mor lam sa on 12''.

Reception

''Variety'' called it a "blatant imitation and shameless spoof take the “Charlie’s Angels” genre back to its jiggle origins in “Chai-lai: Dangerous Flowers,” a shoddy but fun espionage romp from Thailand."

Home media

It was released on DVD on December 9, 2009.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0756204, title=Chai lai 2006 films 2006 action comedy films 2006 LGBTQ-related films Sahamongkol Film International films Thai-language films Thai martial arts films Martial arts comedy films Muay Thai films Thai Muay Thai films Thai action comedy films Girls with guns films 2006 martial arts films Films directed by Poj Arnon Cross-dressing in film Films set in Afghanistan Thai LGBTQ-related films 2000s Thai films