Francis Ford Coppola Presents: The Legend of Suriyothai

Huge, sprawling, and utterly absorbing.

Though stilted and emotionally vacant at times, it's still an entertaining and absorbing experience.

The frequently confusing story does eventually pull together; but there's still a lack of any strong emotional center, and the character gallery remains over-populated.

It's the equivalent of our "Gone With the Wind," Russia's "War and Peace" or, to take a more modest example, South Korea's "Chunhyang." Sheer ambition and grandiose make the film interesting -- up to a point.

The storytelling is jerky (perhaps in part because the running time was trimmed from 185 to 142 minutes for U.S. release) and character development takes a backseat to a breathless rush through battles, assassinations and dynastic plotting.

The fact that the story makes sense at all remains Coppola and his butchers' sole achievement.

Easy on the eyes and hard on the head, Suriyothai is absolutely unaffecting where it matters most, in the heart.