someguy
11-19-2005, 09:27 PM
http://img512.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tygposter038si.jpg
In case you don't know, Prachya Pinkaew directed a movie a few years back called Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior with a guy named Tony Jaa. The movie was a smash hit in Thailand, and almost everyone who saw it touted it as the next classic action movie. No strings or effects were used, and Jaa did some amazing stuff which made people call him the next Jackie Chan. Prachya and Jaa got together again and now made this movie. So the question is (of course), is this another Ong Bak?
Well, the movies are about the same in my eyes. The director must take his criticisms well, since there are no replays in this movie. Then again, there aren't any crazy stunts like running on people's shoulders in this movie save for a few here and there (and they are pretty amazing). No strings are used in this movie also, but this isn't really played upon. The fight scenes were great though, and I liked the different approach. The best fights are when Jaa faces off a bunch of skater kids and a great one take fight that lasts about 4 minutes.
I would go on about the plot, characters, etc. but the movie isn't really there for that. The plot is incredibly simple. Jaa lives in a small village in Thailand where there are a bunch of elephants. Two of them are kidnapped and taken to Australia. Jaa goes to Australia and starts fighting. The plot is where I have one of my main problems, since they spend too much time on it. It's a boring story with the way it is handled, and they should have stuck with the method used in Ong-Bak (30 minutes or so of story, 1+ hour of fighting). The acting was really terrible in this movie also, they could have done better with their budget. They should have used some Thai actors who could act well in both Thai and English instead of just Thai actors who can't speak English well at all.
So at the end I did enjoy what I watched, it's not a mind blowing action flick but it's still an entertaining one. See it for the amazing fights, some of which are worth the price of admission alone.
7/10
In case you don't know, Prachya Pinkaew directed a movie a few years back called Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior with a guy named Tony Jaa. The movie was a smash hit in Thailand, and almost everyone who saw it touted it as the next classic action movie. No strings or effects were used, and Jaa did some amazing stuff which made people call him the next Jackie Chan. Prachya and Jaa got together again and now made this movie. So the question is (of course), is this another Ong Bak?
Well, the movies are about the same in my eyes. The director must take his criticisms well, since there are no replays in this movie. Then again, there aren't any crazy stunts like running on people's shoulders in this movie save for a few here and there (and they are pretty amazing). No strings are used in this movie also, but this isn't really played upon. The fight scenes were great though, and I liked the different approach. The best fights are when Jaa faces off a bunch of skater kids and a great one take fight that lasts about 4 minutes.
I would go on about the plot, characters, etc. but the movie isn't really there for that. The plot is incredibly simple. Jaa lives in a small village in Thailand where there are a bunch of elephants. Two of them are kidnapped and taken to Australia. Jaa goes to Australia and starts fighting. The plot is where I have one of my main problems, since they spend too much time on it. It's a boring story with the way it is handled, and they should have stuck with the method used in Ong-Bak (30 minutes or so of story, 1+ hour of fighting). The acting was really terrible in this movie also, they could have done better with their budget. They should have used some Thai actors who could act well in both Thai and English instead of just Thai actors who can't speak English well at all.
So at the end I did enjoy what I watched, it's not a mind blowing action flick but it's still an entertaining one. See it for the amazing fights, some of which are worth the price of admission alone.
7/10