Hey folks, Harry here... If you've never beheld the wonder and dream fantastique of ONG BAK MUAY THAI WARRIOR - then patience my child - it is coming to theaters in the United States next year from Magnolia Pictures! And though I've seen the film on bad dvds dozens of times - sometimes, just compulsively over and over and over again... The concept of a new film with Tony Jaa utterly destroying human beings with the glorious magic of Muay Thai... well, hehehehe, YIPPEE! Here's MACKDADDY with more...
Hey Harry,
MacK DaDDy here. When Ong-Bak was first released, i wrote a review and sent it to you and the review was eventually posted on the site. This time i am writing in to bring you the latest on the big budget sequel to Ong-Bak, which is aptly titled "Tom Yum Goong", currently shooting on location in Australia. With a 200-million-baht budget, making it the second most expensive Thai film ever after "Suriyothai" ( which was edited by Francis Ford Coppola and released in the US by Sony Pictures). 90 percent of the shooting is taking place in Sydney with the backdrop varying from the trendy Cockle Bat to Chinatown (obvious choice) to the signature Harbour Bridge. For the most part, the troupe consists of Thai starts including the star of the previous movie Pranom Yeerum. Foreign cast include Nathan JOnes, a restling star and the hunkish Johnny Nyuyen, who was the stunt double for Tobet Mcguire in the Spiderman movies.
In Ong-Bak, he plays a country bumpkin who travels to Bangkok to retrieve a stolen Buddha image. In Tom Yum Goong, he plays a country bumpkin who travels to Sydney to retrieve a stolen elephant (!!!!!!). The culprit is a femme fatale who runs an evil empire out of her Thai restaurant called, you guessed it, Tom Yum Goong, named after the famous shrimp soup.
From what i gather, it should be ready to release around January in Thailand. With the director claiming to make this a Thai film with an international standaqrd and promisisng to raise it to the next level, I can hardly wait for the action to explode once more on the big screen. They also promise to continue to uphold the Ong-Bak motto of no stuntman, no wirework for the lead actor. A freshly cut teaser were shown to a few select Thai journalists who visited the set in Australia and its is said to have created quite a stir aomng foreign buyers when it was shown at the recent American Film Market. The clip is packed with the same kinetic vigour that constituted the rough appeal of Ong-Bak complete with Pranom's lethal choreographs and a chase scene in long-tailed boats (instead of the tuk-tuks (three wheelers) from the first movie.
Altogether it looks promising and all we can do till February is wait and drool.
