Hey folks, Harry here with the first review that I've seen for possibly the most anticipated action film for "those in the know" of 2005... TOM YUM GOONG! I loathe the title - mainly because I haven't a clue how to pronounce the damn thing... and that it's apparently a popular Thai soup - just makes me scratch that bald red monkey ass of mine and ponder what that has to do with the movie. But that last trailer had me watching the trailer like breathing for a couple of hours... only sometimes I'd go frame by frame... and my breathing slowed... not nearly that much. MUST SEE IMMEDIATELY!!!
Harry,
I'm here in Bangkok, I just got back from Tony Jaa's latest feature, Tom Yum
Goong. I'm a huge fan of Tony Jaa since Ong Bak, and I intentionally avoided
checking out the trailers or websites so as not to spoil the fun. Wow, what
a ride!!!
I was at the first showing on opening day, and even though it's a weekday at
11am, the house was packed!
TYG has all the elements of the traditional kung fu movie -- cheesy dialog,
smidgen of a plot, improbable situations, lame soundtrack, staccato sound
effects to emphasize all the punching and bone breaking, and, of course,
poorly read dialogue. It's still a kick ass movie, Tony Jaa can _pretty
much_ take all the credit for that. He barely says a word through the entire
movie, but then, he doesn't have to does he? I said pretty much, because
Johnny Nguyen did a fine job too. And then there is this SPECTACULAR,
awe-inspiring one-take stedi-cam shot fight scene throughout several floors
of a restaurant which seems to go on for 10 minutes but I've just read it
was only 4 minutes. As amazing as that scene was, by comparison the rest of
TYG is somewhat of a letdown.
The acting, particularly the English speaking parts, was pretty bad. It's
one thing to give Asian actors English lines and expect them not to be their
most eloquent. That's forgivable. But even the western actors here were
pretty bad. I don't know where they found these people, they must have had
to spend most of their budget on feeding the elephants.
Spoilers: There was a very cool river boat chase scene to rival the tuk tuk
scene in Ong Bak. There was one bizarre scene were a guy got away from a
gang of baddies -- on a Segway scooter! Then there was the strange scene
were a burning Thai temple was for some reason packed with these gigantic
pro-wrestler types who politely took turns to kick Tony Jaa's ass. And the
most unexpected scene was where Tony Jaa has a dream and the movie suddenly
becomes a very poorly rendered 3D cartoon of stone warriors fighting. Oh
yeah, then there is the Jackie Chan cameo...
The product placement in TYG, I have to add, was so blatant it was actually
funny. I don't know what "M-150" is, but I think I'm going to have to buy
some now.
My wishes for the next Tony Jaa movie? Get a bigger budget please!! Don't
spend it on more explosions and crap, spend it on actors who can act, hire a
good screenwriter, a better crew all around, and maybe pairing him up with
some veteran, waning, martial arts star could have some pleasant surprises
for us all. And maybe get some English lessons for Tony.
Go see this movie Harry, if only for the four minute fight scene!
