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Sir Greg & Mack Daddy gives us a look at a badassss Thai Kick Boxing Movie! ONG BAK!!!
Hey folks, Harry here... Well never let it be said that we don't search the world for cool movies. Now we're getting a look at a Thai Kick Boxing film that sounds wonderful. ONG BAK... This sounds like it is a lot of fun. Here ya go...
Hey Harry, Sir Greg here from big, bad, Bangkok.
Been posted once before with a quick review of 'The Eye' and am writing again to tell you of a new Thai kickboxing movie I caught last night called 'Ong Bak'.
I've been wanting to see this one ever since the trailer came out a few months with the opening shot of a huge, British brute shoving his face into the camera screaming "FUCK MUAY THAI!" (that's the real name of what we mighty whities like to call kickboxing), only to get his head nearly knocked off a few seconds later by a well-placed kick. Anyway, the movies starts off in a very rural Thai village called Ong Bak, where we find young Ting, a sweet, gentle orphan who just happens to be a Muay Thai asskicker of epic proportions, but is forbidden by his master to use it, as it is a very dangerous thing to be proficient at. Anyway, some thugs come into the village, offer to buy a sacred amulet, get turned down and decide that they're not leaving without SOMETHING to bring their boss in Bangkok. So later that night, they saw the head off of the villages main buddha image (a seriously bad thing to do in Thailand) and head for the hills. The next day finds the village with a severe case of Temple of Doom, with the village elders screaming that the village is doomed and they must get the sacred statue back or face death. Ting volunteers, takes some donations to help him on his mission and heads to Bangkok to find the statue.
From there on in, the movie moves at a pretty wicked pace. As soon as Ting arrives in Bangkok, he manages to get himself involved in illegal street bike racing and backalley muay thai brawls, while making a reluctant sidekick of the street-hustling son of the village elder, who provides a lot of comic relief - I had tears in my eyes a few times. The acting here isn't going to win any Oscars, but it's still totally passable. The actor who plays Ting started out as a stuntman (and also did some stunt work on Mortal Kombat), but he sure delivers on what he's hired to do, and that's kick some ass. Let me tell ya Harry, I've seen a lot of martial arts movies in my time and am no stranger to creative cinematic fighting, but Ong Bak just blew my mind. It has some of THE MOST amazing, creative, realisitic and BRUTAL fighting I've ever seen on film. (my favorite - when Ting throws a massive guy through a second floor window, jumps out after him and gives him one last boot to the head on the way down). The guy who plays Ting is getting a lot of press over here about how he's the new Jackie Chan and I can totally see it. Some of the stunts he does are truly jaw dropping - all without the aid of CG or wires, I might add. Oh, another thing that made the movie were the subtitles. The translators must use the English dictionary of cuss words - quite often you'll get a line like "You fuck! What the shit are you doing? Oh, fuck me dead!!!" Really funny.
Anyway, the rest of the movie plays out like the old Kung Fu video game (or The Big Boss, for that matter), with Ting starting at the bottom of the barrel henchmen and moving his way up through the ranks to the head dude, kicking ass and not taking names the whole way. This movie also has the distinction of having the only tuk-tuk chase I've ever seen in a movie. During the flick, the theater was filled with gasps of "OH!" and "OUCH!" every time a knee, elbow or foot connected, which made it a hoot to watch. The only two negative things I can say about the movie was that the token female's voice was really high and whiny, and that when someone did an amazing stunt or acrobatic move (which was a lot), they replayed the stunt in it's entirety about three times in a row.
Other than that though, definitely worth checking out if you can find it, and an absolute must-have for any serious fan of martial arts movies.
Call me Sir Gregand here's MackDaddy's look...
Hey Harry,
Read the review of ONG-BAK and thought that i should follow up with my own review of this jaw-dropping ass-kicking film. Take this review from a thai perspective for i suspect that Sir Greg is English so let me clarify and make certain a few things.
First of all, if u appreciated Chinese martial arts or other form of fight then u will be entirely taken by this movie about MUAY THAI of Thai kickboxing. It is the story of the typical Thai villager, ignorant of city ways, superstitious and a true believer in faith. Trust me, dont ever do or say anything against the Buddha in Thailand or u will have ur ass kicked big time. Anyways, the paper thin plot shows us that the village is growing through a drought and so they are planning that the 24th anniversary of ONG-BAK, the Buddha statue that they are utterly devoted to. The name of the village is Nong Pradan. Anyways the plot doesnt really matter because the movie is all about kicking ass, Thai style. Trust me, this guy knows how to use his elbows and knees in more ways than the kama Sutra depicts sex. I mean he could practically crack open a skull and all this without the use of stunt doubles or sling to make it look like puppetry. And if u missed it the first time then dont worry 'cos they show it again in action replay right again, some for even 3 times and all from different angles.Like Greg said, dont expexct any Oscars acting-wise but it will suffice.
There is this one scene where he is trapped in a corner and he gets past the bunch of baddies by walkiong on their heads, How cool is that !! There is also the use of the three-wheelers or "tuk tuk" as it is called here. It is made good use of. At under 2 hours running time, the movie doesnt drag one bit. The subtitles which i glanced through like once in a while never stopped using FUCK even though it was unnecessary. For thai people, the usual comedian sidekick was there and it was funny. So we have an ass-kicking hysterical film which will have you drooling IF (and thats a big IF) you ever get to watch. From my understanding, this movie premiered at the Bangkok International Film Festival where it garnered good reviews as well. With a Thai movie winning the top prize in "Uncertain Regard" category last year at Cannes, it seems that their quality is on the rise again. I hope that u all can catch this in theatres if u ever get the chance to. You wont regret it.
If you ever use this, call me MackDaddy..
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iunno
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I especially like that "fuck muay thai!!" thing....if only our U.S. trailers consisted of hilarity like that.
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One of many classic lines from Van Damme's 1989 effort Kickboxer. Long may this be remembered, it has it all: ridiculous fighting scenes, lush scenery, an eighties score so bad it's good, and a horrificly embaressing dance scene.
Like his other early movies, and also his ones post 2000, Van Damme is actually quite likeable.
This one sounds like a great beers and pizza effort -
One of many classic lines from Van Damme's 1989 effort Kickboxer. Long may this be remembered, it has it all: ridiculous fighting scenes, lush scenery, an eighties score so bad it's good, and a horrificly embaressing dance scene.
Like his other early movies, and also his ones post 2000, Van Damme is actually quite likeable.
This one sounds like a great beers and pizza effort -
One of many classic lines from Van Damme's 1989 effort Kickboxer. Long may this be remembered, it has it all: ridiculous fighting scenes, lush scenery, an eighties score so bad it's good, and a horrificly embaressing dance scene.
Like his other early movies, and also his ones post 2000, Van Damme is actually quite likeable.
This one sounds like a great beers and pizza effort -
ok, here's the URL for the trailer http://www.pappayon.com/main/index.php Now you won't be able to read the title of the film, but if you look on the first page, you'll see a section for "movie trailers". you'll see three movie title, one of wich is "The Ring". click on the movie title just right of "The Ring", and that's the trailer you want. it's in Real time, so quality doesn't look all that great. but the trailer looks cool.
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I once saw a documentary on Mui Thai. It is very cool, probably one of the coolest sports ever. Ong Bak looks like it might combine a story with this awsome form of fighting. A whole movie filled with people who fight like Zak from DOA, except they are not fucking cheeseballs like he is... Sounds cool, only thing is, probably wont ever open in my area (DC) ah well
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Not that you can tell from the suck-ass mishmash of garbled brown pixels that IS a realvideo stream, but more brutal, realistic fight choreography is always welcome. Also nice to see Muay Thai getting some recognition. Long overdue. Now if only some Filipinos would make a modern stick fighting movie...
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like Crocodile Dundee? Coooooool!!
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Feb 04, 2003 1:38:35 PM CST
that's the real name of what we mighty whities like to call kick
by farung_jeff
kickboxing is actually the pussy ass version of Muay Thai, kickboxing rules are
1) no kicks below the waist
2) no elbows
3) no knees
all which is permitted in Muay Thai. the new jackie chan movie Highbinders features a few famous Muay Thai fighters sandy holt (although www.imdb.com list him as an actress) and Bey Logan both well known and respected martial artists
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Kickboxing is not Muay Thai. Kickboxing is western boxing with added Karate-style kicks (using the instep and heel of the foot), but generally no kicks below the waiste). Muay Thai is an ancient art incorporating knee and elbow strikes, chokes and grapples and real nasty low kicks (using the shin). Muay Thai kicks Karate's ass. Heh Heh.
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Feb 04, 2003 10:35:09 PM CST
Is Kickboxing/Muay Thai the only thing Thailand has to offer?
by theforeverman
I mean really, you'd think their entire culture revolves around this one martial art. Heck, the only movie I last remember seeing Thailand being a setting for was "Tomb Raider", and that's because of the old temples.
I'm sure if I was from Thailand I'd be kind of pissed off that the only thing my country seems good for to the rest of the world is fighting... -
Being a resident in Thailand, I get to see a lot of Thai films. Most of which are either ghost films with terrible visual effects and shite storylines or love stories involving transvestites!
Ong Bak is neither of these. It is an awesome 'kneeinyerface' martial arts movie. With superbly creative fight coreography. It kicks the hell out of those cheesy American Ninja and Van Damme movies.
Even though the plotline is basic, it works. Plus there isn't the bullshit 'falling in love with a female reporter or avenging the murder of his parents' to contend with!
It's amazing to think that there were no wires or visual effects used for the fight scenes. I was left gob-smacked with some of the moves the hero 'Ting' pulled off. The actor was a stuntman before this and it shows. WOW!!! He's going to be SO big if they sell this film abroad. I guarantee nobody has seen fighting like this before in any movie. Very impressive.
Another thing to add is that most of the kicks and blows made contact as opposed to creatively missing as you're supposed to do in films. Some of them must have hurt quite a bit too!! Oohs, aaarghs and ows could be heard from the audience throughout the screening!
OK, now the not so good bits-
1) Thailand is reknown for it's traffic jams - the tuk-tuk chase is exciting, but there was NO other traffic at all!!
2) There was the issue of the multi-angled repeating in slow mo' of some of the breath-taking kicks and stunts. Which when I watched it, made me think 'Oh don't, you're just making it look like a Van Damme movie.' Unnecessary.
3) The English subtitles didn't translate very well. In Thai, swearing and insults can be quite funny when used well (as it was in the Thai dialogue). But in English 'fuck' is nearly always hurtful. Most of the English dialogue was too harsh, so the comedy and insults are lost in the translation. Shame.
As you can see, the above negative comments are just nit-picking comments. And not serious movie ruiners. Suprisingly that's pretty much all of the negative stuff there is!!! It's that good a film! I'm going to see it again tomorrow.
If you're an HRH the Jackie of Chan fan, like myself - I totally recommend you to watch this film.
The Sourmillman 02/03 -
I enjoyed the action in this movie, although the story was a bit thin.
I've reviewed it in more detail on my Talking Pictures website at:
http://www.talkingpix.co.uk/ReviewsOng-Bak.html
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