Ong Bak, anyone?

[so sorry]

Just bought and watched OngBak for the first time last night.

I was hoping for a better story, but the fight scenes made up for it.

That Muay Thai style is fucking awesome. Knees and elbow kick ass!

The DVD 'bonus' stuff wasn't very good (it had a wierd french rap video... if you think rap in english is bad, try listening to it in French!).


Opinions?

[ThisIsTheGirl]

I enjoyed ONg Bak immensely, but partly that was because it reminded me of some of the classic US martial arts films, which kind of made me feel like the movie was a guilty pleasure.

If Van Damme was on the list, I'd have gone for him, because it really felt like a remake of one of his films, but as it is, I'll go with Dudikoff the Ninja

[so sorry]

I also forgot to put Steven Segal on the list!
seriously though, the thing i loved best about segal (in his prime) was the hard take-downs he did, which is what Muay Thai is all about (knees and elbows baby!!!).
This is the one martial art that i dream about being able to do.

[John-Locke]

Tony Jaa is one of the greatest Fighters I've ever seen, Hopefully now that Jet Li is retiring he's going to get a chance at Hollywood, maybe they could put him in a Bond film or something to start off? Ong Bak has some of the greatest fights of all time, the Luc Besson Cut which I assume is the one you have seen, is better than the Thai version in some ways but I remember the Original having a few nastier moments that I think were cut, maybe it's just that time has lessened the impact.

[so sorry]

JL, I don't know what version i have, but its the standard US release. i didn't notice luc besson's name on it, i'll have to check when i get home.
this guy is fucking insane! brutal takedowns, just the way i like em.
i watched the french tease trailer, and it was a quick scene from the movie: that big Aussie saying "fuck mauy thai" and Jaa kicking him to the ground is less than a second. fucking awesome!!!!

[ThisIsTheGirl]

I must have seen the Thai version, because the subtitles were laughably bad - there was little point in even attempting to read them!

And so sorry - I reckon you're spot-on about the elbows and knees.

The first proper fight move you see him do, when he's in the illegal fighting club, and he just buries his knee into that guys stomach - that is a fucking class moment!

[so sorry]

i started watching the movie in dubbed english, but switched it to Thai with subtitles after ten minutes. then i almost changed it back to dubbed english after that thai girl (the adopted sister or whatever she was) started talking. her voice in that language almost made my head explode.
i pity the man she marries. can you imaging that voice nagging you to take out the trash or walk the dog?? I'd have to give her a "knight throwing axe" to the head!

[John-Locke]

I know what you mean about that annoying girl, everytime she calls him Humlae me and my friend would repeat it in mockery of how annoying she was, but I think thats part of the charm of the film. It looks like they are actually hiting them hard at times, only the people have wigs over some kind of protection.

[so sorry]

you could tell in alot of the slow-mo replays that guys were taking good solid hits.
why haven't they made a video game out of this guy yet???? C'mon, the world needs another Street Fighter game!

[Pissed-Off Crawdad]

I wouldn't say that Ong-Bak is good movie in terms of story or anything, but yes, Tony Jaa does some really badass stuff in it. The DVD's not too bad, either; the RZA promo thing cracks me up. And even when you tire of the martial arts/cool stunts in the film (if you do at all), you've still got some great unintentional comedy, such as nearly every time the voice box guy talks ("I am God! Dispose of them and meet me in the cave!")

[bastard_robo]

I bought the Region Free DVD at the San Diego Con in 04, thought it was awesome. Im in the boat you dont need to have a GREAT story to tell a movie about a guy kicking ass.

When it hit theaters (which is the US DVD version) They cut the small sub plot with the girl's sister, but it really wasnt that noticeable.



If you want to see some ASS KICKING, Tom Yum Goong, while the story kinda sucks, the FIGHTS ARE F'N KICKASS!

You Cringe with every blow Jaa puts on the poor bastards!