RSS 2.0Tom yum goong (2005)
Ong Bak is one of my favorite martial arts movies. Although Tony Jaa was the film’s main attraction, the story was pretty decent as well, and so was the direction. Fight choreography can make or break a martial arts movie, and in the case of Ong Bak it was simply spectacular. Honour of the Dragon (Tom yum goong) was made by the same team and also features Tony Jaa. Too bad its not quite as good.
In the Thai countryside, a young elephant-herder is taught how to defend his animal in battle. He’s part of an ancient tradition of fighters who protect the creatures from enemy attacks. When his elephant s stolen he follows the trail to Australia, where he faces the kidnappers Muay Thai style.
Tom yum goong starts off very promising as we see how a young boy and his father raise their elephants. Peaceful and beautifully shot, this is exactly the type of scene that made Ong bak so very good. But as soon as the actions scenes kick in the pace changes and things go haywire.
It’s almost as if director Prachya Pinkaew watched a couple of Guy Ritchie and Tarantino movies and decided he needed to do things differently. But without the peculiar talents of aforementioned directors. Long superfluous fight scenes follow eachother almost back to back, leaving barely any room for plot development. Complicated camera moves and stylistic tricks distract from the action as Kham (Jaa) fights his way through neverending supplies of enemies. Only when the final fight arrives do we get to see some of those truly great Jaa moves. Up until then it was style over substance, which really is too bad.
It’s not that this is a bad movie. It still kicks the ass of 95% of martial arts movies out there. It’s just that it could have been so much better without the pretentious direction and the awful soundtrack. With Ong Bak, the action was understated. The best fight was over in a single brilliant kick. Here, they’ve overstated everything, and it just doesn’t work as well. A bit of comic relief could have helped too, this movie takes itself way too seriously.
Roy (117 posts)Web designer and programmer, movie fanatic and devoted dad from Huizen, The Netherlands.
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While not much is given for plot, I could not help but watch the scene where Kham enters a building and works his way up a rotunda. I think that could very well be the best martial arts throwdown on camera since Bruce Lee’s fight with Han’s guards in Enter The Dragon, an unbroken take for almost eight minutes-!
I also thought the fight in the temple was great, and well filmed. Does it make any sense? No, and Kham (Jaa) hardly gets tired. Still, I found it more enjoyable than On-Bak.
I also liked the Jaa demonstration on the DVD; the “fan films” are also interesting.
Comment by Darren Seeley — Tue June 5, 2007 @ 3:39The ‘rotunda’ was actually one of the scenes I didn’t like. The camera lags behind the action, making it impossible to see just how Kahm defeats all those opponents. It looks like he just tosses most of them out of the way, and doesn’t really do anything that would make them not get up again.
The scene in Ong Bak where he defeats the the long-haired Englishman with one very skillfully timed kick made much more of an impression on me.
Oh and forget about getting tired, how about getting stabbed with a knife that would put Rambo’s to shame? How do you keep fighting after that?
The temple scene was well filmed indeed, but I thought the action wasn’t all that great either.
Comment by Roy Tanck — Tue June 5, 2007 @ 10:12“Long superfluous fight scenes follow each other almost back to back, leaving barely any room for plot development. ”
So, you say like that’s a bad thing?
I think with movies like these you shouldn’t expect a good plot. Ong Bak’s plot wasn’t much better either. After seeing Ong Bak, some of the surprise is gone and although the fighting scenes are less realistic than On Bak, they still kicked major ass.
I did like the rotunda scene a lot and the fight with the capoeira guy. Great stuff.
Comment by paco — Sat June 9, 2007 @ 15:04