Ong Bak

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Anyone seen Ong Bak? It looks absolutely bloody brilliant. I was thinking about starting a general martial arts films thread but thought this warranted a thread of it's own. I can't wait to go and see it, check out the trailer (if you don't like quicktime there's loads of other trailers if you google). It looks great doesn't it? So, has anyone seen it?

[bill hicks]

It's probably the worst film ever made and makes Star Wars look like the most brilliantly written and plotted piece of drama in history....but I've seen it about five times now and have made sure everyone I know watches it too.

The stunts are just insanely good and Tony Jaa is an absolute god.

The fights don't start till way into the film but when they do....amazing. The chase sequence when he jumps over and through implausibly big/small things unhindered is just jaw dropping.

Watch it as soon as possible...and as a preference download the original Thai version since it has the great Thai score and the sister subplot. Besson has chopped it up and rescored it with techno and hip hop shite.

And on the official website watch the half time show he did at the basketball game. Hoe the fuck does he get up high enough to kick that basketball??? I can just about get a foot or two off the ground when I jump. It must be 8-10 feet!!!

[Regular John]

Have to agree, the movie is shit as far as plot and characters go. This movie is about Tony Jaa flipping and kicking and jumping and stuff, and its worth watching for that alone I would say.

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Have you got a link to the basketball show? I can't find it on the official site or anywhere else.

[Regular John]

Have you got a link to the basketball show? I can't find it on the official site or anywhere else.

http://www.ongbakmovie.com/trailers/Halftime.mov

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Thanks, I must be blind.

[micanio]

That halftime show was like watching a real life version of Street Fighter (the game, not the film). Amazing....

[Rubbish Monkey]

This has been sitting in my "to watch" pile for a while, now. You may also like Born To Fight (also in that same pile at the moment) It has the same fight choreographer and director I believe.

Born To Fight trailer link. Look out for the truck bit. Ouch.

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

Yeah, Born to Fight looks great too doesn't it, another one I want to see. The storyline in Born to Fight looks a bit better than the Ong Bak one.

[Coughlan]

i have'nt seen Ong Bak but I have recently got into World Cinema and have become a bit obssessed with it. In the last two weeks I have watched:

Battle Royale 1 & 2
Switchblade Romance
The Grudge 1 & 2
Das Experiment
Story of Ricky-oh
City of God
The Eye
Dark Water
Old Boy
Gozu
I was totally blown away by most of these films and can't believe I have ignored World cinema for so long.

[Regular John]

Battle Royale got me into it, from there I went nuts with Takeshi Kitano movies!

[Coughlan]

I feel a bit ashamed that  could not get in to Ichi the killer.

[Deadman97]

Story of Ricky-oh

Jesus, this is a great film- it's the closest I've seen to decent live-action manga, and it looks all the better and more fun now that CG has completely fucked things for prosthetic special effects. Inventive gore to rival Braindead- people explode, morph into demons, there's shouting and flying through the air and kicking... We'll never ever see it's like again.

[Coughlan]

The film of the year will with out a doubt end up being Sin City, I have recently watched a copy of it and there is not enough good I can say about it.

[Coughlan]

We'll never ever see it's like again.

Your'e probably right unfortunately.

[untitled_london]

I was thinking about starting a general martial arts films thread

ohh please do, there used to be an asian cinema thread around here not so long back, but yeah, whilst i'd welcome its return/bump, it'd be nice to see a purely martial arts one too. (although tbh, the martial arts thread might serve that purpose equally well)

either, i think it needs doing.

*paging MWBE*

[Bigflood]

Whilst I like what I've seen, I can't claim to be up on world cinema.  I can, however, highly recommend 'Infernal Affairs' -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000260O6M/qid=1117070870/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i4_xgl/026-0896710-9206015

It's an ace cat and mouse thriller about two spies.  One working for the Hong Kong police in the Triads, the other working for the Triads in the Hong Kong Police.  A remake is on the way from Martin Scorsese - http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/

Decent cast, but it'll have to go a long way to beat the original for me.

[dgh]

I've seen born to fight. If you think ong bak had insane stunts, then you ain't seen nothin' yet!

That truck stunt in the trailer is from the opening sequence, there are stunts later on that will make your jaw drop.

Mind, for pure fighting, ong bak does hold all the aces.

[m...wW(wwMww)Ww...m]

Blimey, how high can that fella jump

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

He doesn't even look like he's trying! I wonder who would win in a fight between him and Bruce Lee.

[Pinball]

Depends who has the machine gun.

[Johnny Yesno]

Another one from the makers of Ong Bak. Ouch!

Hollywood, sooner or later you are fucked with your boring output.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

To be fair, I can't remember the last time I saw one of these films that actually had a good plot.  They always seem to simply be an excuse to see people fighting.  Sure that's entertaining in itself, and Ong Bak had amazing stunts, but the plot was appauling.  I can't even remember how it ended.  (Not that I need to remember, it was pretty obvious from the first 5 mins)

[Paul's Boutique]

Anyone see Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hussle? Absolutely brilliant film, funny, jaw-dropping action, likable characters and worthwhile (but flimsy) plot.

The first question that pops into your head after watching the film is: "how on earth can you top that?"

[Smackhead Kangaroo]

Hah if only they could harness those special effects for superhero movies.