Ben Gulley Talks about Asian Movies He Watched On Netflix Part 3
Ong Bak 2
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably heard of Ong Bak (2003), or its breakout star, Tony Jaa. I actually differed with most people on my opinion of that movie; I thought it was entertaining as hell, but I didn’t think that Jaa had the charisma to be the next big martial arts star. His 2005 followup, Tom-Yum-Goong (released as The Protector in the US) pretty much confirmed my suspicions. Tony Jaa can perform amazing feats of physicality, but he still just didn’t have the presence required to be a true martial arts superstar.
I’ve had a lot of arguments with people about this, but my basic argument is this. Compare him to Bruce Lee (and yes, I realize its a little unfair to compare him to the most legendary martial arts star ever, but stay with me for a bit). When I think of Tony Jaa, the image that most readily springs to mind is probably him kicking a dude while his legs are on fire. That’s pretty goddamn awesome, no question about it. The only problem is, when I think of Bruce Lee, the image is just of him standing, poised to strike. In my mind, at least, Bruce Lee just standing still and getting ready to do something is more badass than Tony Jaa actually kicking a dude with flaming legs. Even if I compare him to a martial arts star who’s not Bruce Lee, Jaa just comes up short. Beyond his big stunts, Jackie Chan has the everyman charm going for him. Jet Li has the quiet intensity. Donnie Yen can always bring a lot of natural swagger to his characters. My point is, I’m not watching Tony Jaa when he isn’t doing amazing physical feats. I don’t mean that I dislike them, I just wonder if he has any staying power.
So that lengthy intro actually takes us to Ong Bak 2. There are a couple of differences right off the bat, namely that Prachya Pinkaew is just producing this time around (he directed Tom-Yum-Goong and Ong Bak), and the directoral duties have moved to Jaa and Panna Rittikrai (the fight choreographer of all of Jaa’s movies). The other main difference is that while the first Ong Bak was set in 2003 Thailand, this one is set in a nebulous historical time that Wikipedia assures me is 1421. There’s some anachronistic stuff in there that made the history dork in me complain, but no one wants to listen to that guy. Anyway, Jaa plays Tien, the son of a lord who is killed for reasons that exist only insofar as he needs to be orphaned. He’s then rescued from slavery by bandits and then trained in various forms of ass-kickery, then he goes out to avenge his parents’ deaths. It’s kind of like Batman, if Batman were every kung fu film made in the 70s.
That’s actually not quite true, I just liked typing it, and was unwilling to delete it afterwards. Anyway, pacing is the major flaw of the movie. They decide to tell about his parents getting killed through flashback, which apart from telling us who was responsible, doesn’t actually add much to the movie besides slowing down the narrative pace. There’s also an extended dance sequence that was well-filmed, but interrupted the flow. All of these problems are also compounded somewhat by the shooting style, which is very slick, but misses out on a lot of the grittiness that I liked in Ong Bak and Tom-Yum-Goong. They also go a little overboard with the slow-mo sometimes, and if you’ve seen Ong Bak, then you know me complaining about slow-mo here means something. Also somewhat strange is a 3rd act plot twist that doesn’t really pay off like it should combined with a fairly sudden ending. That, though, is mostly due to the fact that the story isn’t over until Ong Bak 3, which was released in Thailand earlier this year and supposedly ties the previous 2 together. (Note: I actually wrote this review before Ong Bak 3 was out. I’ve since seen it, and I can barely remember a thing about it.)
As far as action is concerned, the earlier fight sequences are pretty good, though not spectacular in the way that people have come to expect from Jaa. There’s a part I really like where the bandits are making Tien go through three trials, the trial of agility, the trial of martial arts, and the trial of mind. The best thing is, the trial of mind also ends up being a trial of martial arts. What it’s worth watching, for, though, is the final fight sequence. It’s very well done, and actually has a remarkable amount of subtlety for a martial arts movie (emphasis on the “for a martial arts movie”). Despite all of the various little complaints I had, the film is pretty good, but even if it were bad, it would still be worth it for this final fight sequence. As a bonus, it actually pays off on various things established earlier in the film (that’s the aforementioned subtlety).
So, that leaves me with my central question, is Tony Jaa going to be the next martial arts superstar? I’m still not sure. I will say that in Ong Bak 2 he showed growth by trying on a new persona, a fierier and angrier one. He still doesn’t have the raw charisma I associate with martial arts movie stars, but he’s working on it, and it’s getting closer. He’s starting to do more with less, which is good. Still, it’s not quite there yet, and nothing in Ong Bak 2 approaches the scene in Tom-Yum-Goong with the extended shot of him running up stairs and just laying waste to, like, 80 dudes. Now that he’s coming out of his Buddhist Monastery, he’ll be making Tam-Yum-Goong 2 with Jeeja Yanin from Chocolate (which is the movie about an autistic girl who kicks gangsters). I have higher hopes now than I did before.
I’ve had a lot of arguments with people about this, but my basic argument is this. Compare him to Bruce Lee (and yes, I realize its a little unfair to compare him to the most legendary martial arts star ever, but stay with me for a bit). When I think of Tony Jaa, the image that most readily springs to mind is probably him kicking a dude while his legs are on fire. That’s pretty goddamn awesome, no question about it. The only problem is, when I think of Bruce Lee, the image is just of him standing, poised to strike. In my mind, at least, Bruce Lee just standing still and getting ready to do something is more badass than Tony Jaa actually kicking a dude with flaming legs. Even if I compare him to a martial arts star who’s not Bruce Lee, Jaa just comes up short. Beyond his big stunts, Jackie Chan has the everyman charm going for him. Jet Li has the quiet intensity. Donnie Yen can always bring a lot of natural swagger to his characters. My point is, I’m not watching Tony Jaa when he isn’t doing amazing physical feats. I don’t mean that I dislike them, I just wonder if he has any staying power.
So that lengthy intro actually takes us to Ong Bak 2. There are a couple of differences right off the bat, namely that Prachya Pinkaew is just producing this time around (he directed Tom-Yum-Goong and Ong Bak), and the directoral duties have moved to Jaa and Panna Rittikrai (the fight choreographer of all of Jaa’s movies). The other main difference is that while the first Ong Bak was set in 2003 Thailand, this one is set in a nebulous historical time that Wikipedia assures me is 1421. There’s some anachronistic stuff in there that made the history dork in me complain, but no one wants to listen to that guy. Anyway, Jaa plays Tien, the son of a lord who is killed for reasons that exist only insofar as he needs to be orphaned. He’s then rescued from slavery by bandits and then trained in various forms of ass-kickery, then he goes out to avenge his parents’ deaths. It’s kind of like Batman, if Batman were every kung fu film made in the 70s.
That’s actually not quite true, I just liked typing it, and was unwilling to delete it afterwards. Anyway, pacing is the major flaw of the movie. They decide to tell about his parents getting killed through flashback, which apart from telling us who was responsible, doesn’t actually add much to the movie besides slowing down the narrative pace. There’s also an extended dance sequence that was well-filmed, but interrupted the flow. All of these problems are also compounded somewhat by the shooting style, which is very slick, but misses out on a lot of the grittiness that I liked in Ong Bak and Tom-Yum-Goong. They also go a little overboard with the slow-mo sometimes, and if you’ve seen Ong Bak, then you know me complaining about slow-mo here means something. Also somewhat strange is a 3rd act plot twist that doesn’t really pay off like it should combined with a fairly sudden ending. That, though, is mostly due to the fact that the story isn’t over until Ong Bak 3, which was released in Thailand earlier this year and supposedly ties the previous 2 together. (Note: I actually wrote this review before Ong Bak 3 was out. I’ve since seen it, and I can barely remember a thing about it.)
As far as action is concerned, the earlier fight sequences are pretty good, though not spectacular in the way that people have come to expect from Jaa. There’s a part I really like where the bandits are making Tien go through three trials, the trial of agility, the trial of martial arts, and the trial of mind. The best thing is, the trial of mind also ends up being a trial of martial arts. What it’s worth watching, for, though, is the final fight sequence. It’s very well done, and actually has a remarkable amount of subtlety for a martial arts movie (emphasis on the “for a martial arts movie”). Despite all of the various little complaints I had, the film is pretty good, but even if it were bad, it would still be worth it for this final fight sequence. As a bonus, it actually pays off on various things established earlier in the film (that’s the aforementioned subtlety).
So, that leaves me with my central question, is Tony Jaa going to be the next martial arts superstar? I’m still not sure. I will say that in Ong Bak 2 he showed growth by trying on a new persona, a fierier and angrier one. He still doesn’t have the raw charisma I associate with martial arts movie stars, but he’s working on it, and it’s getting closer. He’s starting to do more with less, which is good. Still, it’s not quite there yet, and nothing in Ong Bak 2 approaches the scene in Tom-Yum-Goong with the extended shot of him running up stairs and just laying waste to, like, 80 dudes. Now that he’s coming out of his Buddhist Monastery, he’ll be making Tam-Yum-Goong 2 with Jeeja Yanin from Chocolate (which is the movie about an autistic girl who kicks gangsters). I have higher hopes now than I did before.
Short URL for this post: http://tmblr.co/ZUZjWwEG0Gox
