first of all I got this on cheapo vcd and it looks as good as a dvd. The opening scene they are climbing this tree trying to get a flag, some ceremony, and kicking each other off in order to get it. The muay thai stuff is brutal, but shows alot of spiritual side to. It looks a little like hung gar or something really. This movie looks alot like a Hong Kong action flick. There are lots of fights and gritty atmosphere. One thing I liked too is that it has a bunch of really blatant action movie cliches, like Chuck Norris type stuff. Don’t miss it
Last year called. It wants it’s multiple threads back
Tony Ja?
We have been discussing Ong Bak here for a while. A search will reveal several threads in the archive.
Ong Bak is clearly the most exciting MA film I’ve seen in years, especially in the post Matrix CGI era wee seem to be stuck in now. I understand that the lead guy has taken the ‘western’ name Tony Ja. Can anyone confirm this? It might not be stable, after all, we remember what happened with Michelle Yeoh/Khan. His real name is Phanom Yeerum, and that’s a bit of a mouthful. Anyone know what Tony is doing next? He’s got the juice, and I can’t wait to see more.
I’ve been trying to acquire a legal version DVD with English subtitles for sale here . There is a bootleg out there available, but we aren’t dealing in bootlegs. 
G, my thai friend said he read about the ong bak guy is starring in a new ‘fight-movie’, possible muay thai flavored like OB. I don’t think it’s from the same director though. (and that might be good considering they spent 4 years, 8 hours a day training the fight scenes for Ong Bak! Talk about perfectionism)
haha I had no idea sorry. It’s relatively new in Chinatown I think.
Kristoffer
Cool. Tap your Thai buddy to find out more. I think we all got our eyes on Tony Ja. He’s the new rising star.
im gonna post what i posted in another forum about this movie.
eh it was alrite. i never see someone use the knee as a move so muhc/. im Like KICK HIM KICK HIM KEEP DISTANCE! but nooo he would go in for the knee’s. lol it was okay
Re: Kristoffer
Originally posted by jun_erh
haha I had no idea sorry. It’s relatively new in Chinatown I think.
I really hate people who posts ‘‘last year called…’’ I just wanted to try that, so, I’m sorry too
Originally posted by GeneChing
Cool. Tap your Thai buddy to find out more. I think we all got our eyes on Tony Ja. He’s the new rising star.
Will do. I hope he stays away from all the wires and keep it like the old Jackie used too. (oh and that he stays long long away from Hollywood)
kristoffer- that’s okay
Gene- I know we’ve butted heads about vcds but this one looks better than any you’ve seen
Anyone in Southern California, this weekend they are showing Ong Bak at Pacific Media Expo.
http://www.pacificmediaexpo.com/pmx/events/AsianCinemaSchedule.html
Along with other HK, Japan, Korean movies. Should be good on the big screen.
Wow, that looks like a great festival!
I heard that Luc Besson has the international distribution rights for Ong Bak. I’ve also heard two rumors about Tony Ja. 1. He is working on Ong Bak 2, but broke his leg in production. 2. He has another movie that just released in Thailand.
I’ve also heard that he was the stunt double for Robin Shou in Mortal Kombat 2. Can anyone confirm any of this?
I just got Xanda. I’ve watched like half of it. it’s produced by Tsui Hark and is of similar quality to Ong Bak. Alot of traditional vs combat issues similar to the ones on this board explored.
I watched the rest of Xanda today. It was good. san da withsome modern wushu and a even a little chen style weird ness thrown in for good measure. Not the monolith masterpiece of Ong Bok, but you’ll want to see it. Plenty of fighting
Plenty of fighting.
Well, that’s what’s most important.
Anybody got news on Lau Kar Leung’s Drunken Monkey?
I know it’s SHaw brothers cuz it’s in that section of the store I go 'da.
My video store got Drunken Monkey!
So I watched it. Or most of it, anyway. It was a little scratched toward the start (fu(kin’ irresponsible renters) so I had to skip a little way ahead - I don’t think I missed much, but I definitely missed a bit.
It’s about 85% of a really classic Shaw Bros/Lau Kar Leung flick. There are at least four really memorable, extended fight scenes - like 5 minutes long or longer. There’s some really cool training scenes. The opening credits even have the cast doing sets (both solo and team) in among giant gold-leafed sculptures of chinese calligraphy.
The plot is the usual nonsense involving filial betrayal, opium smuggling, patriotism, searching for a master, blah blah blah. I’m not convinced any of it made a lick of sense, but who cares anyway? They didn’t spend a lot of time or effort on it, so neither will I.
There was, however, a lot of time and effort spent on the wacky physical comedy stuff, especially in the middle third of the film. When this stuff is done well, I like it a lot, but the zany hijinx in this flick were pretty subpar. I kind of got the feeling that a lot of it was specifically shot to give the two younger leads lots of close-ups and hence attract chick money to the movie. I guess the guys were pretty handsome, but this strategy didn’t do much for me. Get on with the kungfu!
Fortunately the kungfu is pretty great and there’s plenty of it. There is a pretty considerable amount of wire work in it, and maybe some overcranking, but both are fairly subtly utilized, and the generally speaking, the cinematography of the fight scenes provides enough distance and duration to the shots to really see what the actors and stuntmen are doing, and I didn’t see anything that made me think ‘CGI.’
I’d probably give this movie a B if it didn’t have Lau Kar Leung and Gordon Liu in it, but their presence (and moves and charisma) boosts it up to an A from me.
Go see it.
what I keep trying to get into is the tv series coming out of hong kong and the mainland. Trouble is: a. I don’t know where to start and b: alot of them don’t have subtitles or dubbing. Like there’s one called the tai chi master thatr looks cool but I know it doesn’t have subtitles so I have to decide just how curious I am to see it. In chinatown they have like millions of them.
Just got this movie from Yesasia a few days ago and it ****en rocks!!
Magnolia pictures
I was recently contacted by Magnolia Pictures about the American release of ONG BAK. Magnolia has Bang Rajan out now, which was a huge blockbuster in Thailand. ONG BAK has been re-subtitled and cleaned up from the DVD/VCD versions that have been floating around and has a small scheduled release of a few hundred theaters, probably akin to Bang Rajan, perhaps a little bigger. It’s tentatively scheduled for mid-Nov release.
More word from Magnolia
I just heard from their publicity agent again. Ong Bak’s US release is being moved back to Feb 2005.