i like anyone was blown away by tony jaa all over again. it was like watching ong bak for the first time never hearing of tony jaa and then becoming an instant fan. the warehouse seen, fight with Lateef Chowder and also the bone breaker scene were incredible (?) basically when tony jaa did what he does best i was blown away. after the warehouse scene i need a breather since he just blew me away especially "spiderman" part ** MINI SPOILER ** backflip. simply amazing. i got the movie online and cant wait for it to be released in theaters in usa to watch it there since i need to support tony jaa and then buyin the dvd when it gets released over here. action was insane didnt understand story much have the thai version but got a general understanding. if you like insane action you'll love, if you want great story and nothing elsed look else where, but lets face it, if you like/love tony jaa you really want the insane gravity defying stunts he does.

scrwrx...good review. LOL. I've been waiting to see it, and finally recieved my copy from ethaicd in the mail today. I watched it, and enjoyed the movie. It was good. Mr. Jaa is very talented indeed. Great work and choreography.

Miss delight, I can't believe youve seen it already!! I'm soooo jealous, that's it! I'm going to get whatever I can get my hands on and buy the DVD when it gets here and definitely see it in theaters.

Finally i got my VCD copy last week.

well from the start i didn't care at all about the scenario or acting so the horrible performance and scenari of this film is not very important.

I love this film because of the fight scenes that are just better than ong bak.

At many moments during the scene i thought "this move is possible to do???".
Tony jaa is just awesome and contrary to ong bak he finally have some real counterparts.

I was afraid of having to much ong bak area moves but finally there's plenty of new moves.

the action scens are superbly filmed and choregraphed.


I have just a minor bug:

When tony jaa jumps above the car, there're two small sand bags at the root of the car to allow tony to go that high.
In the film they are hidden and even removed after tony come back on the car's roof.

I think this is not really faire for the public and translate a willing of people saying "wow this guy is just incredible!"

Even with seeing the bags, the move in incredible so what's the use of hidding them??

also but not really a bug, more a wish: i would like more long sequences during fight, tony does only 1 or 2 move per sequences or even sometimes does 2 takes for one move especially in ong bak (i don't have seem TYG enought to judge) he ignitiated a hit in one sequence (for exemple jumping on someone) from close distance, but the next angle is from another take where he take a run before jumping, wich again i think does not stick to the "real, no CG, stunts or effects" motto.

I hope to see this in the 3rd film.

hello to everybody,

i wrote an review about TYG. but its only in german, maybe the german-fans on this site could read it. there are many spoilers in this review, i describe the fightscenes in detail as best as i can. hf with it :)
Review - TYG
you need MS Word for that file!

sry for my bad english =(

greetz c4ndym4n

s@ck A LEMON FOR THE PEOPLE WHO SAID TONY JAA.........
needs a new director
needs a new cast
needs a new crew
everyone knows if tony jaa acts in/under hollywood film/director the final product will be rubbish.

ONG-BAK there is no fault simply perfect movie perhaps the movie of 2005 anyone one who doesn't like it has no taste

YES tony jaa is the new
BRUCE LEE
JET LI
JACKIE CHAN

I finally saw Tom Yum Goong! Got it via ethaicd.com today, watched it with all my friends even though we didnt understand most of what was going on, It was awesome, definitely gonna buy it on dvd when it gets down here! Just thought id share

Lol sorry that was me that posted right above!

i don't care how the movie is as long as tony is in it with his actions ! by the way, the actions were GREAT!

Can people confirm dates for UCI cinema release in Ireland tom yum goong is out 24th march over this side of the ocean according to release dates

I dont understand all of this complaining about the quality of tom yum goong and ong bak .They were not expecting to break out into the international scene with ong bak ,tom yum goong was made to keep up with the demand. i mean after all who wants to wait 4 years for the next movie i dont care if it takes them 1 year as long as the action is up to standard im not so bothered about the rest.I have to admit that the start of tom yum goong was brilliantly done ,its got beautifull scenery .After seeing that i was expecting a little bit more. Still i wasnt dissapointed ,its all about money the more they get the better the movies will be its as simple as that.

well, I really agree when you say he's the new Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan etc...[ I'm Canadian, but I don't speak English fluently,I'm 13, I'm learin' English at school, I'm livin' in France, so, sorry if my English is bad ! ]

In my uncle's DVD French of ONG-BAK, behind the DVD, they say he's the new Bruce Lee !
But Who is the best one, if Bruce Lee was livin' today, who would be the best ? Bruce Lee or Tony Jaa ??? it's a very difficult question, they fight very well and it's very different, Bruce Lee practised KUNG-FU and Tony Jaa practise another kind of fight [ I don't know if it is the same word like in French, but in French it's MUAY THAI ]

so, for you, who would be the best ?

I don't know, my father thinks Bruce Lee, but I think Tony Jaa would be stronger !

[ I created some gifs, but they are too big to be uploaded, how could I do ? my e-mail or MSN : michael.jackson.best@gmail.com ]

Bruce lee is the best because he created the whole phenomenon!tony has already admited himself that bruce lee and jackie chan and jet li were his inspirations ,bruce lee was the inspiration for everybody he died a long time ago and people still watch his movies today.I dont know for sure but i think even jackie and jet would safely say bruce lee was the best.

I watched Game of Death last week, Bruce keeps using the same moves over and over again.He lacks the stunts in his shows,however when comes to conversation and talking to enemies, hes a natural.

Tony Jaa's concept is combining STUNTS and FIGHTING OFFENSIVELY, this is what makes people want to watch it again and again.After watching it 3 times on cinema , i bought the vcd and i feel like i want to watch it again after i post this message.

It think Tony Jaas fighting style and moves are the best ive ever seen!! And this movie was good aswell i thought the story to Tom-Yum-Goong was good and the fight scenes were just the best and i found the scenes at the start with the elephants beautiful and almost ...magical.

yo who ever said that tyg was disapointing yall r crazy. that movie was one of the best if not the best fight movie i ever seen. the only bad thing about it, was the version i saw was in french so i did not understand the dreams.

I have seen the movie today. I really loved it. The fighting scenes were really good. They could make it much better tho. Tony Jaa is awesome. I hope to see more of his movies in the future.

I also want to watch it in theaters but i guess it will take very long to come to theaters in canada.

well, i just have to say i liked this film. Not as good as Ong Bak, and a little slow in places, but still a great film though if Panom wasn't in it, would it be as watchable? The poor lighting is frustrating as you can't see Panom properly. I think he needs to star in a well lit film with a good storyline and he will conquer all!!! If he hasn't already!!!! Love Panom always

I saw Tom Yum Goong recently. Excellent film, I constantly watch scenes from the movie (as well as scenes from Ong-Bak) over and over again.

TYG has one of the most original storylines I have ever seen in a movie. Also, the fight scenes are spectacular.


Just one question I have thought about since I saw TYG, The fight scene where Kham faces numerous guards, where he breaks bones and joints, is that real? If so, I feel deeply sorry for those people, having to experience that kind of pain.

I agree! my last post sounded a bit negative but TYG is a truly orginal very good film! I don't think the bone breaking was real! I can't see that happening for real on film and being allowed!!! Also, i'm kinda sure in one brief bit one of the guys has a fake arm, but thats understandable based on what Panom was doing to his arm!!!! lol I think the story's are very good but I think he could use a really good story to test his acting as well as his fighting. I can see he can act just fine, but some critics still say the films have bad acting which could put off new fans. Don't I go on? lol

original storyline ??? did you see ong bak? basically the same story: something is stolen from a rural village, and tony's character must travel to a different place to get it back.

of course the bone-breaking is not real. it's a movie. i hope you didn't think lord of the rings was real

hehe if you think it's real it means they did a really good job... That's great

Yeah !!!

ok so far checked out some of these clips on google. found it amazing i just loved it. almost cried after his discovery of the stolen item being ruined. it's just spoiling my movie moments whenever it comes here in the states.

I was disappointed with Tom Yum Goong. The action was good, but otherwise the movie was poor. I didn't like the storyline, there were weird twists every now and then.

Don't worry you're not alone, but i like the movie.
Its like peoples saying:we can't glad every one i guess

So here we go for Germany...
I think I´m the first german posting here after seeing the film?
Anyway, first I want to say that everything which you will read now
is not ment in a offending way,
EVERYTHING is only MY OPINION!!! And please think of: I´m not thai!!!
hm, I must be careful not to say to much about the film,
because there were some surprises, too...
The film is really great entertainment and I´m happy that I´ve seen it
and I´ll definitely buy the DVD (must think which version...)

Ok, critics.

The fights: The fights are awesome but sometimes too fast for my eye.
I missed the repetition like in Ong Bak because that would satisfy my eyes much more.
But the slow motion was ok, too.

The light: it was a bit dark, but it was ok. Nothing to be REALLY disappionted about.

The plot: that´s difficult. The running time was 90 min. and I don´t know what they cut out,
but the story was very confusing, because there were so many questions left.
So many for me and my flatmate that we discussed in the car so deeply about it that we even lost our way on the Autobahn (german highway).
The change from one scene to another was too fast and I had the impression that they worked on the assembly line, showing too much in too short time and the spectators understanding isn´t important, mainly to finish the film fast. I missed the deeper sense of what Kham is doing and why he does what he does. I´m not satisfied with only the fact that he wanted his elephants back. In Ong Bak he wanted the statue back but each fight had its own sense. Maybe thai people understand the sense but for me as a foreigner it was much too difficult to understand why he beats up almost every guy in his way and also destroys everything. Kham is so brutal which would be ok, if I could understand why. TYG was made for international audience and if somebody doesn´t care about the Why, than these people will be very satsfied.
Others like me... well, they are not.

The camera: I liked the fuzzy camera in the beginning (market scene) because it showed the hectic of that scene and I guess also the feelings of Kham but in the fight scenes it was only confusing. It was difficult to really see the kicks and punshes that´s why a repetition like in Ong Bak would have been a good compromise. Also the position of the camera didn´t allow to follow a fight fluently. There were too many changes to too different views in too short time.
The information that the director did music videos before films helps me understanding.

The characters: I barely know the names of the characters. Why? Because I missed real characters. Where is the development of a character within the film? Didn´t the whole story
have any influence of the character? Who are these enemies? Where did they come from? They appear and disappear too fast. The Wushu- Fighter and Capoeira- Fighter didn´t even have a name! For me as a spectator I´m not able to figure out how difficult the opponent is for Kham. Of course you can see the skills of these guys but who are they? Comparision to Ong Bak: Humlae is a player, a liar and he doesn´t care about others and also not about his family and origin. He only wants to make money no matter what the price is. After meeting Ting he sees what friendship means and Humlae changes to a better man. Saming: he is Tings most difficult opponent but he is shown more often, just a few seconds but the spectator get curious about who he is. And it´s also shown what makes him so good (injection). Even Big Bear who appears only one time is introduced by insulting Ting and also Mad Dogs character is shown a bit with the reaction of the people when he appears and by smashing the bottle on Tings head. And what about Don? He is a bad guy because he forces girls to be prostitutes and he deals with drugs. But what makes Johnny a bad guy? Does Johnny have the elephants?
Is he really a bad guy for himself with his own deals
or is he only the marionette for Madame Rose? What´s his job??
Madame Rose and Kham are the only characters who are introduced
and that´s a bit less for me.

In a nutshell:
I think if you didn´t see the film yet and you are here and red this whole topic, you did a big mistake. See the film without any expectations and built your own opinion without being influenced. For me I like TYG but I still love Ong Bak. As a foreigner I would never start looking for information about thai culture after TYG without knowing Ong Bak, but I guess the film makers also wanted to show some thai culture or at least make people curious about it.
That failed, in my opinion and this is exactly the point why
Ong Bak is the better film of Tony Jaa.
But the choreography of the fights are great

Beides, the release date for "Born to fight" in german cinema is 27th of July 2006!!
I didn´t know it will be shown in cinema...

lola, thank you very much for a wonderful, elaborate, and intelligent review!!! i wish that others here would also write similarly about tony's work.

i think that all of your complaints against TYG are valid, and not just because i happen to agree with you. you have given valid reasons for all of your opinions and i think no one would be offended or insulted in reading your review. i think even prachya pinkaew would not be offended!

once again, thank you for a very well-written and insightful contribution to the forum!!

I agree with anurak, very good review Lola gave above.

You can surprise, Lola !

I saw TYG 3 weeks ago on DVD when i brought form China town downtown Toronto (Canada) im here only for Holidays and i picked it up also with Howls moving castle and Jets Li's Fear less on DvD also TYG was one the most brutal films i've seen soo far but i lovd everybit of it even doe there were some parts that link back and fourth with Ong-Bak but who cares i loved it enjoyed and thats all that matters to me the last fight i fought was truley the best i really hope to see more fight scences where Tony Jaa is breaking more bones/arms/legs/necks the whole lot!
and those Big dude that fight was just thrill to see Tony Jaa fight some tiwce the size of him and stronger but Tony Jaa mashed them up like hell!


Just two Questions Those anyone know where i can get the Sound track for Tom-Yum-Goong the Ending credits music and the Sound track for Ong-Bak in the Menu screen.



Thank you :)


PREDATOR

Wow, I saw the movie a long time ago, close to the realese.

For me the movie was not bad but a big differense from Ong-bak, but that can be a good thing. The sad part for me was that most of it was filmed in Australia, I would have loved it to bee in Thailand. The movie has a special fealing..And for the joke part, I liked them.

Your critic is so damn solid, Lola. Concrete!

Now that´s a comliment
Thank you, Ongkot

Hey guys!

I know I've been MIA lately, but I've been kept busy at work with a new promotion, I'm teaching a bellydance class and I'm involved in more dance projects! ^.^ Anywho!

I just saw TYG last weekend and though as many people had mentioned the story did have some points that were never tied up, I still really REALLY enjoyed it. I love Tony and crew no matter what and feel that they did quite a good job with this film. It was awesome to see Melanie's hubby and her car too in the film. ^.^

During the fight scenes I was one girl of an audience filled to the brim of guys who were cheering Tony on. Teehee? Anywho. Good job Tony! Can't wait for your next one.

P.S. I got all misty eyed at the Jackie Chan part where they bump into eachother at the airport. It was a "passing of the torch." Awwwwww!!!!

Namaste.

I thoroughly agree that the lighting was poor in many scenes.Especially to me in the scene where "Kham" fights the street kids on rollerblades, ATV, jumping thru' parked bus windows and such. THAT action was VERY origional in my opinion and movie experience, but was too dark.I know a lighting gaffer that would 'tisk,tisk' that whole scene...
You mention that Mr. Jaa should get director from differing country, where I live in North America, this movie had Quentin T's(can't spell his name...'Pulp Fiction' director) name all over it,as if he directed, but he put money into it.Okay, it's great that he paid something, but he could have 'checked' a few things too. I hope all future movies of Mr. Jaa will include more dialogue for his characters rather than the stock 'vengeance lines' ("You stole my elephant! You killed my Father!!!" Blah, Blah.
Despite all opinions, mine or yours, as long as Mr. Jaa continues to make movies, I will faithfully go see them. I enjoyed 'The Protector' and will still purchase it for my MArts movie collection as soon as it goes to DVD.(I already paid theatre price,twice!)
Thanx, TKOCindyRo


Excuse me HDD, that IS NOT Jackie Chan in film. Mr. Jaa even admits so in interview qouted on this website. ( I almost had a lil' under-the-breath arguement with guy two rows over in theatre...)Sorry Ma'am that was a clever attention ploy by director to fill up 'Australia arrival scene'.
Keep the faith! TKOCindyRo

I saw TYG and I personally liked it but Ong-Bak was way better to me cause it had humor too and the action scenes in Ong-Bak were better in my opinion :P

and I did think that was jackie chan too. I knew he looked like someone...wait. it wasnt jackie? oh man :P

i watch TYG move i llllllike that move and i love it i love tony