very good and all excited about TYG

Welcome !

Check below

Yeah I saw it yesterday and many of the quotes about dissapointment I find fare. First of all the story is really messed up and everything is just wrong someimes. The humor level is also very low and most is just crude language. Loads of actors s@ck in various sceens but Jaa shines through. It's when he starts to fight that u forgett the shitty dialoge or the messed up script. The fights r just amazing and and the coegraphy superb, there r though sum borrowed tricks from Ong bak but the last scene where Jaa beats up over 50 guys is totally originall. Loads and loads and loads of bone breaking there. Sadly the director ( Prachaya Pinkeaw ) has done a poor job with this one. I think he showed his limits in Ong bak. and the next time Jaa should work with another director. OOOOOps ! To late, " sword " is on the way ! Another thing which I find very disturbing is the fact that they had to downpower Johnny Nguen and Jon Foo's skills so that they woldn't look as good as Jaa. I've seen sum crazy shit comin from Johnny Nguen wich I haven't seen from Tony yet.

I saw it this morning, it was great. Jon foo and Johny sence is too shot. I want more Johnny fight sence. He just in about3 sence. *******


I want more Johnny


Edited by Sawatdee : please don't reveal the end of the film, thank you. Think to people who don't have seen TYG yet...

[FONT=Impact][COLOR=green][SIZE=1] Sawasdee krab.
Last night I went to see the " Tom Yum Goong " movie, many Thai people there.

About the action scene it was really great exciting for me and I think everyone love it also. I really love the scene of " Jaa Panom & X-Game" fightings, really exellent scene.

Some of famous Thai person they are in this movie such as " Air-Poom wa ree Yord ka mol " staring from " Ong-Bak" she just walking nearly " Jaa Panom " and talking with her friend.

Someone look like " Jackie Chan" he a little bit made bumping with " Jaa Panom" at the Airport, someone he look like " Sek Loso" the famous Thai singer he just stading front of "Jaa Panom" and drinking M-150.

Please go to see the "Tom Yum Goong" movie, I will see it more, I already saw it but only 1 time not enough for me.

Thank you very much for your reading my words.

I am Thai people.
Gent.

Thanks for your review, Cactrot Rapido!

I can kinda see where you're coming from. TwistKickz said it best when he said that some rationale for the actions must exist, otherwise any semblance of a story the movie has falls apart. I'm guessing that, in the process of trying to present some new action to upstage Ong-Bak, they ended up focusing more on the action scenes and less on building a more rigid screenplay. Same thing probably happened with the production lighting, though from the trailers there definitely seems to be an improvement over Ong-Bak.

I'll keep my expectations in check. I'm positive I'll still enjoy the movie. Now if it'll only come here to No. America soon.

well...I have to wait and see
then I'll tell you what I'm thinking about TYG

But until now the movie is criticized by thai a little bit adversely, though they are all agree the action scene and Tony Jaa are really the greatest.

Hopefully some of them are waiting for the final cut. :)))

What about you??

"Another thing which I find very disturbing is the fact that they had to downpower Johnny Nguen and Jon Foo's skills so that they woldn't look as good as Jaa. I've seen sum crazy shit comin from Johnny Nguen wich I haven't seen from Tony yet. "
I know, somehow you guys can quote what someone said...since i just got here, and Im not sure how to do that the fancy way, I just did it old school. Haha.

THey had to downsize some actors for the benefit of the star? How did they have to do that? I havent seen it yet!!!!! AHHH!!!! I need to take a trip, just so I can watch it. A lot of people seem to be a little disappointed by it.

Hello ChocolateDelight and welcome ! There are a lot of good reviews of the film too To make a quote, just clik on "quote" in the right corner of the post you want to quote. Then scroll down and you'll see the text ;)

So lets see, the downfall to this movie are: bad lighting, bad english, and bad scripting and storyline.

Its really disappointing to hear that TYG suffered one of the same flaws as Ong Bak in lighting. I was really hoping for a movie that was Hollywood quality in terms of lighting. but I guess I'll have to see the movie to judge it myself. Now i hear that the movie was intentionally made like that by the director and if thats the case I think the director made a mistake.
Second I hear English is very difficult to understand by the thai people who were in the movie such as the movie reporter and mum. I, personally enjoy mum in movies and really have a blast listening to him in english because he always makes me laugh one way or another. Hey, with the script badly written does it really matter what mum says in english? LOL...
As for the script and storyline. I know its sounding cliche how action movies are built of action but after hearing from people saying the movie sometimes had scenes that had no motive for beating people up. That, for me doesn't make the movie flow. I know they are trying to show Jaa's amazing MA abilities but the fights should be well choreographed with the storyline and script.

Finally, I don't really care about the flaws of this movie. The only one that really concerns me is the lighting because I want to clearly see as much of Tony Jaa whooping bad guys as I can. I mean Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong revolves and relies on the presence of Tony Jaa's skills. If it weren't for him Ong Bak will never be as huge as it is. Tony Jaa's skills is the only reason any of his movies are on my 10 top action films of all time. I know thats crazy to say but so what that's just me.
I know this is off subject but I'm really waiting for Diew Choopong's next movie. He's got alot of potential himself.

can't wait for the vcd for TYG to come out.

Peace.

the movies from thailand arent't like hollywood movies. why do you wish that TYG is like a hollywood movie? then Tony Jaa won't do anything on his own, it's all with computers, the punches aren't real and they use ropes. that's not Tony Jaa's style, I'm glad that it's more different to hollywood movies. Tony Jaa is real!

I will watch Tom Yum Goong regardless if it has bad reviews, bad storyline, bad acting, bad lighting, bad directing, and so on. I live in the U.S. so will have to wait for my turn to make my own judgment.

I appreciate everyone's comments and respect them all. And with that said, I'm gonna give my two cents (my own opinion that is) about filmography.

I absolutely agree that we all watch Tony Jaa for the action. It's the incredible athleticism and skills that define Tony and it's what have put him on the map.

We all know that Hong Kong and Japan have done relatively well in producing some of the world's great directors (Akira Kurosawa, Kobayashi Masaki, Miyazaki Hayao, Ang Lee, John Woo, Wong Kar-wai, etc) with action, film noir, anime, and horror genres. Lately, Korea, among others -- India and Iran -- have produced some worthy films as well (see Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring; Three Iron; Musa (The Warrior); Fighter in the Wind ( jointly with Japan), Baran, Children of Heaven, etc. And Thai movies in the past few years have begun to be noticed by world's audience, including those in Hollywood.
Tony's first, Ong Bak, no doubt, has contributed to this success.

While we all agree that action fans watch movies for the action and martial artists fan for the martial arts, we certainly all agree (my opinion) that having a great director with a great script with a great film crew, etc. etc. is all that much better. How can you go wrong with everything being great? Right?

If a movie is crappy that is due to any of various reasons... bad directing, bad lighting, or bad support cast and crew. I don't think that the best action hero -- whether he's Tony or Bruce or Jackie -- with his skills alone, can save the movie. So based on this reasoning, whether we think we only care about the movie for Tony's action (or Jet's or Bruce 's or Jackie's or Donnie's... whoever), we all actually appreciate a good storyline, good directing, etc. whether we admit to it or not.

Jet Li wasn't famous because of his talents alone. There are many amazing unknown and undiscovered martial artists around. Rather in my opinion, he was noticed because of Yuen Woo Ping and Tsui Hark, the action choreographer and film director, respectively who gave Jet the chance to showcase his skills. His later movies, that were directed by various others have bad stories, with bad directing, etc. and have quickly been forgotten. And no matter how good the fighting, it wasn't enough to save the movies.

While I'm a fan of Jet Li, I was disappointed by his later Hollywood roles. Same goes with Jackie Chan. His first few movies -- rather dozens of them -- are so, so... not very good, and largely unknown. He started out doing serious action, imitating Bruce, (even remaking his version of "The Chinese Connection (aka Fists of Fury in Asia)" known as "New Fists of Fury" in Asia and "New Chinese Connection" in the US.... Yes! Very confusing.) but quickly failed. It wasn't until later that he discovered Buster Keaton and action comedy that put him on the map. (I didn't even bother to watch The Tuxedo and The Medallion. It seemed that Hollywood had run out of ideas for Jackie).

Bruce Lee made only 4 complete movies in his lifetime. And they're still as popular as when he was alive. It's because the movies Bruce were involved in had original storylines. And while they're not Hollywood caliber in lighting, photography, or effects, they had an originality and honest presense to each of them. If you watch any of his movies again, you'll see that every action, every fight (just as TwistK has pointed out) were justified. Bruce didn't go around beating people senseless for no reason. And the fighting didn't go on and on forever. They were kept to a realistic time. While the movies are basic and crude to today's standards, they contained the essential elements to making a good movie.

Ong Bak, in many ways, is The Big Boss (The Chinese Connection in Asia). Both tell the story of a country bumpkin going to the city where he encountered thugs, drugs, sex, and materialism and must relied on his martial skills to stay alive. Both ended with a sad ending. Even the lighting and acting are similar. Ong Bak brought Tony to the world as The Big Boss made Bruce an overnight sensation.

When I've heard that TYG's premise was about Tony going to rescue and bring back the royal elephants, I immediately thought of Ong Bak's missing Buddha's head and the quest to bring it back. Such similar storyline. It doesn't seem the team had come up with something original to showcase Tony's next action. I'll have to see the movie to make that judgment.

In the back of my head, I wish Tony's next movie would have been "Sword" instead of "Tom Yum Goong." After all, Sword more closely follow Bruce's path with his The Chinese Connection (Fists of Fury in Asia). After all, The Chinese Connection was a historical movie about China's famous Ching Wu School and the star pupil Chen Jun, while Sword will be a heroic story about Thailand's famous Nai Thongdee (Phraya Pichai).

+slightly off topic: Has anyone heard of Donnie Yen's latest "Seven Swords"?
It's directed by Tsui Hark. It appears that bad storyline, bad directing... have taking if off the "must see" list.

For me, it's very important that a talented star be paired up with a talented director and support team. And of course, having an original script and talented crew are always a plus. They'll take the movie, its stars and talents far.

Hi! all

I saw Tom Yum Goong last night and want to add my 2 cents.
On the contary with some people here, I think that the quality of the film have improved and it is noticable.

The part in the biggining with the elephants were really beautiful. In my opinion, it establishes Jaa's motive of finding them/revenge well. It gives more emotinal reason than in Ong Bak.

The story line is straight forward and not that bad. It is the same formula of Shaw's brother movies.
I wish, of course, that it can be better but really it is not nonsense at all.


The fight scenes are great. I am not that exciting about the 4 mins shot but every things is well done.
Ong Bak has the amatuer feelings which is not the bad things but you can see that the opponents was wearing wig for protection of his head.

Tom Yum Goong does not have that. Also it no longer has the repeated shot from different angle.(Some people thinks it is annoying but I miss it a bit) The fight scenes are going fast and I enjoy it greatly.

Ahh, I agree a LOT with Ronin. All of what was said is very true. You need all of the stated aspects to make a good movie, and I wanted to also add...that EVERYONE has their own opinion. SOme stress the fact that there was a poor story line, while others stress about the familiarity of the script from Ong Bak, but all in all, everyone wont be happy. LOL. I havent seen it yet, but Im hoping to see it soon. And if I am disappointed, I'll shrug it off and wait for the next one. I'm still a fan.
Not every movie Mr. Jaa appears in will be gold. All stars had to start somewhere. He's an amazing guy, but maybe they are all still learning??? We have to start somewhere.
Just thought I'd comment too. :) Have a good one!

I extremely agree with ChocolateDelight. "Not every movie Mr. Jaa appears in will be gold. All stars had to start somewhere" and "We have to start somewhere" I really like your post.
Please, everyone, be remind that even Hollywood stars- Arnie, Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy, etc etc - failed for a few films, but they stand still today, because they are real. Also, I think Tony Jaa is real with his own style.
I saw TYG in premiere round, it was not bad at all. It's another great action film...maybe because I didn't expect too much. Enjoy the show!!!

Good point. I'm sure Jaa can learn more about film making (working with lots of people, with more advance filming technics) in TYG, it's a good thing.

However, I feel Jaa doesn't deserve this. Apparently, Sia Jiang (Sahamongkol Film's big boss) and the director are trying to benefit from Tony Jaa. I think Sia Jiang wants the movie out as fast as possible, the production was rushed. The director himself tried to add his own ideas that doesn't fit in the movie. He tries too hard to show his (limited) filminng skills through the movie. He even cut Jaa's moves out not knowing what people actually want to see.

Jaa's stunt and ability is world class, he deserves a real deal, not a Tony Jaa movie with hidden advertisements, subliminal messages, lame racism/dirty joks or a director's portfolio.

Tony Jaa and Panna can pair with any 'real' world class director/production to make a better or the best martial art film ever, using their own designed stunts.

PS. I still urge everyone to see this movie, just ignore the craps in it. :)

Can't wait for the DVD or US release

BTW, I think that tony shouldn't go hollywood yet eventhough TYG script, editing, and production are not up to many people's expectation. I still want Thai movie company produces Tony Jaa movies, but they need to outsource and seek help in some areas like editing, script, etc. (even co-directing). The more we got help from Hollywood people, the more skill Thai crew will get. That would help uplifting other movies in Thailand.

I kinda agree with Cactrot that Sia Jiang (Sahamongkol film boss) rush the editing process, and maybe that's all Prachya (director) can do in terms of directing, but I think that co-directing, co-producing, and co-scripting with Hollywood may help them in the next movie.

Here are some short clips of some of the movie. Saw them on Kung Fu Fandom site. They dont show a whole lot, around 20 seconds each, from different fights in the movie. Copy/Paste and it should open in media player.

mms://nhnext.hvod.nefficient.co.kr/nhnext/movie/movieclip/making/K0002604_300.wmv

mms://nhnext.hvod.nefficient.co.kr/nhnext/movie/movieclip/making/K0002602_300.wmv

mms://nhnext.hvod.nefficient.co.kr/nhnext/movie/movieclip/making/K0002603_300.wmv

The title should be "Dude where is my elephant?"
That all he can say........
I think the robotic personality in Ong-Bak is better than this one.

sadly i heard the pirate version ot TYG can be bought now.. so i wouldn't be surprise if its gonna be floating around the net soon..

we can both argue whether this is good or not cuz the pirate version of Ong Bak did help spread it.. and regardless ppl still bought the real dvd..

Hi ,I just wanna know, is it true that none of Jaa's opponents seem powerful, that they all just get beat down easily? Even that huge guy!

One thing I liked bout Ong bak, was the final guy, at 1st when He beat up Tony, then at the end scene after taking the drugs, U really felt Jaa was up against a powerful enemy. If Tony really looks like he beats everyone up with ease, then I wonder wahts the point of getting such good martial artists in the movie? Does Jon Foo really get beaten easily like the rest of the gang? Kinda of shame cause Jon's really good, ive trained with him, and it just seems lame that he and lateef, and above all the big guy all get beaten down like it was nothing for Tony.

Someone please answer my question.
Oh btw Hi everyone Im new here, and big TJ fan aswell =)

hi Maj, welcome to the forum. hope you enjoy your stay.

don't forget that in Ong Bak, saming doesn't easily beat ting in the muay kaad cheuk fight... ting threw the fight. that was their deal to get the head of Ong Bak back.

Heck noo. It was not a one hit wonder in defeating Jon Foo, lateef, and nathan jones. In the movie TJ did have to sweat to defeat those three fighters. ESPECIALLY nathan jone's character. The fight scenes were pretty much nicely choreographed in the Jon and Lateef fight.

in the ong bak demonstrations he parralel spins with such ease and height yet in the version i saw in the uk cinema he does do any.

i'm sorry but tony jaa is seriously talented and i hope and pray he learns a few flashy hand movement to go with flashy kicks,

most martial arts films is about fantasy,and i'm sure the older folks can imagine doing a few fancy hand moves but can't imagine spinning parralel to the ground.

when i leave a martial arts movie i feel like trying a few of the kicks i saw,in the past i have managed every single one of them but now i'm 33 years old and 16 stone i can't be bothered to jump around .

the hand combination in thai boxing is basic and won't be much use when i'm sixty and weak .a few flashy aikido throws and locks did steven segal no harm ,combine that with tony's kicking and we would have the ultimate screen champion.

TYG is full of crazy locks and arm breaks. Wish fulfilled heheh. Tho Im hoping for more hand exchanges next time around. The most we see in this movie is Tony blocking a flurry of jabs. No back and forth fighting. Usually just Tony getting hit or Tony going nuts on the bad guys. But yea. Locks and throws a plenty in this movie.

i heard the fighting style is more based on elephant movements so there isn't really any flashy arm work. the moves are supposed to break and stop opponents.

Hah, is that so, I never knew. Well I knew I was missing something from the story, cause afterwards they go that guy with funny voice, and he locks them in. I always thought that because he lost, thats why they wanted to kill him!

Anyway, glad to her there's atleast on big fight with formidable foes (Nathan Jones is taken for granted, I just wasnt sure b4)

And thanks for the welcome.

ong bak had a pretty decent story but was lacking i guess. i really dont care unless the fighting makes up for it. i hope tom yum goong has enough fight scenes for me to drool over.
how many fight scenes are there?
for those of you who have seen it.

Not at all. The opponents look really strong. Jaa just lost less blood in TYG.

This fight scene list is spoiler. PLEASE DON'T SEE THE LIST BELOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILER.










Jaa VS. Thai mafia and the gang.
Jaa VS. a few bad guys.
Jaa VS. the X-Game gang. (very cool)
Jaa VS. some more bad guys. (4 minutes long shot)
Jaa VS. Johnny.
Jaa VS. Capoera guy. (EXTREMELY CLASSIC)
Jaa VS. a guy with sword.
Jaa VS. the wrestler.
Jaa VS. MORE bad guys. (bone breaking marathon)
Jaa VS. 3 macho men.
Jaa VS. ???

Test, Test!!

Hello... Excuse my last post there. It was a test.... I just saw Tom Yum Goong today. Before I give out any oppinion, I would like to say that, I am Thai and very proud. My English is limited but I think I'm still better than Mum and the reporters in the movie LOL I have no intention to put down Thailand or Thai people so if some of my comments about the movie is negative it's not against Thailand or Thai people, just honest comments.. Tony Jaa didn't say much in this movie, but I think that his acting has improved from Ong Bak. He has shown a lot of emotion, anger and sadness. His character is more emotional than in Ong Bak. Panna also did superb job on directing fight scenes. I think that all of the fight scenes in this movie can take on any of the TOP all time Martial Arts movies. THis movie is total worth to go see just for these fight scenes. I will just tell you that it is really really good, but I won't give it away... Go see for yourself and you will know what I'm talking about... TYG has really good plot well all know that it is about Tony Jaa elephants which has got stolen and he has to follow his elephants into a foreign country to look for him.. It sounds like a really good story but the directer did not do a good job to make it easy to follow. There were too many out of the blues scenes. As I watch TYG, I found myself very frustrated trying to follow what's going on in the movie and then all of the sudden, THE FIGHT so I just say to myself "cool, Tony is kicking ass again". I think the way they tried to tell story in TYG has taken many steps back from Ong Bak. In Ong Bak every characters has relationship and important key in the movie. In TYG I can see that you can totally take out many characters, They don't need to be there at all. Anyway, Here is my rating on TYG.

FIGHT SCENES: A+
STORY: D - :down

Overall, I think it is worth seeing just for the fight scenes. I still think Ong Bak is better than TYG and OngBak will be a classic like Bruce Lee movie in years to come.

Ok so far soo good, just tell me one more thing. Is it true that the movie is cut, in like weird places. for example during fights? or conversations?

When I reviewed information on TYG in thai websit, people seperate into two group against each other. One criticize blame
tyg so much, the others love and crazy this movie so much. This movie quite controvesy and make people see in opposite view.

It looks incredible what happen around this movie !
It seems that we all have a word to say about it... and that's good.
People talk in a bad or good way, but they all have an opinion, so it mean they have seen the movie. (yes, that's logical !)
For the moment, I just waiting for the 8th February 2006 !

For me, there's just only one scene that it's not clear. The fights and everything look fine.

But I bet they'll reedit the version that will be showed in Europe and America or even DVD (which is a good thing).

Now I'm waiting the CD/DVD to come out. :)

Hi Yeng,

So that the anwer, why's tyg hit the number one in boxoffice in both Hong Kong and Thailand and make lot of money in a couple days. If you heard their view in opposite you have to see by youself. I think TYG is very extreme movie, so it attract more people to see it.

Exactly !!
What you said is true Jedi Knight.
I already see some reaction on an other topic...
I just continue to believe on what Tony Jaa do and support him.

wow! thats a lot of fight scenes. i didn't read all of them but i thought the nathan jones fight was the last fight.

hi Jedi Knight, welcome to the forum!

In my opinion, the two separated groups can be categorized as follows:

- The first group (the right-side brain is bigger than the left one) is a hardcore action and martial arts fan who has a long time experience in watching all these flicks. They seem to appreciate the movie no matter what -- as long as the flight scenes are great -- other things can be compromised.

- The second group who has problems to see this kind of movie since these peoples go for the hype and, definitely, they have big left-side brains. They love all logics behind each scene, storyline, movie script, and etcs.; unfortunately, other things can not be compromised.

A simple solution is: don't go and see TYG if you're not an action/martial arts fan -- this is just like forcing hardcore action/martial arts fans to see "The Phantom of the Opera".

WELL!!!! I gotta see it! Ok, can someone please tell me when it will be available for like DVD in America?? Yesterday was my birthday, and I have the perfect idea what I want now for it.
Too bad the copy I bought of Ong Bak was poorly subtitled. So, Im just now learning about him throwing the fight too. I had a feeling he threw it, but wasnt sure. Thanks.

I have seen TYG on Aug.12 and I agree with Cactrot Rapido.

Chocolate Delight, the US theatrical release of TYG is still undetermined , so a US DVD release is a loooooooong way away.

it stinks for us... but i feel more sorry for the australians... they helped make the movie and they don't get it until late 2006!

well, there is always the thai dvd.

Yeh, maybe i can order that somehow and make conjectures about what they're saying? LOL. I watched Ong Bak that way. Guessed what was going on. I still enjoyed the action. :) Ahh well...good things come to those who wait. Thanks!

I like action movies with a reason behind the action.

Again I agree with this comment. I felt like Karm beating up people with no reason. He looks like bad guy in this movie. (Frankly, I was about to walk out the theater in the middle) There are too many not necessary scenes. I want them to reedit TYG before showing to the rest of the world.

i liked the action.

but i think that some of the stunt people could have done a bit better. a lot of the times they paused for a split second waiting to be hit.

also the split second where tony does a backflip over a void and handstands on that tiny ledge against the wall doesn't do it justice.