Tony Jaa- love this guy- he has done for Muay Thai what Bruce lee did for kung fu and he's an awesome martial arts talent. For that reason alone you should see this movie- just be prepared for a LOT of SILLINESS with bottle rockets the size of courier tubes and complete ignorance of gravity and physics and editing in some of the stunts.
This is a great movie for teens into martial arts movies since it has a light handling of adult situations that if I were directing, would probably result in this movie being banned in 18 countries. :-)
I think the roughest scene is when one guy takes a bite out of another guy and even that is handled pretty lightly.
All that cartoonish mockery of a real film experience aside- this a fun little movie about a dude that has stupid bottle rockets and killer Muay Thai skill and a score to settle with a Cattle thief in pre industrial revulsion (some call it revolution) Thailand.
He pairs up with some unlikely allies that started off as dire enemies to fight the ghost of a wizard who is a ghost from his past- using magical amulets to trap demons etc...
I gave this movie an extra two points for being one of the only movies I know of to depict the Thai tradition of "finding your animal spirit" which is a ritual celebrated at Wai Kru festival where tattoos are made of a psychedelic ink that then creates a trance where the recipients "become" the animal the tattoo depicts - this is covered with two characters having tiger and monkey spirits respectively and a wizard activating their tattoos. Of course this is a Hollywood 7 second treatment of an all day ritual but it was still a fun nod to Thai history.
Thai are a very proud people and this shows in their film making- they make a few nods to American movie making but the script continually resounds with a centrism on the Thai, probably because the story is in Thailand :-). This is directed by one of the camera men for Tom yum goong.
The movie also mocks kung fu at the end which is a long held tradition apparently- to make fun of the weaker kung fu compared to the monstrous brutality of Muay Thai and Krabi Krabong.
This is a great movie for teens into martial arts movies since it has a light handling of adult situations that if I were directing, would probably result in this movie being banned in 18 countries. :-)
I think the roughest scene is when one guy takes a bite out of another guy and even that is handled pretty lightly.
All that cartoonish mockery of a real film experience aside- this a fun little movie about a dude that has stupid bottle rockets and killer Muay Thai skill and a score to settle with a Cattle thief in pre industrial revulsion (some call it revolution) Thailand.
He pairs up with some unlikely allies that started off as dire enemies to fight the ghost of a wizard who is a ghost from his past- using magical amulets to trap demons etc...
I gave this movie an extra two points for being one of the only movies I know of to depict the Thai tradition of "finding your animal spirit" which is a ritual celebrated at Wai Kru festival where tattoos are made of a psychedelic ink that then creates a trance where the recipients "become" the animal the tattoo depicts - this is covered with two characters having tiger and monkey spirits respectively and a wizard activating their tattoos. Of course this is a Hollywood 7 second treatment of an all day ritual but it was still a fun nod to Thai history.
Thai are a very proud people and this shows in their film making- they make a few nods to American movie making but the script continually resounds with a centrism on the Thai, probably because the story is in Thailand :-). This is directed by one of the camera men for Tom yum goong.
The movie also mocks kung fu at the end which is a long held tradition apparently- to make fun of the weaker kung fu compared to the monstrous brutality of Muay Thai and Krabi Krabong.