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Reviews
Maid (2004)
What's so funny?
Unless you speak Thai (or have really good subtitles) you're going to miss half the jokes e.g. they're mispronouncing "Madam" as "black dog", and "Jim" can mean vagina so the Caucasian lady is saying "now I have two vaginae: a big vagina and a black vagina". Funny, ain't it? The other reason to see this movie is to see Pornchita, a famous Thai model you've never heard of (her nickname is "Benz" like the car) playing the role of a country bumpkin. Still, it's better and more coherent than most Thai comedies, and better than that J-Lo vehicle you were reaching for when you accidentally picked this one up at the video store. But do yourself a favor: next time stick to the ghost movies. (Feel free to verify "vaginae" in your dictionary.)
Tom yum goong (2005)
Decent action sequences with long boring bits in between
Tony Jaa is back and if you absolutely loved Ong-Bak then you'll probably think Tom Yum Goong is OK. This movie has everything: foot chases, car chases, elephant chases, boat chases -- even a Segway Human Transporter chase (however later edits thankfully deleted most of that preposterous chase).
Starting off in idyllic rural Thailand Tom Yong Goong quickly shifts into action with Tony Jaa's Kham chasing the men who've just killed his father and stolen his elephants. Then it just as quickly shifts out of action. A note to the director: if you're going to have a plot and characters this thin don't waste time trying to develop them. The action picks up again later... a lot later.
One of the best scenes is the 5-or-so-minute continuously shot fight scene (according to one interview it was shot over 4 days -- you figure it out) up the stairs of the combination café/brothel/petting-zoo. From there we enjoy an Ultimate Fighting mini-contest which pits our hero against a Brazilian style martial artist (for a minute you'll think the projectionist has mistakenly put on the last reel of 1993's Only the Strong), and a giant (6' 11", 360 lbs, and absolutely no posse) who disappears at first sound of police sirens.
I won't spoil the rest of the movie for you -- it'll do that all by itself. It's the perfect addition to your dusty collection of unwatched Thai VCDs.