The action is phenomenal as expected, Tony Jada delivers the goods like he always has been. He takes a lot of bumps again and the stunt work is amazing, though people who have seen his previous work and expect the same will be a bit disappointed, there isn't much left from the former fanciness of stunts, for example this time around we don't see amazing slides under sharp objects, vehicles, dodging through narrow alleys , breaking motorcycle helmets with a knee or jumping off exploding glass walls anymore.
Instead tony Jada presents us with an huge array of different martial art forms, gone are the days of straight Muay Thai action.
That seems to be a let down for some fans but at the end of the day it's all about giving a good show and hell how Mr. Jaa delivers this time around.
We see a vast array of Chinese, Japanese and Western styles of martial arts. For an instance we get a showcase of drunken boxing(a Jackie Chan homage, no doubt), bits of Judo, Japanese sword fighting, Chinese weapon styles, Chinese Gung Fu(various styles) and of course Muay Thai. These are for show, mind you and shouldn't be judged from point like the effectiveness(why are those guys running into his fists all the time?) It's a movie and not a K1 bout or a test of might, that should be considered.
But what really impressed me is the art direction, every character shown is unique in its own way, countless goons that run into Tony Jaa's character and get beaten come off in such diversity.
We have sword wielding ninjas, angry tribal men, a vampire woman(I am serious), a fighter who is a crow/man hybrid(what the hell) , angry pirates, shiny royal guards et cetera. You get the picture, under normal circumstances this would be considered as cheesy and flamboyant but here it works, they are presented with such style and flashiness you got to love em.
Particularly because all these random characters are a reverence of the good old days of shaw brothers kung fu movies. Those silly characters are just fun to look at. They bring back memories of times long forgotten and I am glad that somebody has the guts to show what was necessary to make kung fu a piece of art again, we loved the DRUNKEN MASTER, THE ONE ARMED BOXER, THE YELLOW HELL OF THE SHAOLIN and THE MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE(just to name a few) for their memorable characters.
That brings me to the point, the costumes are really well done, nothing seemed to look cheap or cheesy, that shows what can be done with such a little budget(compared to the big studios we have in the west), Hollywood should learn from that. the wigs looked a bit off from time to time but, you know it wasn't terrible.
now lets get to the story, well don't expect much here, it's not the Manchurian candidate, or the firm or something in that vein. It's a fantasy martial arts action movie. the story is very basic, it's a revenge story. a noble whose parents got violently murdered seeks out the culprit in order to avenge his parents and claim his rightful place on the throne. nothing fancy here, though this movie is a historic fantasy movie, we will get glimpses of Thai culture .
I didn't expect a take on Shakespeare anyway and I sincerely hope that most people who like these kind of movies don't expect something outstanding in the dialog or story department for that matter. Of course some directors try to sugarcoat their movies with overdone dreadful artistic visuals and poorly written meta plots, such as hero or house of the flying daggers, don't get me wrong I like Jet Li and Tony Leung but I am not fan of this westernized martial arts movie concept. more show then face value. This movie suffers in some parts from the same concept, slow mo raindrops etc. and some weird meta plots, it's certainly a bit annoying though in defense of the movie it isn't nearly as overdone and distracting as in Zhang Yimou 's movies. Thus I can easily live with that.
Dialogs? What dialog? Tony Jaa speaks only a very few lines in the entire movie (maybe two or three i can't remember), the rest consists of glares, gasps, war cries and grunts. The acting wasn't really terrible, the actions of the character spoke for itself and I have seen far worse, It wasn't so important after all.
It's still miles ahead of what the infamous Chuck Norris can deliver.
It's certainly different from Mr. Jaa's previous work. He also gets major credit from me because he directed it and he coordinated the stunts. A lot of Sweat and Heart invested into this flick.
Of course it boils down to one thing, was it an enjoyment? Totally, I enjoyed almost every minute of it. some flaws and things that I personally don't like(overdone visuals like slow motion raindrops etc.) but still very enjoyable.
7/10
Instead tony Jada presents us with an huge array of different martial art forms, gone are the days of straight Muay Thai action.
That seems to be a let down for some fans but at the end of the day it's all about giving a good show and hell how Mr. Jaa delivers this time around.
We see a vast array of Chinese, Japanese and Western styles of martial arts. For an instance we get a showcase of drunken boxing(a Jackie Chan homage, no doubt), bits of Judo, Japanese sword fighting, Chinese weapon styles, Chinese Gung Fu(various styles) and of course Muay Thai. These are for show, mind you and shouldn't be judged from point like the effectiveness(why are those guys running into his fists all the time?) It's a movie and not a K1 bout or a test of might, that should be considered.
But what really impressed me is the art direction, every character shown is unique in its own way, countless goons that run into Tony Jaa's character and get beaten come off in such diversity.
We have sword wielding ninjas, angry tribal men, a vampire woman(I am serious), a fighter who is a crow/man hybrid(what the hell) , angry pirates, shiny royal guards et cetera. You get the picture, under normal circumstances this would be considered as cheesy and flamboyant but here it works, they are presented with such style and flashiness you got to love em.
Particularly because all these random characters are a reverence of the good old days of shaw brothers kung fu movies. Those silly characters are just fun to look at. They bring back memories of times long forgotten and I am glad that somebody has the guts to show what was necessary to make kung fu a piece of art again, we loved the DRUNKEN MASTER, THE ONE ARMED BOXER, THE YELLOW HELL OF THE SHAOLIN and THE MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE(just to name a few) for their memorable characters.
That brings me to the point, the costumes are really well done, nothing seemed to look cheap or cheesy, that shows what can be done with such a little budget(compared to the big studios we have in the west), Hollywood should learn from that. the wigs looked a bit off from time to time but, you know it wasn't terrible.
now lets get to the story, well don't expect much here, it's not the Manchurian candidate, or the firm or something in that vein. It's a fantasy martial arts action movie. the story is very basic, it's a revenge story. a noble whose parents got violently murdered seeks out the culprit in order to avenge his parents and claim his rightful place on the throne. nothing fancy here, though this movie is a historic fantasy movie, we will get glimpses of Thai culture .
I didn't expect a take on Shakespeare anyway and I sincerely hope that most people who like these kind of movies don't expect something outstanding in the dialog or story department for that matter. Of course some directors try to sugarcoat their movies with overdone dreadful artistic visuals and poorly written meta plots, such as hero or house of the flying daggers, don't get me wrong I like Jet Li and Tony Leung but I am not fan of this westernized martial arts movie concept. more show then face value. This movie suffers in some parts from the same concept, slow mo raindrops etc. and some weird meta plots, it's certainly a bit annoying though in defense of the movie it isn't nearly as overdone and distracting as in Zhang Yimou 's movies. Thus I can easily live with that.
Dialogs? What dialog? Tony Jaa speaks only a very few lines in the entire movie (maybe two or three i can't remember), the rest consists of glares, gasps, war cries and grunts. The acting wasn't really terrible, the actions of the character spoke for itself and I have seen far worse, It wasn't so important after all.
It's still miles ahead of what the infamous Chuck Norris can deliver.
It's certainly different from Mr. Jaa's previous work. He also gets major credit from me because he directed it and he coordinated the stunts. A lot of Sweat and Heart invested into this flick.
Of course it boils down to one thing, was it an enjoyment? Totally, I enjoyed almost every minute of it. some flaws and things that I personally don't like(overdone visuals like slow motion raindrops etc.) but still very enjoyable.
7/10