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Reviews
Scorpion (2007)
Better than the average martial arts movie defecating out of Hollywood nowadays.
I remember seeing the trailer on a DVD about a year ago, and I had forgotten all about it until I was browsing through our TV movie rentals. The trailer showed very little so I looked up the film on IMDb and found an average review of 5.1. Nonetheless, I watched it anyway and I must say I was not disappointed.
Perhaps my expectations were low given the reviews, but I also think that with the type of 'Martial Art' films coming out nowadays, it seems a fight scene that has been adulterated with showoff moves is coming hard to find. Scorpion does not do this. It shows not just the sport, but the powers behind it, as brutal and unforgiving, in and outside the ring.
The film opens up a well for the main protagonist to deal with his personal flaws, which we see head on in an early scene. It really allows us to see a flawed fighter, lacking discipline due to inexplicable rage, despite his love, dedication and respect for the sport.
Fight scenes are not as extravagant as something cooked up in a current Jet Li film. They are raw and closer to something seen on UFC. If anything, I respected the film for this. The scenes made more sense, and they weren't about declaring a winner, or making our protagonist look like a superhero. What was there was pure and a lot more believable that what is seen in movies today.
By the end of the film, the was a real sense of accomplishment for the major characters. Loyalties shifted to where they were of genuine importance, and there was a learnt understanding for the key characters of why those of us need strength through violence to survive through difficult circumstances, whereas others find that violence itself is no substitute for things in life that are more important.
I would urge those who prefer classic fighting movies to watch this, but that wanting another over the top, severely choreographed Jackie Chan show-off ride, should look the other way.
The Bodyguard (2004)
AWFUL! I want my 93 minutes back!
The only reason I picked up this film in a market, is that on the front cover it promised 'the return of Tony Jaa'. Having seen Ongbak and warrior king, I saw this is a good thing. Only what I ended up with was a film write, directed and starring Petchtai Wongkamlao, the co-star from the other films.
From the onset of the film, you get the impression that the film may be a decent action flick, with all the slow motion, dressed in black leather, gun fights aplenty. However this soon cools off, very soon, and you end up with the main star not talking for the first 22 minutes, gun fight scenes occurring with all the action being off-screen (yes I mean people getting shot without any real action) and jokes which really are not funny.
A major half of the film contains now action and is mainly about Wong Koms association with Pok, which to be honest I couldn't be bothered to watch and skipped to the end (I was getting that fed up with the film).
At the end where you expect a huge fight, what you end up with is the main guy getting beat up for 15 minutes, showing absolutely no fighting skill, and yet some how each person he's fighting ends up defeating themselves in some foolish way. This is stupid, is not funny and in the end I was rooting for the bad guys as the lead character was really annoying me.
The film was 95 minutes long, and yet I want 93 minutes back. Why? Because during the film, Tony Jaa appears for about 2 minutes and actually does some martial arts (very very well!). What a mis-sell! This film should have been done by having Tony Jaa in the lead role, and Petchtai Wongkamlao taking Tony Jaas, that way he probably would have been killed early on and there would have been a decent number of fight scenes at the end.
This is not a martial arts film, it is not a comedy, it is 2 minutes of good film hidden within 93 minutes of film that makes Chuck Norris look good.
I gave this a 2, which would have been 1 of Tony Jaa hadn't appeared.
Tom yum goong (2005)
A lot like chocolate cake.
My first experience with Tony Jaa was with Ong Bak, was with many. It is an amazing movie, flowing with one action scene after another. It was a well put together movie, fight scenes were The plot was pretty much identical to Ong Bak, with an elephant instead of a statue head, stolen by a gang and poor tony having to fight lots of people to get it back. Even his sidekick in the movie is the same actor. I wouldn't say this is a huge issue, but a little bit of originality for the fans would have been nice. Overall there are tonnes of clichés, such as the bad guys girl helping the good guy, the evil villain that dresses in black (as well as all the henchmen).
Acting quality is BAD. Aside from the 2 main characters, the talent is no better than a very bad B-movie. This makes it hard to feel anything for or against the characters. Tony Jaa is pretty good though, when given the chance, which doesn't happen much as there is hardly any interaction with anyone other than the elephant There was a sense of poor direction as some scenes seem to be completely irrelevant. There are several scenes in the movie which change nothing in the story, and should have been cut. You may find yourself thinking, for example someone escaping, only to be captured 5 minutes later. What was the point of the whole thing? The fight scenes tend to be a bit hit and miss. Some are absolutely excellent, but others seem to be rather poorly choreographed. For example on several occasions I spotted a few "hits" which were a bit too far off from causing any damage. Also a lot of henchman fell a bit easily, and the fights did someones go on too long, that they made Tony Jaa look like a novice. Its a shame as Tony Jaa can really kick a$$. Still I did gasp at a few of the amazing moves he pulls off.
Tony Jaa reminds me a lot of Jet Li in earlier movies; awful scripts but he carries it off. He may be the one to replace Jet Li in future martial arts epics, seeing as Jet Li as said he will not be doing anymore.
Overall the movie seemed like some well thought of fight scenes, not so well choreographed, stuck together with a poor plot, bad direction and poor acting. Its only worth watching the fight scenes to spot the odd amazing move. The movie is like a chocolate cake that is too crumbly and soggy to eat and just doesn't taste chocolaty enough, except for the chocolate buttons place on top which are lovely.
I'm glad I rented it, as I wouldn't recommend to buy.
Alternatively, get Ong Bak, which is a lot better pulled off, and keep an eye on Tony Jaa's future movies.