ong bak 2 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

By Todd Gilchrist (reprinted from 9/23/09)

Cinematically speaking, there may be nothing worse than when an action star or purveyor of thrills starts taking himself too seriously. Such a transformation almost invariably begets a personal crusade, which often takes the form of a vanity project, and usually turns out about as well as The Quest did for Jean-Claude Van Damme, or On Deadly Ground did for Steven Seagal. Thai martial artist Tony Jaa launched his career with the original Ong Bak, and after that film and its superior follow-up, The Protector, made him an international sensation, he apparently started believing his own hype: Jaa not only co-directed Ong Bak 2, his latest film, but conceived it as the ultimate Thai adventure, reinforcing his own legend with a self-aggrandizing historical epic that somehow proves that you can actually make a movie without a plot – which unfortunately but perhaps predictably isn't a compliment.

Ostensibly a prequel to the original film, Ong Bak 2 chronicles a series of fairly awesome fights that Jaa's character Tien gets into en route to becoming a martyred national hero. There's some back story about the betrayal of Tien's parents and his training by guerrilla fighters in the jungles of Thailand, but for the most part the film is front-loaded with one scene after another where he beats the bloody pulp out of any and all comers. Meanwhile Jaa's mentor and co-director Panna Rittikrai documents the action with a surprising, satisfying lyricism, reminiscent of Zhang Yimou's Hero and House of Flying Daggers, but it seems obvious they're more interested in throat-ripping than truly capturing the poetry of Thai martial arts.

Here's a quick look at what's opening in limited release this weekend. If they're not playing where you live, keep an eye out as they make the rounds. And if all else fails, there's always DVD....

Ong Bak 2: The Beginning (pictured) is something of a prequel to Ong Bak, the Thai sensation from a few years ago. Tony Jaa, whose multi-discipline fighting skills are beyond impressive, plays a guy who fights a lot. Cinematical's Todd Gilchrist sums up the way many of us felt when we first caught the film at South By Southwest: The fight scenes are spectacular; unfortunately, the plot that holds them together is incomprehensible and takes itself too seriously. At Rotten Tomatoes, the critics are almost evenly split between yea and nay, with the only question being whether the awesomeness of the fights is enough to compensate for the dullness of the rest of it. Playing on 10 screens in New York, L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Washington D.C.

Antichrist is an art-house horror film from Lars Von Trier, starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a grieving couple to whom some supernatural and terrible things happen. It's been appalling audiences since it premiered at Cannes this spring. The critics all seem to agree that it's repellent, grisly, unsettling, and hard to watch. Where they part company -- about evenly down the middle, so far -- is whether that's good or bad. Playing on one screen each in L.A., New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. It will also be available through some Video On Demand systems starting Oct. 28.

Cinematically speaking, there may be nothing worse than when an action star or purveyor of thrills starts taking himself too seriously. Such a transformation almost invariably begets a personal crusade, which often takes the form of a vanity project, and usually turns out about as well as The Quest did for Jean-Claude Van Damme, or On Deadly Ground did for Steven Seagal. Thai martial artist Tony Jaa launched his career with the original Ong Bak, and after that film and its superior follow-up, The Protector, made him an international sensation, he apparently started believing his own hype: Jaa not only co-directed Ong Bak 2, his latest film, but conceived it as the ultimate Thai adventure, reinforcing his own legend with a self-aggrandizing historical epic that somehow proves that you can actually make a movie without a plot – which unfortunately but perhaps predictably isn't a compliment.

Ostensibly a prequel to the original film, Ong Bak 2 chronicles a series of fairly awesome fights that Jaa's character Tien gets into en route to becoming a martyred national hero. There's some back story about the betrayal of Tien's parents and his training by guerrilla fighters in the jungles of Thailand, but for the most part the film is front-loaded with one scene after another where he beats the bloody pulp out of any and all comers. Meanwhile Jaa's mentor and co-director Panna Rittikrai documents the action with a surprising, satisfying lyricism, reminiscent of Zhang Yimou's Hero and House of Flying Daggers, but it seems obvious they're more interested in throat-ripping than truly capturing the poetry of Thai martial arts.

There will be crunch this fall. "Crunch" as in furiously intense action from Thailand. "Crunch" as in Tony Jaa, madder than ever. "Crunch" as in Ong Bak 2, directed by and starring Jaa, now set to enliven the autumn theatrical release schedule. And if you can't wait until October 23, well, you can sit at home and watch the movie on September 25, according to Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal.

Magnolia Pictures acquired rights to the film for its genre label Magnet in February and it was showcased at South by Southwest the following month. As I wrote at the time, Ong Bak 2 "features numerous insanely awesome fight scenes. Jaa explodes in every direction, his arms and legs delivering lethal blows as he lays waste to a variety of opponents, employing all manner of martial arts, straight fighting skills, and amazing dexterity with a variety of bladed weapons." To be fair, the pace is sometimes lumbering, and narrative clarity is not a strong suit, but those fight scenes are something glorious to behold.

Wise Kwai points to the official U.S. web site, which is only a placeholder right now, and to Mark Pollard's comments at Kung Fu Cinema about Magnolia's plan to make the film available on cable VOD, Amazon, and Xbox Live one month before the theatrical release. That's in line with how Magnolia has marketed and released other recent releases, and, in view of the modest returns for the original Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior a few years ago, makes good business sense. Meanwhile, Ong Bak 3, which will hopefully clear up some of the loose threads from OB2, is scheduled for release in Thailand in December.

We bring you this week's edition of Asian Cinema Scene live from Austin, Texas. SXSW is not particularly known for the Asian films it programs, but I've been able to see one high-profile action flick and one intriguing, arthouse-style documentary.

Ong Bak 2
As I've previously noted, the directorial debut of martial artist supreme Tony Jaa features numerous insanely awesome fight scenes. Jaa explodes in every direction, his arms and legs delivering lethal blows as he lays waste to a variety of opponents, employing all manner of martial arts, straight fighting skills, and amazing dexterity with a variety of bladed weapons.

His character, Tian, is much darker than the ones he's played in Ong Bak and The Protector. Tian witnessed the murder of his parents in front of his eyes, turning him from a sweet child into a revenge-bent killing machine. Narrative clarity is not a strong suit for the film, but did anyone expect that it would be? The period setting justifies the sometimes lumbering pace, and Ong Bak 3 should (hopefully) answer any lingering plot questions. Magnolia Pictures' Magnet Releasing acquired US distribution rights, and a theatrical release of some kind has been promised.

Our friend Wise Kwai, Thailand-based writer and reviewer, provided a bemused, comprehensive roundup of Twitter talk ("awesome was used a lot") and notes that some "were more impressed with the winner of the beer-chug contest held before the film." He also linked to several full-bore reviews, including this great pull-quote from Blake at Cinema is Dope: "Puts [Jaa] up there with the likes of Bruce Lee ... [the film's] Stanley Kubrick-like approach to constructing action with full lush epic and grandiose details and colors and attention to every aspect of its construction will lead this film to be discussed for a damn long time."

And boy does it taste awesome! As you probably know, and with all due respect to the Austin Film Festival, the two coolest film festivals in Austin have combined their cinematical magic ... and the result is six more flicks that will tickle the eyeballs of any self-respecting genre fan. This is the first year that Fantastic Fest has contributed to the SXSW slate, and it sure looks like the partnership is off to a great start.

The six flicks are: French action flick Black, Thai mayhem sequel Ong Bak 2, the world premiere of The Haunting in Connecticut, a blisteringly good Aussie thriller called The Horseman, the awesome-sounding British import Lesbian Vampire Killers, and the Canadian zombie effort Pontypool, which played Toronto last September and got some rather good notices.

Of the six, I've only see The Horseman, and I think it's a damn good film. DAMN good. It's about a father whose runaway daughter is found dead after appearing in a homemade porno flick, so he goes on a ruthless road trip of revenge. Only he didn't expect to pick up a young female hitchhiker along the way. (It's not a comedy.)

For more info on these flicks, I refer you to post-jump and / or the official SXSW website.

Subtitle of the Week: "He feels uncomfortable if he doesn't hit a Japanese every day." (Source below.)

Distribution. The big acquisition news last week was the announcement that Magnolia Pictures had picked up US rights to Thai action flick Ong Bak 2, directed by and starring Tony Jaa. Magnolia sank a fair amount of marketing money into the first Ong Bak and sent the film out into hundreds of theaters. The financial returns were modest (reportedly under $5 million, theatrically), but I'm guessing that the home video returns were good enough to warrant further investment in "the Tony Jaa business."

The announcement, partially quoted at indieWIRE, says that Ong Bak 2 "will be released via Magnolia's genre label Magnet later this year." (Wise Kwai has the complete press release plus further thoughts on the deal.) Magnet's theatrical releases have varied from token (Chocolate) to extensive (Let the Right One In), so we'll have to wait to see what will happen to Ong Bak 2, though I'm hoping it's out in the US before Ong Bak 3 hits Thailand in December.

Trailer. Of course, Thailand doesn't have a monopoly on action movies. Back in the day, it was Hong Kong that set the standard. A friend has been urging me to check out Dante Lam's The Beast Stalker, starring Nicholas Tse and Nick Cheung, which came out on DVD in Asia last month. I liked Lam's earlier work (Beast Cops, Jiang Hu: The Triad Zone), but hadn't kept up with him lately. I finally took a look at the trailer, embedded below, and instantly placed my order. (Thanks, Blake!)

After the jump: the very adult DVD of the Week, and the source for our Subtitle of the Week.

Welcome to the first weekly edition of Asian Cinema Scene. I've written about Asian films under this moniker irregularly in the past; from now on, you can look forward to a fresh new post every Monday. (Unless something emerges from a river and snatches me in its tentacles.) Some weeks I'll concentrate on one film; today I'll roundup a few items of interest from the past week.

Sweet treat. The awesome Thai action flick Chocolate got midnight screenings Friday and Saturday in select markets, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. It looks great on the big screen, especially with an appreciative audience, but if you missed it, don't despair; look for details on the DVD release in tomorrow's Spin-ematical.

Non-deals. Will recent higher-profile Asian flicks like Tony Jaa's Ong Bak 2 or John Woo's Red Cliff (with the two parts edited into one epic) ever sell to US distributors? The European Film Market is happening this week in Berlin, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we hear something. Meanwhile, Red Cliff 2 is opening across Asia in staggered release; check one of the trailers below.

Consumer beware. DVD label Dragon Dynasty has taken a serious backward step with their decision to release The Enforcer (AKA My Father is a Hero), starring Jet Li, without the original-language Cantonese audio track. Mark Pollard of Kung Fu Cinema reviewed the new edition in detail, and also posted a response by Genius Products, distributor of the Dragon Dynasty line, to criticism expressed online, in which they claim no usable version of the original audio was available in time for the release. It's a good, crunchy action flick directed by Corey Yuen, and deserves better.

After the jump: Variety Asia says goodbye. Plus, which four films are represented in the image above? No peeking!

Living up to expectations, at least at the box office, Ong Bak 2 opened in Thailand last Friday and did big business. The action flick, starring Tony Jaa, is on track to become the biggest local hit of the year, according to Variety Asia Online.

The production ran into trouble earlier this year when Jaa walked off the set and disappeared into the jungle to think things over. Rumors were that the stunt man turned martial arts star, who came to worldwide prominence with Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior and The Protector, had bitten off more than he could chew with his first turn in the director's chair. Jaa indicated that it was all about the production company providing enough money to make the movie he wanted to make. Old friends came back on board, differences were ironed out, and the result was a big opening.

Wise Kwai provided links to stills, a synopsis, and a translation of a press conference, so head over there for the pre-release publicity. What about the film itself? I haven't found any reviews yet, though a commenter named Brad at the blog Enjoy Thai Movies wrote: "I saw the film last night. It's terrific with a great story and amazing action. Tony Jaa commands the screen with a towering performance. Given his much publicized recent problems, it's great to see Jaa pull through with such a wonderful film. It will be major hit, I am sure."

As for US viewers, we're waiting on The Weinstein Co., which, as far as I know, still holds distribution rights. Their web site still doesn't list the film, and I'm not terribly optimistic about a theatrical release. *

* UPDATE: Our friend Wise Kwai has just posted his (almost entirely) positive review -- check it out -- and also says below that the Weinsteins bowed out of distribution some time ago. Here's hoping someone else picks it up.

The last time we checked in with Tony Jaa, he was alternately tearful and demanding. The acrobatic Thai martial arts star of Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior and The Protector walked off the set of his big-budget directing debut, Ong-Bak 2 (which is not, despite its title, a direct sequel), and disappeared into the jungle earlier this year, reemerging two months later amidst press conferences and legal recriminations.

Among other things, Jaa demanded more money to be added to the budget and the hiring of his friend, veteran action choreographer and director Panna Rittikrai *. The production company wanted Prachya Pinkaew, who directed Jaa in Ong-Bak and The Protector before the two had a falling out, to step in and oversee the completion of the film. At least some of Jaa's demands must have been met, since he returned to work, more money was poured into the production, and Rittikrai came on board.

Was all the trouble worth it? Judge for yourself. The film is on track to meet its release date of December 4 and a trailer is playing in local cinemas, reports Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal. He found the trailer on YouTube and notes: "It's really best seen on the big screen. I can't describe well enough how great I think it looks." We've posted the trailer after the jump.