A group of athletes helping a poor village must stop an evil tyrant and his men from terrorizing the village. Daew is a cop who has nailed the evil gunrunner General Yang, but his partner is killed in the case and Daew becomes depressed. However, his sister asks him to join her and some of her athlete friends to a small village to give food and toys to the villagers. What starts out as a trip to help people turns into a nightmare when Yang's men arrive at the village and take over, demanding the release of Yang or a nuclear missile will hit Bangkok. When villagers are killed left and right, Daew and the athletes must start a revolution against the tyranny before it's too late. John McClane has moved to Thailand with a vengeance. He's undergone a skin change operation, learnt a bit of muay thai and chopped off a couple of years. Deaw (aka McClane, also known as Dan Chupong) is a Thai cop creating havoc and catching bad-guys. Such as evil meanie crime-lord General Yang (Nappon Gomarachun). Unfortunately whilst nabbing this scum of the earth his partner and mentor tragically dies in an explosion with Deaw possibly not doing everything possible to save him.<br/><br/>Ridden with guilt he decides to accompany his younger sister to a athlete's training camp in a remote Thai village. Instead of solace and peace the worst thing imaginable happens - the town is taken over by General Yang's thugs, who shoot at any resistance and kill innocents without a blink. Armed with a nuclear missile and absolutely no moral code the band of killers they demand the release of their General or else…<br/><br/>Given the odds this McClane has a bit more common sense than his American version. Intead of going it all alone he incites the ordinary village folk and the athletes to fight, instead of let themselves be slaughtered like animals. And some of these athletes and villagers are more impressive bad-asses than McClane himself (with a one-legged soccer marvel all inclusive). McClane still needs to hone his muay thai skills a bit, as he constantly gets beat up and massacred. Would be very beneficial for him to watch how it should be done by putting on "Ong Bak".<br/><br/>As insinuated fight scenes are unfortunately unconvincing and apart from a couple of kicks, punches and the spectacular falls I didn't really believe in the damage done by most attacks (unlike Ong Bak or the more recent Chocolate). That led to the movie being somewhat unsatisfying.<br/><br/>However the stunts in general are quite spectacular and I really wonder about the budget on this movie. Made 100% pro and on par with the best action films made in the USA. Plus everything is real and no CGI is added on.<br/><br/>Movie purists may also nag about the scant plot, almost total lack of character development, extreme and mostly unfounded immorality of the baddies as well as the rampant pro-Thai propaganda (headlined by a Thai flag waving footballer and a national anthem sing-along). But hey… it's an action movie. And it's not like American action movies don't overdo it on the nationalism (Spiderman anyone?)… I'm not asking for much here. The plot doesn't have to make sense (communist boy-scouts sending crystal-clear broadband hostage-killing footage out of some dingy village and patriotic fervor that would make Rambo 3 blush), as long as the lead dude is kicking bad guy after bad guy in all the places it's supposed to hurt. The exposition doesn't to be need more than 10 minutes at the most. Even cheesy songs are allowed (this is Asian cinema, after all), as long as they're during the love or the grieving segments. But what I do ask for is good ACTION.<br/><br/>Quick plot rundown: Main guy witnesses cop partner die in line of duty at the hands of evil general. Main guy sad, so to forget his sorrow, main guy goes to poor village with sister to hand out sports memorabilia. Coincidentally, evil general's No.1 henchman & terrorist gang decide to hold poor village hostage so government will release evil general. Somehow, a nuclear missile is also involved…<br/><br/>Here, I expected to see some kick-ass Thai boxing. I didn't. Maybe Ong-Bak set the standard too high. But I should've known when I looked the lead dude up and saw that he was in Ong-Bak's credit nether regions as 'bodyguard #4'. Sure, he could do the flip kicks, throw his opponents into pottery, and every once in a while deliver the crushing elbow-drop, but it all just falls flat. Part of the fun of watching the fighting in Ong-Bak was the sense that Tony Jaa is a real badass. He didn't need to hit people more than the viewer's sense of belief found necessary. He was almost untouchable - seeing him dodge limbs and obstacles was just as fun as seeing the beatings. This dude, on the other hand, should've been dead after the first 30-45 minutes (which became the most infuriating plot hole). Pretty much every time someone tried to hit him, they did. His kicks were weak and flabby-looking. His skill truly was at the level of an extra. If they had made the balance-beam chick the star, the whole thing would've been 3 times as entertaining. She had the most gracefully choreographed scenes in the entire movie. For those who absolutely need to see this, fear not: there were plenty of explosions, gun violence, and moving vehicle stunts. But just like the fighting, all of it felt forced and had no heart. Worst part is, they absolutely tried, which brought the whole movie to a comedic pitch not too long after the mayhem started. I wish I could rip on individual scenes, but that would be considered spoiling…<br/><br/>In conclusion: Tony Jaa is back to kick some ass in Tom Yum Goong, so we can all forget about this rip-off and send it to the DVD bins in supermarkets and Walmarts where it belongs.
Gennenin replied
354 weeks ago