- 387
- Snaykinn
- Snaykinn
I'm a big Jackie Chan fan - so it slightly pains me to say this, but his newer movies can't hold candles to his older Hong Kong ventures. I think/hope most of you will agree with me on this. I miss the hard hitting old Hong Kong stuff. Films with no regard to stuntman safety, no regard to star safety and an emphasis on action rather than comedy.
I just may have found the successor to the throne. I went to my local karaoke/import movie store and the owner suggested a film to me (he hasn't steered me wrong yet). It's called Thai Warrior: Ong Bahk. It stars a newcomer (at least to me) named Tony Ja (his birth name is unpronounceable and unspellable by me, so I'll do him the respect of just addressing him by his Americanized name).
The movie isn't the best written or best directed thing on celluloid, but it conveys what it's meant to - a dazzling display of stuntwork, acrobatic maneuvers and hard-hitting martial arts. Ong Bahk is about a holy villiage that has the head of it's shrine's statue stolen (I don't exactly know who their religious effigy represents - but for all I know, it's Buddha). One man (Ja) sets out to find it. On his mission, he runs into an expatriated member of the village and winds up in the middle of that person's mess - and in doing so, he ends up in a 8 or 9 fight scenes. Simple enough right?
Tony Ja shows the same (dis)regard for his stuntmen that Jackie Chan showed in the late 80s early 90s. He's got just about the same energy, the same use of environment, the same talent.
The only things that weren't apparent from that one movie is his natural comedic style and his charisma. But I figure that that stuff will develop over time. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
I just may have found the successor to the throne. I went to my local karaoke/import movie store and the owner suggested a film to me (he hasn't steered me wrong yet). It's called Thai Warrior: Ong Bahk. It stars a newcomer (at least to me) named Tony Ja (his birth name is unpronounceable and unspellable by me, so I'll do him the respect of just addressing him by his Americanized name).
The movie isn't the best written or best directed thing on celluloid, but it conveys what it's meant to - a dazzling display of stuntwork, acrobatic maneuvers and hard-hitting martial arts. Ong Bahk is about a holy villiage that has the head of it's shrine's statue stolen (I don't exactly know who their religious effigy represents - but for all I know, it's Buddha). One man (Ja) sets out to find it. On his mission, he runs into an expatriated member of the village and winds up in the middle of that person's mess - and in doing so, he ends up in a 8 or 9 fight scenes. Simple enough right?
Tony Ja shows the same (dis)regard for his stuntmen that Jackie Chan showed in the late 80s early 90s. He's got just about the same energy, the same use of environment, the same talent.
The only things that weren't apparent from that one movie is his natural comedic style and his charisma. But I figure that that stuff will develop over time. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
