DVD Voice

As promised, tonight I took the time to watch the sequel to Ong-Bak, Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning. I really enjoyed Ong-Bak last night and was expecting more of the same. I got it. Wow… as much martial arts as you could handle.

But, somehow it didn’t feel as satisfying as the first one. The first one was really out of nowhere, I wasn’t expecting it to be as hard hitting and good. This one, probably was on par, but just didn’t quite ring that same bell!

Since it’s called “The Beginning,” that should tip you off that it happens before Ong-Bak. Tien, Tony Jaa (who also directed), is the son of a nobleman who is orphaned and taken in by the King of the Outlaws. He is trained in all sorts of fighting styles and weaponry. Later in life he seeks revenge. He seems rather intent on killing everyone, and the last 30 minutes of the film is basically a big fight.

I’m not saying the action is good, it is, it’s just that I believe I enjoy a good martial arts movie, but I don’t truly appreciate the intricacies of it enough. Or maybe it’s that I shouldn’t do martial arts two nights in a row?

Oh, the DVD has trailers for John Woo’s Red Cliff and The Warlords. Both look good and I think I’ll have to try them sometime soon. And there was some video of Ong-Bak 3, which from the little bits looked like it may be more interesting, to me, that this one.

Rated R. 115 minutes (1 hour 55 minutes). Violence. Let me repeat that, Violence.

Today is Ground Hog’s Day. Well, actually it was yesterday, but I was having a little difficulty getting my blog to cooperate, so I’m posting this one a day late. Great start, huh?

My first thought was to see Ground Hog Day, but I’m going to pass. I am very interested in another movie with Bill Murray that comes out this week, Zombieland! And hopefully (fingers crossed!) Netflix will send that one pronto!

Since Ong-Bak 2 is coming out this week, I decided to see them both. So for starters we hit the ground with Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior. Honestly, I knew nothing about this movie. I heard it was supposedly pretty good and an action-martial arts type film.

I was lucky, it was both sub-titled and voice-overed. I listened to it in English, I didn’t feel like reading.

Basically, Tony Jaa, Ting, lives in a tiny village. They are about to celebrate a sacred holiday that is only celebrated once every 24 years when a man named “Don” comes to the village and when he leaves steals the head of On-Bak, a Buddha like statue. One villager must go after and retrieve the head. Ting volunteers.

Country boy in the big city type movie follows. The gangs think they are too tough for him but learn otherwise, there are fights, street chases, car (or tiny taxis) chases, bar fights, and yet more fights. Some of the characters bring in a fair amount of humor and at times it felt like I was watching an anime!

Overall — very good! I really enjoyed this mindless martial-arts. Great stunts and I swear someone had to of gotten hurt filming this! At least it looked that way. If you enjoy a good action movie and want to see some stunts that rival Jackie Chan and Jet Li, then you should enjoy this one as well. And later this week I’ll see how the sequel stacks up!

2003 Rated R. 101 minutes (1 hour 41 minutes). Lots of action violence and blood. Drug use.