Holy Sh*t Play have killed off HKL's website! ;-)

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 May 2005, 23:23

Romero I meant uncut to mean unaltered, sorry I should've been clearer.

I wonder why PA decided to rescore the film. They've never altered films before themselves. I guess they didn't want to release the Thai version (to Asian maybe, NOT IMO) and the Besson cut is dreadful.

Just a guess.

What did you think of it Romero? Worth the wait.

p.s - When did PA say it was uncut?

jimmyscab · Post by **jimmyscab** » 16 May 2005, 23:32

At least all the scenes are in there.

I cant even remmeebr the score. So looking forward to the DVD now.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 16 May 2005, 23:49

Well I wrote this after watching it....

Ong Bak 4 out of 5

Well after all the waiting was it worth all that praise?

Yes it was as some of the fights were stunning to behold and some of the moves Tony pulled were unlike any others I have seen before and I have seen a lot of action films over the years. This film has some similar things I have seen before, but pulled off and filmed in such a way as to imprint them with an extra bit of Ding Dong (and you cannot go wrong with more Ding Dong).

Moves which stick in my memory include the stunning flying knee thru the air in slow motion to the Motor Bikers head, making his helmet explode on contact! now that's what I call cracking. My other very fond memory was the run up the vertical wall until he was about 10 feet in the air, then down he comes with a Big Can of Pain onto a guys head.

The thing is everyone was saying there is no plot, well sorry but there is and it was pretty good too, a sort of 80's Van Damme film type plot and it defiantly was more than I was expecting and it was funny too in many places. I guess the jokes worked pretty well most the time, be it verbal or body language. The story is easy to follow and sets up the action well, it may take some time to get going I guess, but its not a problem really unless your impatient. I was just ready for what was to come and anticipation is a good thing for films as it gets you more excited and revved up.

The cast was fine with me, Tony was great and while his voice is a little odd for a superstar action man, he seems pretty innocent with his little squeaky voice and when you can kick Booty like him I guess it does not matter what your voice is like. His co star and comedy relief in the form of the chubbier guy who doesn't fight too well kept the film going pretty well, he backed up the film with his comedy and I was surprised how many times he made me laugh. He reminds me of some Hong Kong comedy star, I forget who, but he was a fun addition to the film. The only let down was the Big bad boss man, he just grated on me with his frankly nasty voice box machine, god I wanted him killed very soon as he talked way too much and just irritated me far too much.

The action. Well the fighting was beautifully choreographed and some parts really worked perfectly. I especially loved the end 15 minutes as so many people get wiped out in so many high impact, bone crunching ways and it looks like they really do get a good hard pasting from Tony. I am not sure if I was expecting so many fights as the film is pretty chock full of them, be it one on one, or 10 on one, they all seemed to work very well and some of the bad guys seemed pretty great fighters themselves and gave Tony a good beating at times.

The style in the film for the action was something I have seen many times before, the repeating of a impressive blow from different angles is nothing new. Yet it did work in the film to give the more insane moves more of a view as you would want to rewind them anyway and they just show you what you want. I even think they could have got away with it even more as some of the more impressive moves did not seemed to get repeated, still maybe if they had overused it I may have got sick of it.

Tony's combat style in the film is very quick and very sure and he moves so well, some of the fights seemed unreal at times as they moved so quickly and blocked and struck back in an instant. The skills on display were pretty high and the Director filmed them perfectly and together they both created a Hard Little guy called Tony. The sheer variety of fighters in the film also helped, it was like an old style Tournament film at times and reminded me fondly of BloodSport many times, for the feel of the film was a similar vibe.

I don't think I was disappointed by the film much, if at all and for what it was it did a great job of showing fights with no CGI and wires. I don't mind CGI and Wires at all when they are done right, but they are rarely done right. I like believable reality and gravity based fights more than anything and this film uses the real life things perfectly, the fights reminded me of the recent Muscle Heat aka Blood Heat, in that the fights were very realistic and hard and pretty brutal, but Ong Bak felt a fuller better film by a long way as the plot was far easier on the viewer in Ong Bak.

I guess its like Sammos older films of hard full contact and as I love Sammos older full on fights, Tony seems a lot like him, but a fair bit quicker in the execution of the moves and Sammo could never run up a wall 10 foot I am sure of that.

It will be interesting to see where the filmmakers go from here as Tony needs another film like this and not to move over to America and start using CGI and Wires, so stay over in Thailand and Kick some bad guys around for a few more years, please.

jimmyscab · Post by **jimmyscab** » 17 May 2005, 03:25

romerojpg wrote:
The thing is everyone was saying there is no plot, well sorry but there is and it was pretty good too, a sort of 80's Van Damme film type plot

Sorry that just made me crack up.

nice review.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 17 May 2005, 12:41

I dont really care how good or bad the new music is. I want the original music. The original music worked fine, so really not interested in HKL hiring some failed musicians to re-score this...

Guess I will be buying the R4 if it's the original release, and otherwise I'll stick to my Thai DVD and/or a bootleg.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 17 May 2005, 13:43

Yi if you had thought the music didn't work would you be happier?

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 17 May 2005, 14:24

bradavon wrote:Yi if you had thought the music didn't work would you be happier?

What do you mean? If I had thought the music in the original version didnt work!? Maybe. don't know. I doubt it, actually.
I just want the movie to be released as it was originally released (or meant to be released) and I dont want studios or people who had nothing to do with the movie, coming in later, to change the movie 'to suit the different audience' Fuck that. it's a Thai movie, this is the music that came with it. just release it or dont release it, but dont go fucking with it.

The music in the original version did work, though. I think it's one of the best scores for an action movie ever. It would be a shame if it is replaced with some lame-o's music on his keyboard...
Ofcourse the replacement music could be good, perhaps even better. but it SHOULDNT be there. save it for an original movie if it's so damn good.

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 17 May 2005, 14:33

*Yi steps down of podium*

*rapturous applause*

Well said!

couldn't agree more.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 17 May 2005, 19:47

You've answered my question, yes that's what I meant.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 17 May 2005, 23:04

I received "Millionaires Express", yesterday and had a quick peek. Very good transfer. Mono-track included as well.

Review will follow soon.

jimmyscab · Post by **jimmyscab** » 18 May 2005, 22:38

nice !!

Hurry up CDwow. God why can they never ship on release date ?

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 19 May 2005, 00:56

jimmyscab wrote:nice !! Hurry up CDwow. God why can they never ship on release date ?

At last checking mine hadn't shipped either.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 May 2005, 11:14

Jeez does it really matter? You'll get the DVD over the next few days.

jimmyscab · Post by **jimmyscab** » 19 May 2005, 12:46

yes it does matter, cos i wanna watch it NOW !!!

thats not the point anyway. I preordered it, so i expect to have it on release day or at least have it dispatched on release day.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 May 2005, 13:09

I'd e-mail CD WOW then.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 19 May 2005, 13:14

I had to pay a WHOPPING 7 POUNDS for this DVD and I goddamn expect it on my doorstep NOW!

Nah, j/k. For such a great price I'm willing to wait an extra week

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 19 May 2005, 16:29

Hey,

From the latest update (19th May):

LATEST NEWS
Wheels on Meals

Terrific Hong Kong Cinema from Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. This action-comedy featuring Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, and Sammo Hung is a hugely entertaining film while some consider it to have some of the greatest fight scenes ever filmed.

Directed by Sammo Hung, the movie takes place in Spain, marking the first Jackie Chan vehicle set in a non-Asian location.

Chan and Biao play two lunch-truck restaurateurs who are trying to make a living selling egg rolls and hamburgers in the busy squares of Barcelona....

Did You Know?
According to Jackie Chan, the film's original title of "Meals on Wheels" was reversed due to superstition at Golden Harvest over the recent failure of two other films beginning with "M."
Wheels on Meals will be released as a 2-disc Platinum Edition on 19th September.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 19 May 2005, 17:18

I'm not complaining. I think CD-Wow's value (with vouchers...

) and delivery time is second to none. I was just letting Jimmy know that he wasn't alone.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 19 May 2005, 19:49

If you complain to cdwow and used the vouchers they may cancel your order

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 19 May 2005, 22:36

Not if you politely ask why is it taking so long and besides I don't think the two things are really connected. Unless you make it blatantly obvious.

For example you could say it's unwise to ask for a refund as they may then catch on but A: They know anyway and B: I've never had a problem doing this.

Markgway wrote:I'm not complaining. I think CD-Wow's value (with vouchers... ) and delivery time is second to none. I was just letting Jimmy know that he wasn't alone.

LOL I remember back in the day you saying it's not right to use CD WOW vouchers

!

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 19 May 2005, 23:17

bradavon wrote:LOL I remember back in the day you saying it's not right to use CD WOW vouchers !

Yeah, I changed my mind. I realised that if I didn't use CD-Wow vouchers I may as well buy elsewhere and then they would get nothing. So by using vouchers CD-wow gets my custom and I get bargains. Everyone's happy.

P.S. Brad, do you actually remember everything I've ever said? You take notes or what??

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 May 2005, 13:19

There's hope for you yet.

p.s - I take notes

(not)

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 20 May 2005, 15:34

I just save the entire site pages I visit., and MSN conversations also :mrgreen:

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 20 May 2005, 17:43

CD-wow just mailed me saying they're awaiting stock for Millionair's Express, and hope to send it out on the 23rd...

jimmyscab · Post by **jimmyscab** » 20 May 2005, 18:23

Same here, they did the same with City on Fire.

I guess their sales of these titles arent huge.