This week on the Silver Emulsion Podcast, Stephen and I talk about the breakout film of the incredible Tony Jaa: 2003’s Ong Bak! Prepare your elbows and enjoy! 🙂
Watch Ong Bak along with us on Blu-ray, DVD, Region 4 DVD with Uncut Thai Version, iTunes, or Amazon Prime Video!
Also: the show is on iTunes! So if you feel like subscribing there, or rating/reviewing the show, feel free to share your thoughts!
Music NotesIntro:
- Sarama (Traditional Muay Thai music)
Outro:
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What’s the haps movie fans! I missed contributing to the Silver Emulsion mailbag for a bit and been super busy. But nothing can bring my ass out of the woodwork like a Tony Jaa movie!
I can’t remember how I got introduced to Ong Bak. Martial arts movies were in a slump for a while and the only good shit around seemed to be meh movies like Double Team and Owen Wilson/Jackie Chan collaborations. But I think one of my old coworkers recommended Ong Bak. His eyes were permanently red from weed and he recommended lame shit before like Hostel and Crank so I took his recommendations with a heap of salt. Anyway, somehow, some way, I checked it out and it blew my chonies off! Tony fucking Jaa was a beast! Growing up on the best Hong Kong action shit left every other action movie in the dust, so Hong Kong has always been the pinnacle of fights, choreography, stunts, etc. and Hong Kong movies never had competition… until I saw Ong Bak.
It’s very hard to describe the ability of Tony Jaa in comparison to Jackie Chan, Jet Li, etc. His fights aren’t as hectic and comedic, but they’re fucking painful! I quote a line from the podcast “There was that part where he double-kneed that guy through the floor.” Hahaha! One knee is harsh, a double-knee is fucking savage, but a double-knee through the floor is a fucking Mortal Kombat fatality. And as brutal as it is, it still retains that feeling of fun and amazement! It’s not a snuff movie like the fights in The Raid. They’re still fun rollercoaster fights. It’s so cool too to see a new Muay Thai style incorporated into action choreography! If you really look at it, it’s kind of the world’s first introduction to something like this. There’s been Muay Thai in movies, but not like this and not on a scale of an international release. To answer that question “how many ways can you kick a guy?” The answer is fucking infinity. Each country has its own way to kick someone and you can see the difference in how they do it in Hong Kong and how they do it in Thailand. Anyway, Tony Jaa brought some new shit to the table. And as odd as it sounds, one of the greatest talents he has is his superhuman jumping abilities! He fucking floats and makes Michael Jordan look like a tumbling dipshit. You pointed out one where he’s in a fighting stance, yet he jumps like 80 yards without changing his stance! He’s incredible. That fight with the wiry dude with that shitty afro wig is one of my favorite fights. Not in its complexity, but in its simplicity. The afro guy throws some of the most incredibly complex kicks, yet they all get stuffed by these simple Muay Thai moves. He doesn’t get his balls kicked up into his skull, but he just gets intimidated and humiliated. And Tony Jaa keeps this range on him where he just can’t escape. He almost wins the fight by defense! It’s neat and different and I’ve watched that fight like 100 times! Haha! As a weird side note, Tony Jaa really motivated me to lose weight and I used to constantly watch his Ong Bak fights while exercising and shed over 100 pounds! During that time I went from a blobby disaster to a ripped Adonis. Thanks Tony!
Fuck, PLEASE review The Protector! If you loved Ong Bak, The Protector ups the fucking game tenfold I think! I haven’t screamed and howled at a movie like that probably ever and it’s one of those movies that you just have to show other people. I remember bringing it over to my brother’s place to show him and we were fucking through the roof like it was a frat party. There’s soooo many things to talk about in that movie too! There’s that tracking shot, so many different fighting styles, the biggest fucking human being that I’ve ever seen, and a fight scene that made me scream so much that my balls flew out of my eye sockets. Please review that one!
Okay, I’m stopping here. I can’t type while throwing kicks at imaginary enemies in my shitty living room. Keep up the fine work gentlemen!
Hiya!
Okay I deleted this because it was corny, but now I’m laughing so much that I’ll type it. Please review The Protector! It can be part of Tony Jaa-nuary at the Silver Emulsion podcast. Hahaha!