Tony Jaa movies

Talk about movies featuring Tony Jaa. Basically, talk about Ong Bak and The Protector.

Tony Jaa is, without a doubt, the insanest action star who is still active. Ong Bak had him blasting a mook with a flaming tornado kick while in The Protector he used a tonfa made out of massive bones.

Here, have some of Tony Jaa goodness. Do note that this is one of the least impressive moments.

edited 26th Apr '12 4:22:03 AM by dRoy

After those two, it seemed like the reverse of executive meddling. My impression of the Ong Bok sequals is that Jaa got his stardom and then was able to call the shots to create a more multi-dimensional character at the centre of some grand campaign. Then again, it might have been the director. 2 and 3 are decent movies but they are set historically. You don't see as much insanity but Jaa switches between half a dozen or more styles of martial arts, and the whole of both is a lot bloodier.

The great thing about Jaa was that he would do live interviews and performances and do some of his crazy shit right there in front of a live audience. Like the tag line said: no wires, no CGI, no equal.

Personally, I liked the scene in Protector where the waves of mooks come after him and he just grabs them, breaks something, and then kicks them aside. Vaguely similar effect to the Crazy 88 fight in Kill Bill.

I have to admit that the other Ong Bak movies, while started out interestingly, ended up becoming really exhausting to watch.

Apparently he is working on The Protector 2 but I am also hearing that he is not making any movies anymore. I hope the latter is not true.

The problem with Ong Bak 2 - and 3, from what I heard - is that it has no muay thai, which was the one thing that made Ong Bak and The Protector great.

I remember reading (citation needed) that Tony Jaa felt like his previous movies were gloryfying MT to the detriment of other martial arts and he wanted to make a film with more fighting styles all presented as different but equal.

edited 29th May '12 11:04:20 AM by xom

The problem with the Ong Bak Prequels (yes, that is the term I use) is that not so much of using too less muay thai (The Protector had a glorious amount of jujutsu, after all) but that the action scenes were too drawn out. Ong Bak and The Protector had actions scenes that were shorter and explosive and generally more dynamic, at least the way I see it.

Ong Bak had a Flaming Tiger Knee.

That is awesome. That is all.

We need to create Time Travel, and get this guy, Bruce lee, Jackie Chan (in his prime) and Jet Li all in the same movie.

There was a Double Knee Meteor and Flaming Tornado but no Flaming Tiger Knee.

watching The Protector right now.

hitmen on rollerblades. now i've seen everything.

I keep hearing Tony Jaa movies get cut up before they ever get official releases over here.

How much of that is true, and how much of it can I avoid?