by ngkaichong
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", like its name became a contender in the Oscars and of course The Matrix trilogy has all the hallmarks of the martial arts moves.
The industry itself saw its own revolution, from a "no story line" and all action movie, the directors began to emphasize on the story, making the actions as concrete as the story itself.
Technology evolution also made the genre more interesting, actors suspended by cables in mid -air were replaced by thinner wires, making their moves more flexible.
Hollywood came and added CGI effects and there was up to a point when it did not matter whether the actors had any background in martial arts !!
The "wow" factor changed from how good the actor's skills were to how good the computer effects were. The essence of the martial arts genre had died.
However, Ong Bak arrived just in time to tell the world how a good martial arts / action movie should be done.
It is refereshing to see this film as compared to its peer group of the action genre. For one thing the action is raw and real !!
I mean all the kicks and leaps are without the aid of wires and cables and the action scenes are excellent, well crafted to keep you at the edge of your seat!
The well crafted action scenes blew me away, it has some of the trademarks of the old Jackie Chan movies, the smooth moves, the leaps and the jumps, the flexibility of the human body (and I am not talking about Karma Sutra here)
It also has the trademarks of Jet li's quick and deft killer moves. However to note, that while Jet Li's showcase of wushu and shaolin kung fu is graceful and lethal, Muay Thai ( the Thai boxing ) is raw and packed with energy.
Not as graceful as Chinese martial arts, but lethal none otherwise and of course, it is refreshing to see how a different style of martial arts.
Like a football match, all the stunts are shown at a different angle to show " Hey people, no wires"
Unlike Charlie's Angles where the kicks and punches are MTV like and for kids, Ong Bak is raw and real!
Jet Li used to be good in Hong Kong, the series of "Once upon a time in China' and 'Fong Sai Yuk"managed to revive the Hong Kong industry. However, he moved to Hollywood and was left under the not so capable hands of various directors and he is now famous for the B-grade action movies doing unrealistic stunts.
Jackie Chan used to be good but as age is catching up, he is slowly moving to the comedy genre like Shanghai Noon and his latest effort The Medallion was such a flop that it should tarnish is resume unless he has better more to offer.
But both these actors have been dominating the action arena for quite some time and it is time we see some new blood being pump in and Tony Jaa is the perfect candidate.
