ONG BAK -- Bring it!!!

[barsoomcore]

I don't know if Tony Jaa is really the new Jackie Chan, but he's earned his hype.

Just got back from Ong Bak. It rocks. A lot.

These guys know what they're doing. It doesn't display the pure invention of Chan, but Jaa goes a long way towards capturing the intensity of Bruce Lee and Jet Li, and his athleticism is breathtaking.

There's crap in here I have never seen anyone do -- and I've seen a lot of people do a lot of things.

See Ong Bak. You don't want to be sitting around while the other action-movie geeks are bragging about how THEY saw it in the theatres.

Ong Bak is probably the best stand-up fight movie since Drunken Master II. It's not actually as good, but nobody else has gotten this close. Not even Jackie.

Stomp-down.

 

[Tharian]

I enjoyed seeing this one on DVD last year or the year before. I think I would really like to see it on the big screen. Is it subtitled or dubbed?

 

[Krug]

Yeap. This is a great martial arts fight movie, especially if you'er tired of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon style wire-fu.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I've seen previews for this and really have been interested...now I'm definitely going to have to get out and see this.

 

[barsoomcore]

It is not dubbed. It is well-subtitled. And it's excellent.

 

[Stone Angel]

any links to this I haven't heard of this


The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[barsoomcore]

any links to this I haven't heard of this

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/ong_bak-tlr.html/

It's all kinds of good.

And it is preceded by this trailer, which is for the movie my wife and I have been planning to make. Too bad Stephen Chow beat us to it:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/kung_fu_hustle.html

 

[Berandor]

Ong Bak is a bad movie. Don't doubt it. The actors are bad, the story is silly, the music is hokey, ... but the action is incredible. There are moments where you just *know* someone got really, really hurt. These actors and stuntmen go to increible extremes with their fight scenes. I gave it 4 points for the action, and none for the rest, so 4/10. But I'm glad to have seen it.

 

[Desdichado]

Any idea when it will come out on video? I can't see any evidence that it's actually playing anywhere in Detroit.

 

[barsoomcore]

I suspect we'll see a broadening of the release over time. It will probably play in Detroit theatres. It did nearly $3,500 per theatre on the weekend, which was enough to make it the 17th-biggest film in North America, and that's in only 387 theatres.

Second weekend numbers will probably be more telling. If it does better next weekend, it will definitely go wider. If not, then it might be a bit of a gamble. I'd go wide this coming weekend, if it were my movie, regardless of the numbers.