Triple Threat (Review)

Triple Threat 

Directed by Jesse V Johnson

At one point on this site I was going to replace the Van Damme spin kicks rating system with Tony Jaa elbows to the head. I was digging Ong Bak and all the Jaa muy thai action paloozas he was making. I figured the system should evolve.

Then The Raid: Redemption came out and Iko Uwais was bashing heads and taking on one million thugs to 1 and that would mean an update to the rating logo. I'm keeping it JVCD spin kicks for now because he's fighting MS-13.

Triple Threat has been described as The Expendables of martial action stars. The roster is insane. Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Tiger Chen, Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White and JeeJa Yanin.


Could the hype live up to the movie?

You betcha.


Boring Plot-O-Matic

A hit contract is taken out on a billionaires daughter intent on bringing down a major crime syndicate. A down and out team of mercenaries must take on a group of professional assassins and stop them before they kill their target.

Awesome Review-O-Matic

Triple Threat is the action equivalent of the Golden State Warriors vs Houston Rockets. A flick with serious star power that's going to racked up a mountain of action points on a massive scale. Just like seeing a Steph Curry vs James Harden match up, the movie delivers you 1 on 1 and 1 on 2 match ups of the world's biggest martial arts action stars fighting against each other.

Do you wanna see Chen vs Iko? How about Adkins vs Jaa? MJW vs Iko? Iko vs Yanin? You're going to see these and more. The dream match ups are made and they deliver. It's a ballet of choreographed punches and kicks, suped up chase scenes and the carnage of the best vs the best. You almost have to feel sorry for the redshirts and low level henchmen and security who tried to stop all of them.

There are some catch our breath parts that break up the action craziness. Chen, Jaa and Celina Jade, the daughter with the contract on her head have some light hearted moments. On the other side, MJW, Adkins and Iko play mercenary antagonists with a twist. These scenes are mostly filler as you wait for the final showdowns.

The most underrated star in the mix is Adkins. He's been in a shitload of action movies and we all know who he is but somehow he still gets over looked even in a sick ensemble like this one. He holds in own as be battles Jaa, Chen and Uwais. Adkins plays an evil mercenary to a tee and elevates the other all stars during their 1 on 1s. It's why Triple Threat reaches critical awesomeness.

As much as the flick delivers its triple threat, a part of me really wanted to see one of the 3 good guys be on the opposite end. What would a Jaa vs Uwais extended action scene look like? You get a glimpse of that in an earlier scene but the WWE definition of a triple threat match is 3 guys fighting each other. Oh what could have been.

My only other gripe is all the random gun violence that seemed uneccessary. You have the top action stars on the fuckin planet and they are shooting at each other with AR-15s. Why would you not take advantage of this?

WTF moment

JeeJa's demise

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

Triple Threat delivers all the elbows to the head, upside down spin kicks and martial arts goodness you want. Instead of Jaa or Uwais battling easily dispatched henchmen, seeing the biggest action stars of today battle each other is a sight to behold.

You'll get your Triple Threat team up and honestly they were never in trouble. They won in a clean sweep.

Rating

3 Spinkicks

Trailer

Categories: action cinema, chocolate thai action, Iko Uwais, Jean Claude Van Damme, JeeJa Yanin, ong bak, the raid redemption, tony jaa

BKO: Bangkok Knockout (Review)

BKO: Bangkok Knockout

BKO: Bangkok Knockout (2010)

Directed by Panna Rittikrai

[part of the NYAFF 2011]

What's the definition of action porn?

It's BKO: Bangkok Knockout which is without a doubt, the best action movie of 2011 (premiering in NYC at the NYAFF 2011). This is to be expected from Panna Rittikrai, legendary director of Born to Fight and fight coordinator for Ong Bak and Chocolate. He's made Tony Jaa ad Jeeja Yanin household names when it comes to action cinema.

BKO raises the bar of Thai action films so high, it's going to be hard to top it unless we get a sequel. The level of stunts, choreographed fight scenes and adrenaline pumping action sequences is so over the top and so off the charts it's a testament to Rittikrai's fight team's talent and threshold for pain.

One must dismiss the bad acting, the ridiculous cartooney plot and bodily harm logic when it comes to BKO. Like porn, these are only set ups to get to the money shot. And the money shots come shooting faster, harder and longer than anything I've ever see come out. (Sorry the puns write themselves).

BKO is an orgy and ballet of violence set to a soundtrack. You won't know the names of the characters or care if the bad guys get their comeuppance. Seriously, it's not important. As long as you were mesmerized by the punches, kicks, double kicks, double punches and the synchronized attacks, BKO has done it's job.

Boring Plot-O-Matic

Rittkrai is a legend in Thai action cinema. The director of Born to Fight and fight coordinator for such classics as Ong Bak and Chocolate, he was the star of many action films in the 70s and 80s, and is famously a mentor to some of the top action superstars working today, including Tony Jaa (Ong Bak), Dan Chupong (Dynamite Warrior) and Jija Yanin (Chocolate). BKO features a range of martial art disciplines. A group of 'fight club' pals whose styles vary from Muay Thai and Capoeira to Kung Fu and Tai Chi must fight for their lives when one of their friends is kidnapped.

Awesome Review-O-Matic

I was going to give a breakdown of each fight scenes but there are like 30 of them. In any case, the range of fighting styles is on display going from Muay Thai, Kung Fu, Capoeira and free running. But before we talk about the fights, let's get that pesky plot out of the way.

THE PLOT

So basically a Thai stunt team wins a contest to go to Hollywood to work for an American businessman. But in reality it's all a ploy to have the evil stunt team try to kick their ass. In between this crazy Wile E. Coyote plot is a group of gamblers led by the evil American business dude who are betting on who wins each fight.

And that's not all folks. We've got some kooky love triangle, twists and betrayals and a boat load of revenge themes that rear their ugly heads as this crazy movie chugs along. The movie has tons of comedy in it to which somehow feels screwbally and probably is designed for a Thai audience. Oh and there is indeed an appearance from a lady boy fighter.

THE FIGHTS

But at the end of the day, you're here to see the sex....err I mean action scenes. And there are plenty of em. Taking place in an abandoned warehouse that seems to go on for like freakin forever, you've got gangbangs, double teams and threesomes. Seriously, I'm talking about the action.

There is a killer fight scene in a caged off area that's pure awesomeness with aerial kicks I've never seen before. A boy lady?!? takes on one of our good guys ending in a slo mo water fighting sequence. We also get a masked man with an ax sustain high levels of Ryu and Ken kicking ending in a flaming ax.

And get this! They added a Fast and Furious killer car to the mix as our heroes dodge being run over. In all of this somehow our hero Pom or Pod, I forget his name has to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend.

Even more fighting with metal bars, a sequence of free running (aka parkour) and our hero battling his arch nemesis tops it all off. And at some point, you're going "That's it right?" They can't possibly top that Matrix like finishing move can they?

But they keep going.

The beauty of these action sequences is that they've taken tons of hard work to get it right. I'm pretty sure everything filmed was of the non CGI variety (fuck you Hollywood...this is how fight scenes are done). I applaud our heroes and their level of talent but I also have to applaud the henchmen getting their ass kicked. It's teamwork that makes all these fight sequences work. Sure the masked evil stunt team is waiting to get kicked but their absorbing the most damage. The editing that also has to be done was pretty solid. But to see that the timing has to be just right and the punches and kicks have to be measured carefully is quite a sight. This is what makes a Rittikrai movie legendary.

And they did keep going. The ending is an orgy and I seriously mean orgy of violence. Fights are taking place all over the warehouse and eventually we even get some gun play. A sequence below a moving truck is insanely awesome as is a juxtaposed fight scene between 2 of our other heroes versus motorcycle bad guys.

BKO: Bangkok Knockout is not going to win best acting awards but it wins the award I'm about to make up. The Jaded Viewer Action WTF holy kick orgy of violence Award for 2011 goes to BKO. If Ong Bak 2 and 3 have left you feeling like Tony Jaa has lost his touch, BKO will make it all better.

Action porn is back and it's better than ever.

Gore-ipedia

Not so much

Nude-ipedia

It's action porn, not real porn

WTF moment

Large metal mask wearing flaming ax guy

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

NYAFF 2011 film festival opens on 7/1. I've created a list of films to check out at this year's festival. BKO: Bangkok Knockout screens on July 2nd at 12:15 pm and also has a showing on July 9th at midnight.

Head over to the official site for more info.

I'm going to give this 3 spinkicks. The bad acting, ridiculous plot and my biggest gripe.....there were no outtakes at the end! I always look forward to seeing the outtakes as I appreciate what the stunt team goes through.

The Vitals

• The official site
• Facebook Page

Rating:


Check out the trailer.

Categories: action cinema, chocolate thai action, comedy action, JeeJa Yanin, karate, kung fu, muay thai, nyaff 2011, ong bak, thai movies

Bangkok Knockout (Trailer)

OMG. You so have to watch the trailer below of the new movie from action choreographer Panna Rittikrai. He is the man responsible for those insane action stunts, muy thai fights and crazy battles from Ong Bak to many other action stunts.

His stunt team is now world renown and with Tony Jaa off at a monastery (seriously, I'm not kidding), there are quite a few budding action stars that want to make a name for themselves. But they're all going to make an audition in Bangkok Knockout which looks fuckin awesome.

Watch it now.

You done?

Wait did I just see the following:

• A dude jump over a burning car?
• A burning dude smash through a wall?
• A dude get by a car going 100 mph?
• A couple of dudes getting run over by a car?
• A guy get run over by a motorcycle?
• A fight scene take place at the bottom of a moving truck?
• Flying backwards kicks?
• Evil American warlord?
• A dude avoiding a car by spinning?
• A flying knee kick to the throat?
• A backward scissors kick?
• Simultaneous leap frog kicks?
• Flying bike kicks?

Bangkok Knockout comes out in Thailand on December 10, 2010.Magnolia Pictures has picked up the film for US distribution. No stateside release date announced yet.

OK what do you think? Are you freakin excited? Well I am. This looks awesome.

Categories: action cinema, chocolate thai action, JeeJa Yanin, muay thai, ong bak, Prachya Pinkaew, thai movies, tony jaa

Ong Bak 3 (Trailer)

The original Ong Bak was super duper awesome. Ong Bak 2 was awesome. With Ong Bak 3, it's hard to know what to think. But what you can count on is Tony Jaa jumping on elephants and kneeing and elbowing people in the face. So that's gotta be good right?

Check out the trailer below.

Categories: muay thai, ong bak, ong bak 2, ong bak 3, Prachya Pinkaew, tony jaa

Raging Phoenix (Trailer)

Holy fuckin cow. I just wet myself. After the "ehh oh wow" that was Ong Bak 2, Tony Jaa is sooo yesterday. Just let me watch JeeJa Yanin kick ass again makes the jaded viewer a happy boy.

So what will we get to see in her new movie following her debut after Chocolate?

An romantic action-omedy!

Mega intense training montage!!

You Got Served meets Ong Bak!!!

Chinese Drunken Fist vs Drunken Muay Thai!!!!

Choreographed Doubles tag team fight movies!!!!!

Starring.....

The mega hot Jeeja Yanin
Kazoo, TRICKZ martial arts champion from France!?
Roontawan, The Asia Pacific Woman Bodybuilding Champion?!?
Thai B-Boys!?!?

What more do you want? (Oh, duh. Of course the trailer which you can see below)

Plot seems to revolve around a gang kidnapping rich girls in Thailand so they can harvest their organs or some other. But plots in muay thai action is like dialogue in porn, it's totally irrelevant.

This looks uber awesome.





Thanks to Twitch for the heads up and the trailers. You can check out Twitch more info-rama.

Categories: chocolate thai action, JeeJa Yanin, muay thai, ong bak, power kids, raging phoenix, raging phoenix trailer, thai movies

Ong Bak 2 (Review)

Ong Bak 2

Ong Bak 2 (2009)

Directed by Tony Jaa

The Jaa is back.

Let's get this out of the way first. This is a pseudo sequel to the smash and bash that is Ong Bak. Got that?

Let's also get this out of the way too.

Thailand is still the king of action cinema for now. Stunt-a-palooza, muy thai kneeing and elbowing and just rampant 1-2-3 punches. Sick shit all around.

I'm not a big fan of period piece action cinema. Whenever some Chinese or Japanese movie is set in the past, I get bored. I like my action in the present day, where stunts are performed in an urban setting, parkour becomes commonplace and a final scene can play out on the side of a fuckin building.

So you can see my dilemma after having watched Ong Bak 2?

The simple review is this. The historical ploppity plot is a yawn but the stunts and the actionography is fuckin fantastic and the stunts as always are awesome the magnificent.

You still want a review.....arghhh ok.

Boring Plot-O-Matic

Set in the regal times of King Naresuan, Tien (Tony Jaa) is a man who was born into nobility but had it stripped from him after his parents were brutally murdered. During his childhood Tien learned Khon, a form of dance which is usually reserved for royalty. Although he didn't know it yet, Khon would later prove to be an invaluable aide to him. After seeing his parents murdered at the tender age of 10, Tien is forced to live on the streets where he is eventually captured by a group of thieves who take him in and teach him how to steal and fight.

Tien's expertise as a thief and fighter grows and it isn't long before he is made head thief. Then Tien sees something that makes his stomach churn. A competition is being held to find the best knights to serve under the very man who had killed Tien's parents all those years ago. Tien passes the tests easily and is made Lord Rachasana's 2nd Knight. Now, he has his opportunity to strike but he will have to use all his skill and ingenuity if he is going to get his revenge on the man who killed his parents.

Awesome Review-O-Matic

Read the plot above because I'm not going to talk about it anymore. Let's get to the action scenes shall we?

1.) Random medieval army vs army carnage

Slyly put into the sword on sword and bow and arrow battles is CGI blood. You know the one...that fake "300" CGI blood. I do not like this and there was way too much of it during the fight scenes.

However, good crazy choreographed action-rama when 2 battle armies go mano y mano is never a bore.

2.) The Elephant Scene

Tony Jaa has always tried to top his stunts and in this one he balances off a pack of wild rampaging elephants than does a sick backwards flip off its trunk. Totally sick...very nice.

3.) The training montage plus SAT Pirate tests scene

Jaa has to pass 3 tests to become the man of the pirates gang.

a.) Beat some schmuck with a sword
b.) Beat some schmuck with his muy thai
c.) Beat some schmuck with everything he's got in his arsenal

Suffice it to say he does.

4.) Tien's Uber Revenge Scene

Jaa's is in full revenge mode using Pacquiao like speed and lightning quick martially arts to dispense of the people who fucked up his village. Tons of different weapons are used, crazy numchucks, swords, that rope with the rock at the end of it (what's that called?) and plain old bare fists and legs.

The scene blows by so quickly if you blink you may have missed something unfuckinbelievable.

5.) The Ending is 20 -30 minutes of action porn

Seriously...its like he exploded and went completely nuts. Jaa has all the cylinders working. Guys are coming at him left and right and he's disposing of them like he's blowing his nose.
It's Jaa vs an army of 300. Slice and dice, punch and crunch. Jaa is kicking ass so fast its a ballet of brutality. A battle on top of an elephant made my mouth stay open for a good 10 seconds.

It's great choreographed insanity and it's pretty fun to watch.

The ending leaves a soon to be sequel ready to be filmed. All in all, a good solid flick. Though it didn't have the magic of the first Ong Bak. The original had humor, a very funny motivational plot device and muy thai-ing that went off the radar.

Ong Bak 2 had none of that. But that's ok. It's like getting psyched up for your favorite dish and it not living up to your expectations. But it's still satisfying.

Gore-ipedia/Nude-ipedia

Nada. More like one big sausage factory but with flying spinkicks.

WTF moment

That crazy elephant back flick

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

Ong Bak 3 was greenlit and its suppose to start filming at the end of this year. Hollywood has been itching to get Tony Jaa to Hollywood. Please don't stick him in a buddy cop movie...fuckin Hollycrap.

Ong Bak 2 is your fix for all that is the uber martial arts action genre has to offer. If you can keep awake during the pointless plot pushing the action scenes do not disappoint.

Somehow they need to tie this flick and part 3 to the original. Maybe that head in the first movie is Tien's head.

Yeah that make sense. Hmm maybe not. Oh fuck it. Just knee kick somebody in the head please.


Rating:

1/2

Check out the trailer below.





Tags:
ong bak, ong bak trailer , thai action , ong bak 2, tony jaa, ong bak 2 review, top movies of 2008, muay thai, thai action movie, Prachya Pinkaew, tom yum goong, ong bak 2 thai,

Categories: martial arts, muay thai, ong bak, ong bak 2, ong bak 2 review, ong bak 2 trailer, Prachya Pinkaew, thai movies, tony jaa

Power Kids (Trailer)

The fun about searching for trailers on YouTube is that you can search for one thing, which leads you to another which then leads you to another.

Then before you know it, you see a bunch of kids OngBaking the shit out some baddy bad men.

So I may be a millisecond late on this little trailer but fuck it....it's totally rad-irific. From the producer of Ong Bak and Chocolate, come little teenage Ong Baks kicking ass. If they keep going all Benjamin Button with these movies, we're gonna see a fuckin fetus Muay Thai-ing in the womb.

Great stunts, choreography and uber action. Wow. I'm excited about Power Kids. It begs the question is this just all normal shit in Thailand. While American tweens are lip syncing Hannah Montana, Thai tweens are kneeing and elbowing people through windows.

Check out the trailer below. Also, the official site for more info-rama.





Also here is another promo for the film with some live action stunt-o-rama.

Categories: 5 huajai hero, muay thai, ong bak, ong bak 2, power kids, power kids trailer, teenage ong bak

Merantau (Trailer)

Jason Statham. Tony Jaa. Move on over. Make room for the next uber action hero from Indonesia. His name?

Iko Uwais.

The film?

Merantau.

If the trailer is any indication of the martial arts chaos that will ensue in this movie, I am fuckin psyched. Lots of choreographed stunts and fight scenes that may have you going Ong what?

The new style is called Silat. Yeah I know, I haven't even heard of this martial arts form myself. But it looks mega fuckin instense.

Here be the plot....

In Minangkabau, West Sumatera, Yuda a skilled practitioner of Silat Harimau is in the final preparations to begin his "Merantau" a century's old rites-of-passage to be carried out by the community's young men that will see him leave the comforts of his idyllic farming village and make a name for himself in the bustling city of Jakarta. After a series of setbacks leave Yuda homeless and uncertain about his new future, a chance encounter results in him defending the orphaned Astri from becoming the latest victim of a European human trafficking ring led by the wildly psychotic, Ratger and his right-hand man Lars. With Ratger injured in the mêlée and seeking both his "merchandise" and bloody retribution, Yuda's introduction to this bustling city is a baptism of fire as he is forced to go on the run with Astri and her younger brother Adit as all the pimps and gangsters that inhabit the night hound the streets chasing their every step. With escape seemingly beyond their grasp, Yuda has no choice but to face his attackers in an adrenaline charged, jaw-dropping finale.

Check out the trailer below.






Also, Twitch has a high resolution trailer you can check out too. Thanks to Twitch for the heads up.

Merantau is scheduled to be released August 6th in Indonesia. The bootleg/torrent copy comes out on August 7th. :-P

Categories: Iko Uwais, indonesia action movie, jason statham, merantau, merantau trailer, ong bak, silat, tony jaa