Not the spicy Thai soup. The movie. I once heard a cult film defined as "a film whose obvious flaws are far outweighed by other unique and exceptional elements". For example, it might be hard to defend Evil Dead 2 as a masterpiece, but the humor and Bruce Campbel's performance make up for any plot holes or lack of production values. Blade Runner is well loved due to its unique vision of the future depsite pacing issues and a confsuing plot. I also like films that are entertaining, even if they are clearly awful. I'd rather watch Showgirls again than a boring, talky foreign film any day. It is with that in mind that I love Tom-Ying-Goong. I feel that most all of the Hong Kong action films should be judged by cult film criteria as the acting can be very broad, and the plots seem made up as they go along. Special effects are often very bad and production values poor. But entertaining??? Hell yes! Check out Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain for some serious way-out entertainment. I'd prefer that over most Hollywood films. It is unlike most anything you have seen before. Tom-Yum-Goog is even more entertaining that Ong Bak. The stunts are wilder and the camera work is better. There is a scene where Tony Jaa's character heads up a long winding staircase to the top of a casin0/nightclub. The scene consists of one long steady cam shot that is at least 3 minutes long. That is a long time with no edits in a film. Especially when a scene consists of a large number of stunts and a camera following Tony through many different rooms and combat scenarios. It's pretty impressive and even if the rest of the film wasn't full of amazing stunt work, this scene alone would make it worth seeing. How they can top this one, I don't know. this film might not be out in the US for quite a while, but look for it. Does it have great acting? No. A great story line... No! Do I care? No. Is it more entertaining than a Merchant-Ivory film. Again...YES!!! Like Hong Kong cinema, check your head at the door and have fun. Would I rather watch RoadHouse than Ghost.... Uh... yes!
Not the spicy Thai soup. The movie. I once heard a cult film defined as "a film whose obvious flaws are far outweighed by other unique and exceptional elements". For example, it might be hard to defend Evil Dead 2 as a masterpiece, but the humor and Bruce Campbel's performance make up for any plot holes or lack of production values. Blade Runner is well loved due to its unique vision of the future depsite pacing issues and a confsuing plot. I also like films that are entertaining, even if they are clearly awful. I'd rather watch Showgirls again than a boring, talky foreign film any day. It is with that in mind that I love Tom-Ying-Goong. I feel that most all of the Hong Kong action films should be judged by cult film criteria as the acting can be very broad, and the plots seem made up as they go along. Special effects are often very bad and production values poor. But entertaining??? Hell yes! Check out Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain for some serious way-out entertainment. I'd prefer that over most Hollywood films. It is unlike most anything you have seen before. Tom-Yum-Goog is even more entertaining that Ong Bak. The stunts are wilder and the camera work is better. There is a scene where Tony Jaa's character heads up a long winding staircase to the top of a casin0/nightclub. The scene consists of one long steady cam shot that is at least 3 minutes long. That is a long time with no edits in a film. Especially when a scene consists of a large number of stunts and a camera following Tony through many different rooms and combat scenarios. It's pretty impressive and even if the rest of the film wasn't full of amazing stunt work, this scene alone would make it worth seeing. How they can top this one, I don't know. this film might not be out in the US for quite a while, but look for it. Does it have great acting? No. A great story line... No! Do I care? No. Is it more entertaining than a Merchant-Ivory film. Again...YES!!! Like Hong Kong cinema, check your head at the door and have fun. Would I rather watch RoadHouse than Ghost.... Uh... yes!
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