"Tom Yum Goong": Aesthetic Thai Violence after "Stealing Buddha Line" (Text: Vulcan)
In this age when all lonely heroes have died, occasionally a lonely hero makes our eyes amazed. ——Vulcan Ji. Inscription.
To some extent, this movie’s box office profit may be due to the visual shock that the movie "Stealing Buddha Line" brought us. After all, at that time, we had been tortured by the elegance and unrestrainedness of Chinese Kung Fu. Suddenly The visual beauty brought by the close combat and the distortion of the joints made us suddenly feel suffocated. Yes, what we want is the kind of violence with real swords and guns, not the kind of easy-to-click and easy-to-use sway. Chinese-language movies, after Bruce Lee’s era, I can’t seem to find any real movies with violent beauty. Like Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung are always a little humorous and laughing; Jet Li is too eloquent; Donnie Yen is relatively better, but produces too little; Wu Jing is busy gaining weight and dramas; and Zhao Wenzhuo no longer knows where. When Chow Yun-fat also wore a robe and danced his sword on the bamboo forest, I couldn't help wondering whether the era of Chinese kung fu action movies has been buried by the years. Walking into the movie theater or opening the DVD at home, is Chinese Kung Fu so desolate that there are only dazzling stunts and milky idols, nothing else. "Stealing Buddha Line" in 2003 finally baptized our weak eyeballs vividly. This is undoubtedly the great tragedy of Chinese-language movies and Chinese Kung Fu.
The film’s same production team as "Stealing Buddha Line" is undoubtedly one of the biggest selling points of this film. We want to look at the most beautiful violence and cleanest martial arts, not stunts and stars. The religious beliefs I admire in "Stealing Buddha Line" are replaced by elephant worship and loyalty to the King of Fighters in this movie. They always seem to have to find something like a breakthrough for their violence. In this regard, it is fundamentally different from the depiction of violence and violence in the Japanese Cult master Takashi Miike’s "Hitman Aichi". Perhaps the boxers are more willing to believe that their nature is peaceful and kind. Bar. Before watching this movie, I still went to the actor's vigorous skill. But I don't know why, my favorite part of the whole movie is actually the quiet and simple country life that started this movie. Maybe it was because of the stunts of the speedboat behind that fell my appetite.
When I knew the term violent aesthetics, I seemed to have a serious resistance to the stunts in action movies. Maybe it’s just to look better, so computer special effects must be used? I remember that the so-called stunt in "Stealing Buddha Line" is to broadcast the wonderful moving lens close-up repeatedly after the action is done. At that time, I was very happy to see such so-called stunt. After all, it was at least a dozen. The special effects that were discarded by us years ago are still present in Thai movies, but they have a very nostalgic effect. The childish special effects seem to have been abandoned in this movie, and a slow-motion close-up effect still looks very comfortable, at least it looks more like a fight than the flying heroes in Chinese action movies.
The plot of this movie is as simple as "Stealing Buddha Line", but it doesn't matter, because we are going to watch action movies rather than dramas. This film tells the story of the former royal guards of the Thai Emperor who presented their elephants to the Thai Emperor with a kind of respect for the royal family. Unexpectedly, the village chief and lawless elements smuggled the tribute elephants out of the country. The story of Aqin who studied martial arts going abroad to find elephants. In the arrangement of martial arts scenes, there are a total of five games in the film. The first show was staged in the village head's house before Aqin went abroad, and the overwhelming personal show started with a flying knee blow. It is still the kind of smooth Muay Thai performance, turning, chopping, catching and breaking. However, the speedboat after the fight seemed a bit too fine. Imagine a young man who just entered the city from the countryside who feels novel in everything, can suddenly drive the speedboat so delicately, and do all kinds of difficult maneuvers such as leap, emergency stop, etc. He is really a genius who drives a speedboat... The most handsome action in the second game is that Achin jumps and kicks the street light above his head. The height of the jump is at least three meters, plus a close-up low shot. It looks brave. The opponents in this game are extreme sports enthusiasts, four-wheeled Heelys, bicycles, motorcycles and four-wheel drive vehicles. There is also a forward somersault movement after running on the glass wall with the help of speed and inertia for four steps on the wall, which is really beautiful. In the third game, Achin rushed to Dongyang Palace alone. One person picked their entire hall, maybe not called the hall with them. This period is a heroic legend of a lonely hero, and those who are very cooperative are caught off guard by Achin. The heads-up with Johnny brought the burning and expanding universe of the Saint Seiya Wu Xiaoqiang back to victory. It was very dramatic, but this kind of drama seemed very inevitable because he was the protagonist, and he was completely well-off in his little universe. After Xiangling was inspired, the momentum of meeting the gods and killing the gods and the Buddha was enough to make our Chinese-language action movies ashamed. The fourth scene was a fire and water battle in the church. These three people should be BOSS-level figures after Johnny. They are Muay Thai vs. the next three sets, Muay Thai vs. Chinese swordsmanship, and Muay Thai vs. Western wrestling. Surprisingly, they did not win a full victory in this match. The best thing to watch in this game is the first BOSS. It's tumbling and jumping, with a very relaxing electronic drum, which looks almost like watching a dance. And the second BOSS should be a great humiliation to Chinese Kung Fu. It was really horrible to have three punches and two kicks to make the Chinese knife skills out of order, but Aqin's kick after a 720-degree turn of the side somersault was really worthwhile. one look . The third BOSS relied on strength and physical superiority, but this fight was interrupted by a siren coming from far away when Aqin was at a great disadvantage. The fifth game of the ultimate PK battle, first was the warm-up of 55 people with broken hands and broken arms, and then the defeat of the four Hercules. The guy who could carry a baby elephant by himself, but was knocked down. The stories that his father told him when he was a child, sleep dreams and unconscious hallucinations were connected to form a way to break the enemy. In this regard, it cannot be said that the people who made this movie are some meticulous guys. And flying from the top of the building with a classic Muay Thai movement, flying knees to the ultimate BOSS to complete the final blow is perfect. It was the same action as the first performance in the opening, and it seemed to have a taste of consummation.
It's been a long time since I watched such a pure action movie, even if there are still a few BUG-like imperfections. The images at the end of the film overlap with the beginning of the film, do you want to tell us the so-called philosophy of endless loops? The piety in Thai movies is the thing that touches me the most. For example, the belief in religious belief in "Stealing the Buddha Line". I remember when I wrote that movie review that I said that religious belief is a violent and grand breakthrough in the movie. If it becomes something else, that movie may be downgraded by a whole. In the eyes of Achin's father, if he could dedicate his elephant to the royal family, it would not be in vain to have been the royal guard of the Thai emperor before. Now, it seems rare to have such a simple emotion. And it is the simplest things that always move us.
In terms of action movies, this is a good movie. In this age when all lone heroes have died, an occasional lone hero makes our eyes amazed.
2006-7-18; June 23rd of the Bingxu year. Note: Movie information. ■Title: "Tomyumgoong" ("Tomyumgoong") ■Director: Prakiya Pinkyao ■Type: Action ■Language: Thai ■Duration: 117 minutes ■Color: Color ■Premiere: August 2005 11th/Hong Kong ■Recommendation Index: ★★★★★☆
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