Comments on: Have Martial Arts films achieved Porn Status?

By: swarez

swarez — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:13:07 +0000

Thai martial arts movies are only hot now because they offer more outrageous stunts and fights, as soon as somebody out there one ups them then the focus will shift.

By: Chris | Martial Development

Chris | Martial Development — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:42:15 +0000

Well said. These first-rate Thai action stars (and yes, second-rate actors) need to stop slumming with third-rate writers/directors/editors/producers. Unfortunately, they will probably need to learn English first.

By: Kurt Halfyard

Kurt Halfyard — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:02:18 +0000

Yea it is perhaps a bit crass of me to lump the entire wide world of ‘films involving martial arts’ into one sack. And you can see I’m mainly picking on the Thais above, who are the worst offenders for ‘money-shots-without-any-coherent-story’

I like the HK melodramatic fight films like SPL and Exiled (I know, Exiled has no martial arts in it). They have great, if simple, stories that work on their own terms. I love the early 2000s ‘art-wuxia’ moviement, I even liked THE PROMISE which was raked over the critical wash-board.

I’m just concerned because Thai cinema seems to be the ‘hot’ spot for Martial arts fans.

By: Anh Khoi Do

Anh Khoi Do — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:52:55 +0000

Well, I agree with your comparison between martial art films and porn. Although outstanding martial art films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Hero” or “Ip Man” have been released in the last 10 years, most of them clearly suck. I’ll add that the reason why many people watches martial art films, it’s because they want to see the fights even though the storyline is horrific.

Obviously, I’ll add a nuance. Unlike porn films, martial art films have the potential to be taken seriously. However, I never understood why many people have had a bad reaction just because “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” or “Hero” are both drama-oriented.

By: Kurt Halfyard

Kurt Halfyard — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:17:29 +0000

Unknown and rare outtake is when Jaa finds the marble in the sandbox of oatmeal and gets to drink from the FIREHOSE. Ewww.

Maybe the Elephant just provided the ‘base’ for the soup. Where is Tom Green when you need him?

By: swarez

swarez — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:05:52 +0000

Probably. Maybe his elephant was destined to be the ingredient in some kick ass soup.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:53:47 +0000

Swarez, why is Tom Yum Goong named after the soup? Was that the destination of all the rare animals in the film?

By: swarez

swarez — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:11:25 +0000

The comparison is very apt. I compared Tom Yum Gong to porno as I, like you fast forwarded to the good bits.

The Chocolate is called that because the girl loves candy.

By: Marina Antunes

Marina Antunes — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:12:50 +0000

You’re right on with your porn comparison Kurt. I remember watching 1/2 of The Tiger Blade (at least I think that’s what it was called) and then giving up trying to follow the story and simply jumping ahead to the action.

I had actually forgotten about Chocolate (added it to my watch list now) but love this trailer. First words out of my mouth were “Holy Shit!”

By: Michael W. May

Michael W. May — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:35:15 +0000

I think the problem is grouping “martial arts” film into one genre, when it really never has been one genre.

Some of the Hong Kong productions of the 70s were side by side with any drive-in b-movie of the time. As well, some excellent cinema came out of the same city, just like Hollywood.

If there is anything to blame, it is the distribution. But, that is also a shared problem everywhere.