No Sling, No Stunt

Tonight is the first time that Rebecca & I have watched a movie sneak preview. The price was rather steep at $9.50 per ticket, but the movie was very worth that money. Why? Because it was starring Tony Jaa, the man who turned world famous after an impactful movie 'Ong Bak' that shocked the world! This movie is titled 'Tom Yum Goong', named after the restaurant where his stolen elephants were held captive.

At first, I was asking myself - why so much commotion over one or two elephants? Then I thought to myself & realised that these two elephants were like brothers to Kham (played by Tony Jaa). All of them grew up together in the countryside fields in Thailand.

What's so new about this movie? Is it just another Thai boxing film? Not at all! This movie portrayed a new set of Thai boxing movement that foreigners have never seen and even Thai people are not familiar with. It is called “Muay Chang Tumlai Roang” (Smashing Elephant Boxing). The main movements are hurling, pressing, grabbing and breaking. The heart of this art is to get close to the enemy and fight them with fists, arms, knees, shanks and feet... hurting the enemy by mainly using the force of throwing, the weight and the moving of body. Definitely not like anything seen before in other action films. It just isn't the same watching it on VCD or DVD, no matter how powerful your Hi-Fi home theatre system may be.

The scene that really shocked me to the bones (Rebecca commented that I was clenching my hands together very hard) was the part where Tony Jaa displayed immense skill & accuracy in his Elephant Boxing techniques. Breaking just about any bone of his enemies that his limbs came in contact with. I'm not sure if I counted right, but there should be at least 30 enemies whom he attacked, twisting, grabbing, throwing, pushing & cracking. It was scary, yet tremendous! I'm just lost for words!

Perhaps some viewers may see these actions as brutal, but this goes way back in history where Jaturongkabaht, the four royal bodyguards of the king, stand at each side of the elephant that the King rides to fight the enemy in the battle field during ancient time. When they lost their sword, they will use elephant boxing to defend themselves. To be honest, when it's a life & death thing... anything counts.