Tom yum goong

Plot synopsis:
Kham is the last of a family line of guards who once watched over the King of Thailand's war elephants. Traditionally, only the most perfect elephants could successfully defend the throne, and very great care was taken in raising them. Kham grows up forming close relations to his elephant, Por Yai and his calf, Kohrn. During Songkran festival, the elephants are stolen with help from Mr. Suthep, a local MP and his son who are collaborating with elephant poachers. Kham discovers that they are in the hands of Johnny, a Vietnamese gangster who runs a Thai restaurant named Tom Yum Goong Otob in Sydney, Australia.
Kham arrives in Sydney, and is stalked by the police as soon as he leaves the airport. Kham coerces a gangster to lead him to Johnny's hideout, interrupting a drug deal. Outraged, Johnny summons countless extreme sports enthusiasts, who arrive to fight Kham.
Exhausted, Kham falls asleep in an alley. A prostitute brings him to her apartment. In his sleep, he dreams of an epic battle involving war elephants and the Jaturangkabart, the elephant protectors. When Pla leaves, Kham wakes up to the sound of police sirens and must escape.
Two officers, Mark and Rick are taken off the case and reassigned to provide security for the Police Commissioner's meeting with Mr. Sim. In that meeting, Pla acted as a hostess girl to the two men. During the meeting, Mr. Sim and the Commissioner are murdered. The murder is instigated by Vincent, who kills Rick and puts the blame on Mark. Mark escapes, but is later captured.
With Pla's help, Kham enters Tom Yum Goong Otob. He fights his way into the VIP area and reaches the dining hall at the top. Kham demands, "Where are my elephants?" and is met with the laughter of Johnny and his men. Johnny taunts Kham with Kohrn's bell. This enrages Kham and he fights and defeats his opponents. He enters the storage area, containing various exotic animals ready to be butchered and eaten. Kham finds and frees Mark and Kohrn, escaping minutes before the police arrive. Meanwhile, Madame Rose is made the new leader of the Chinese gang after she murders two other possible successors.
Inspector Vincent initiates a search for Kham and Mark, who are hiding in a Buddhist monastery. Soon after their departure, the monastery is set on fire. But then Kham returns, and he defeats a fierce capoerista and a sword-wielding wushu exponent. However, his third opponent, a giant wrestler, proves way too much for Kham. When the police arrive, he flees with Mark. By morning, Kham goes on his way. Mark is discovered by several policemen and sent to deal with Inspector Vincent, whom Pla has revealed to be the murderer.
Kham arrives at a conference hall where Madame Rose is having a press conference. Kohrn runs in, scaring off everyone while Kham engages the gangsters. He later finds Kohrn in an elevator lobby, where Vincent threatens to shoot him.
Kham finds himself with Kohrn in a huge room, and he is shown the skeleton of Por Yai, encrusted with jewels as a gift to Madame Rose. Her men then attack Kham, and he attacks them more brutally than previously seen, by breaking many of the men's arms and legs. The wrestler from the monastery is called in, along with three others. Kohrn is thrown through a glass wall, and Kham is knocked into the elephant ornament, causing two leg bones to fall off. Kham ties them around his arms and uses them as clubs to knock the wrestlers out. He stops Madame Rose before she can escape in a helicopter, and crashed.
Back in the lobby, Mark is shown Pla, and forgiven by his boss, Inspector Lamond. He is given a new partner who speaks Thai. Mark is then interviewed by a reporter about Kham. Finally, a narration from Mark is heard, with scenes of Kham's childhood shown. Mark explains that Thai people treat elephants like they are their brothers, and they hate people who hurt them. Thais love peace, but dislike people who take liberties. Kham is finally reunited with Kohrn.

Tags: cult, revenge, murder, violence, flashback

Review:
Several other IMDb members commented on the repetitiveness of the movie, comparisons to Jackie Chan/Jet Li and its use of Kung Fu.First of all martial arts flicks will always be redundant to some extent since there are only so many ways to pick a fight, but stories do vary as does the quality of action.
Anyway, if you go to a martial arts flick looking to pick it apart and analyze the acting skills then your a fool and should never leave your American Hollywood watering hole.As to comparing Tony Jaa to Jackie Chan or Jet Li, are you insane?!
I think this may be because of different stuntmen - in Ong Bak, a lot of the people that got beaten up were probably amateur Thai stuntmen or retired muay thai dudes (scene in cave, for example) who don't mind taking a very heavy kick or punch to make a few Baht and be in a movie.
Now if only he can learn passable English, he'll really have a chance of becoming the next big thing in Martial Arts action movies.The (intentional) comic relief was much better than in Ong Bak - Mum Jok Mok plays a Thai policeman in Sydney.
Deserving of an Animal Oscar.To sum up, Tom Yum Goong has a decent plot, a good cast with better acting than was to be expected, good cinematography, and of course, plenty of cracking, beautifully choreographed action that will not fail to impress any Martial Arts action movie enthusiast.Highlights: Kham learning how to fight the Capoeira guy in a very well choreographed scene, and the bone-crunching extravaganza that was like Kill Bill Vol. 1's restaurant scene without the swords.An excellent achievement in its genre.
The action in tom yum goong is phenomenal to say the least - tony jaa proves that ong bak was no fluke!The part where jaa does battle with a gang of bikers and roller bladers is an exciting sequence , reminiscent of jackie chan in his police story days.
The fight where he battles his way to the top floor of a restaurant in one continuous tracking shot, is a truly amazing piece of work that demands to be re-winded more than once .The fight that pits jaa against dozens of suited henchmen is a bone crunching, applause worthy spectacle that proves what ong bak fans already know- TONY JAA IS THE MAN !!!!!
I know that we don't watch these sort of films for plot, but tom yum goong takes the cake with its "one man looking for his elephant" story!And don't get me started on the acting, particularly the lines spoken in English.Tony jaa needs to work with a decent script writer in future....Weak on pretty much everything else except the fights , tom yum goong has Superior action and confirms that tony jaa is an amazing performer..
But if you want to see Tony Jaa in some pretty cool fight scenes, then you might as well watch this movie.
Ong Bak was a fantastic achievement by the young Thai fighter America has come to embrace as Tony Jaa. Fantastic stunts, amazing fight choreography, and an overwhelming sense of brutal martial arts action that has been missing in fight films since Jackie Chan's Rumble in the Bronx.
Tom Yum Goong starts off on the same foot, but then takes the viewer in an entirely different directionan example of one of the most explosive and entertaining martial arts movies of ALL TIME.To go into intricate detail about the plot outlines of TYG will do you no good, it will not make you want to see this movie.
Goliathit is quite a sight to behold.Overall, Tom Yum Goong is an awesome spectacle of Tony Jaa's fighting ability, and if you truly enjoyed Ong Bak, then be ready to be blown away by something far better..
It's an idyllic Thai village scene where Kham (Tony Jaa) grows up and bonds together with herds of elephants, and it might even looked as if it came right out of Kipling's The Jungle Book.It's a picture of calm before the storm, and the first 10 minutes set the scene, as the elephants will play an important aspect in this movie as it gets elevated into mythical status (check out the CGI scene, looks like Jackie Chan's The Myth, with its historical fights).
Bridging the fights from Thailand to Australia is a short boat chase scene that looked right out from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but that's the only weak action sequence in Tom-Yum-Goong.There are plenty of fights in Sydney to keep all action fans happy - like the massive battle with the Aussie streetgangs (on roller blades and bikes) in an abandoned warehouse, which also showcased Jaa's agility and acrobatic ability.
Petchtai Wongkamlao, who plays Inspector Mark, and has been featured in all of Jaa's movies, returns to add his comedic touch to the film as a Thai-immigrant policeman in Sydney, and fans of Ong Bak will also be pleased that this movie is helmed by the same director Prachya Pinkaew.While Hollywood struggles to find worthy successors to its 80s and 90s action heroes like Stallone, Van Damme, and Schwarzeneggar, Asia has already found one to takeover the mantle from Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li (as the latter two seemed to have drifted and indicated a preference for dramas).
The script is full of age old Hollywood clichés such as cops being taken off the case, only to go vigilante, gold-hearted prostitutes and a whole host of colourful looking gangsters (former WWE reject Nathan Jones makes a hilarious cameo) that wouldn't look out of place in a straight-to-video Steven Seagal flick.And yet despite the glaring faults with a film as silly as this, none of the criticisms truly matter for one simple reason: Tony Jaa is absolutely amazing.
some of them just didn't like the story.In my honest personal opinion, I thought the movie was much BETTER than Ong Bak in terms of action sequences and fight scenes.
Columbia Tri-star has already bought distribution rights to this movie and I am sure that all you Tony Jaa fans outside of Thailand will definitely get to see this great action flick SOON.
Tony Ja plays a role of Kham, a character who pursed a gang that has kidnapped his elephants.He fought with so many great fighters, which includes the BMX and the roller skate gang, Johnny, the Brazilian guy with cool kicks, the sword-man and those huge guys and of course the leader.One of the few scenes i consider great are: the continuous fighting shot from the basement up to the higher level of the building (which was taken at one shot without editing and somewhat reminds me of Bruce Lee End of Game) and the bone crackling scenes with all the gangs!
The action scenes with Tony Jaa are incredible and I believe he will likely continue to bring the Muay Thai style of fighting to the big screen worldwide.
Now, I really liked the first one: it was an innocent, original, fresh, visual and funny action flick; as well as a good moral guideline for Thai teenagers.This sequel is a very very painful mish-mash of Hollywood cringe-worthy clichés, with a bad plot, and ludicrous fight scenes.
- You like elephants and sappy animal movies (I made it to the end to know what happened to them, I confess) - You like mindless Hollywood action flicks.(think those turkeys poor Jet Li got involved in, just not quite as good)Don't even go near it if you haven't seen the first one, please.This was a sequel made for the money, as is too often done.
Kham travels to Australia to recover his elephants  a path that brings him into the lives of police officer Mark, call girl Pla and crime boss Madame Rose.I'm not entirely sure why this flopped because, like Ong Bak, although everyone knows the plot and acting will generally be weak, few will be in the cinema for anything other than impressive action.
Perhaps it is not PC to say it, but the use of English with Thai helps as well  I find the latter a very ugly language and the way it is scaled back does make it more accessible to a western audience.The lack of a really engaging plot does rather mean that the action exists as a separate entity and is not part of a gripping total film  the temple fights being a good example as they are more like baddies in a video game than a film.
All in all I had a great time, but I am still not convinced it is better then Ong-bak, I guess I am already used to Tony Jaa and the things he can do.Leaves me 1 thing, was the guy Kham sees at the airport the real deal or a lookalike?.
I found that the film still delivered the same amount of high flying, bone breaking combat which made Ong Bak what it was, albeit delivered in a different way.Kham (Jaa) is a village boy leading a peaceful life in Thailand, alongside his beloved elephants, Poor Yai and Korn.
From then on, the 2 confront deadly martial artists, police corruption, shady business and lots of thugs in black.Earlier I mentioned the fight scenes being slightly different to Ong Bak, mainly because they were served in a slightly more 'Jackie Chan-esquire' way than the brutal bar room knockouts we saw in OB.
Why did they feel the need to take the tried and tested formula of Ong Bak and add English dialogue in a foreign country i don't know, i mean the story is crud and i'm sure they could have written one based in Thailand!Poor acting/dialogue aside there are some good moments 12 foot high kicks, joint breaking and a Muay Thai vs Capoeira scene that is awesome, then there is the scene with the skaters and the bikers that just reeks so bad that u find yourself laughing at it, WOOO Gen X man, lol.All in all a thorough disappointment lets hope Ja gets to work with different people so we can see a better end product..
As martial arts actors go Anno 2007 you will find it extremely hard to do better than watch Tony Jaa (also see Ong Bak) at work.
The story, in short, is about a boy trying to rescue his pets, 2 Elephants, which was kidnapped and transferred to Austrailia at a restaurant called Tom Yum Goong.Tony Jaa shows you an array of martial art techniques used in Muay (Moo-way) Thai and how his style competes against other fighting styles.
The best thing about the movie is that their are no strings attached, all the action and fighting scenes were actually done by Tony Jaa, so basically what you see is what you get.
The story line is fantastic which will also give you goose bumps all over due to the emotional bond between the elephants and Tom. If you enjoyed Ong Bak then believe you me you have not seen anything yet, Tony Jaa is definitely going to be the next best thing, step aside Jet Li and Jackie Chan, Tony Jaa is the next Bruce Lee of Martial Arts..
He goes after him and searches for revenge.Last year (over here anyway) Muay Thai expert Tony Jaa made his blistering debut with Ong-bak, a blistering martial arts film with a lame plot and dismal acting but spectacular martial arts stunts and excitement.
Warrior King is less fun because while it's no doubt the same deal with Jaa genuinely performing his own fight scenes and stunts, it just doesn't look as though he is like it did in Ong-bak.
The film has been charged with having repetitive fight sequences and despite the counter argument that there is only so many ways people can fight (which I understand) I have to agree with the argument that most of the action suffer from repetition.Look at the early fight scene in Sydney where Jaa breaks up a drug sale and is set upon in the tram warehouse.
Nothing is there without a reason (vase, chair, table, wall decoration etc) and often can one predict course of a fight in the first second or two after hero walks in the room.In the age of cheap CGI which can make even Mila Jovovich do triple somersaults while killing a bunch of armed guards in "Ultraviolet", "Ong Bak" and "Tom Yun Goong" come as very pleasant refreshment and i really hope Tony Jaa gets to star in films with more decent technical/acting/story/etc background, but let's keep some amount of perspective here.You can't really compare someone like Tony Jaa with his few years of martial arts training solely for the purpose of starring in films with Bruce Lee, who did films as a mean to popularize Kung Fu and Jeet Kune Do after getting training from early age from Wing Chun legends (Yip Man) and for whom combat experience was base of everything.
Tony Jaa returns in this hi-action fast pacing movie which will truly blow away your mind.No stunt doubles, no computer images, no strings attached.This was the tag-line of the first movie and Jaa sticks to it.He again proves himself as a great successor to Bruce Lee in movements and Jackie Chan in stuntman ship.Prachya Pinkaew returns with a similar story to that of Ong Bak, but with better direction and much much better fights.His fights with three fighters in a row in the Buddha Temple is just too GOOD.The way he fights the dancing guy is a classic and a fight which can be seen again and again.The story revolves around our hero Jaa as Kham,who is in love with his elephants.He grows up with them and loves them more than his own life.But by chance,poachers kidnap his elephant and take it away,far away.Then the game begins.To get back his elephants,Jaa fights through a lot.I really mean a LOT!!!
I don't know how the director could let this happen with such a good action-star like Jaa. The rest of the fighting scenes look a bit better but are still far from the quality of the ones seen in Ong Bak. Way too much slapstick action and quickly done moves.
(Remember Woo even managed to make Van Damme look good!)I'm a huge action-movie fan and I gave Ong Bak a 10 but since the movie contained so many downs including nearly all the action scenes I rate it 4.5 and an extra point for Tony Jaas performance even if he can't save this mess.
Just like all of Tony Jaa's movies they all use the style of Muay Thai fighting over the more used arts of Kung Fu and Karate, which is a nice change of pace and adds a bit different of a style to the fight scenes.
If you go to this movie expecting to see what the movie promises to deliver(a bunch of bad ass fights and acrobatic action) then thats exactly what this movie provides for you.Tony Jaa is basically the modern day Bruce Lee or the same as what Jet Li and Jackie Chan did in their primes..
The one and only thing that makes this film bearable, are the great stunts and Tony Jaa's inexplicable martial arts skills.
The best of these sequences is when Kham takes on all comers as he ascends a winding four-story staircase, and the camera follows him in an impressive unbroken tracking shot that captures ALL of the action.Ever since being introduced to the West in "Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior" (2003) last year, Jaa has quickly become the talk of the martial arts community, since Jet Li is set to retire from the genre with "Fearless" later this year.
To be honest I was not that amazed with Ong Bak, although it seems everyone else loved it, I was thinking there are still better out there like Jet Li. After seeing a few scenes on adverts I had to watch this film.
This Tony Jaa martial arts film follows Kham; a Thai villager whose father's elephants have been stolen with the help of corrupt local officials.
Also, the amount of bones Jaa breaks in the end is thrilling to watch and though that scene goes on for long, it is never tiring.Just like Ong-bak, Tom-Yum-Goong rides heavily on Jaa's raw agility & precision combat skills and the renowned martial artist leaves no stone unturned this time, even managing to earn some points on acting scale.
Do take into account that is it a very milked recipe; one man against countless scores of bad guys.Yeah, there are some similarities between "Ong Bak" and "The Protector", which were a bit weak plot-wise and in originality.The story is about Kham, a peaceful guy tending to elephants, who has to go to Sydney in order to get his two beloved elephants as they have been stolen, but the road is full of obstacles and the opposition is bountiful.As for the action, well if you are familiar with Tony Jaa then you know what you will get, and he doesn't fail to deliver.
Hands down, BEST martial arts stuntman today is Tony Jaa. I have never commented on a film until today because I HAVE to tell people to watch this guy.
In other words, you basically go to watch a Tony Jaa's film ONLY for the action and fight scenes.
The plot of Tony Jaa's first big movie, Ong-Bak, was insanely simple: sacred statue stolen and taken to the big city, rural martial arts master goes to retrieve it, kicks butt along the way.
It was a well put together movie, fight scenes were The plot was pretty much identical to Ong Bak, with an elephant instead of a statue head, stolen by a gang and poor tony having to fight lots of people to get it back.