OVER_RATED (DETAILS INSIDE)

[...]Muy Tae[...]

I stopped reading here.

Your third degree lets you down, Tae kwan doe sucks and Jet li's moves are only for show.

tony better than jacki that's one of the foolish and silly comment i heard in my life...jackie, bruce lee and jet li they are legends...how can u compare with this new guy..thats awful..please try to see what jackie did in his earlier movies and then comment...

Dude, make sure your spellings are correct before making your point. And for the record;it's muay thai not muy tae. I had to bite my lips and keep reading when I got to that point.

One of the funniest things on these message boards are those who act as grammar critics, but fail to show they can exercise it themselves.

Nice work quant.

Not being overly critical, as I actually agree with you to a point, BUT, unlike Chinese, Japanese, even Vietnamese and Indonesian, there is NO standardized spelling/transliteration of the Thai language into other foreign tongues.. Depending on the language pronouncing the word มวย, has been spelled Mwy. Muai. Muay, Mhuai, ...also FWIW, the dialects of Lao, Issan, Korat, Lanna (Chiang Ma). and standard mid plains (Bangkok) dialect all sound slightly different, ...Thai is the generally accepted spelling if it's referring to Muai Thai 'Standard'...as in the country of the national boxing sport...but if referring to the ethnicity it's usually transliterated as T'ai...

I also found many of the moves repetitive and its only the first movie I've seen him in. I also dont like how every move was so spaced apart, he would do one cool move - break - other cool move - break. I just didnt think the action flowed smoothly.

My favourite scene was also when Jaa was running away from that gang of people but even that got repetitve, ok he jumped legs up over bubbles, ok now over tables, over a bike, over rakes, over cars.. ok i get it, he can jump high, thats awesome but common. I also enjoyed the runaway scene from Shanghai Knights better.

Jaa definately has potential, I think if he creates a better personality and has someone help with action choreography he will go on to make amazing movies in the near future. As an introduction to Tony Jaa this movie works, but its definately not the best Martial Arts movie like Ive heard some people say.

I also found many of the moves repetitive and its only the first movie I've seen him in. I also dont like how every move was so spaced apart, he would do one cool move - break - other cool move - break. I just didnt think the action flowed smoothly.

My favourite scene was also when Jaa was running away from that gang of people but even that got repetitve, ok he jumped legs up over bubbles, ok now over tables, over a bike, over rakes, over cars.. ok i get it, he can jump high, thats awesome but common. I also enjoyed the runaway scene from Shanghai Knights better.

Jaa definately has potential, I think if he creates a better personality and has someone help with action choreography he will go on to make amazing movies in the near future. As an introduction to Tony Jaa this movie works, but its definately not the best Martial Arts movie like Ive heard some people say.

Cheers to you man. Though I've never had training, I've been watching my older brother kickbox for years now. He claims that he uses a mix of judo and a watered down muay thai technique (alot of the bone-crushing moves arent allowed... go figure).

Thats why I loved this movie! Sure, the story sucked, and Ting wasn't the greatest actor, but this movie was about respecting an ancient style of fighting designed to get the job done in seconds. Not as ridiculous as Jackie's attempt at comedy.

BTW, my younger brother who is a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, where people level up with no real testing (they really use anywhere from yellow to red belts as judges), and the instructors "instruct" the judges to just go ahead and pass these people anyways. Don't want to hurt feelings. HA!

Some very interesting opinions indeed! I for one, cannot understand how anyone could not love this movie. Funnily enouh I first caught it in Thailand about this time last year when I was there training and I found myself having to pick my mouth up off the floor every few minutes.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course. I just can't understand how you could not think Ong Bak is the best thing since sliced bread. Someone mentioned Bruce, as of course is almost obligatory when discussing a new martial arts movie and we all know how skilled Bruce was but a good actor? I don't think I've ever seen a good Martial Arts actor with the possible exception of Brandon Lee in The Crow. Of course the big difference here is that Brandon was an actor who just so happens to be able to do Martial Arts.

Just for the record, as Thai uses a completely different alphabet to us any words are going to be spelt phonetically. So, although Muay Thai is the accepted spelling there is nothing wrong with spelling it slightly differently. For example a lot of Wing Chun schools spell it Ving Tsun.

All those who didn't think Tony Jaa's repertoire of moves was that impressive please bear in mind that the guy only studied Muay Boran for a couple of years for this film. He was mainly a stuntman and I for one think his performance has completely blown anything made recently out of the water :)

tae kwon do is an olymic sport, it IS important. Jesus *beep* you have no idea what tae kwon do is. It's a very simple striking art, and some of the BEST fighters use tae kwon do. It's speed and accuracy, and *beep* Muay thai men would have a very, VERY hard time hitting them.

Sure the moves are repetitive, but that is the nature of the Muay Thai fighting style. I commend the directors/writers for using muay thai because it is not as flashy as the personalized styles of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Sure Tony Jaa did not have much training prior to filming, but remember that Bruce Lee also had very little formal training in martial arts. There was probably about ten minutes devoted to actual plot developement which I let go because I was not expecting much. I did think, however, that the fight scenes were great. Instead of having to fend off twenty people at a time like many "martial arts" movies, we saw some very intimate fights. Overall I'd give the movie an A- because I did think it was pretty entertaining once I stopped caring about the plot.

Okay first of all.. when you speak of traditional martial arts versus flexible/modern fighting systems like the combination of muay thai and jiujitsu (which most people nowadays use) you have to understand that if you only use the traditional moves you are taught or only fight the way you would fight when you are going for points.. obviously the MMA fighter will win.. but what makes you think that someone who studies taekwondo hasnt learned the instinct and ability to knee you in the head if you get too close or break your knee with those so called flashy high kicks only used lower? It's one thing to say you like one martial art over another but its quite another to make fun of an art simply because you think you are too good for it or something. The flashy high kicks you see in taekwondo are for competition. Its for show yes.. its an olympic sport for god's sake. Same goes for Judo.. you won't use pure Judo in a real fight but you will adapt it for the situation.. It all depends on what kind of training you get and how you use it in a fight. Just because someone studies Muay Thai or JiuJitsu doesn't make them a better fighter because of it. I personally have trained in Taekwondo, Muay Thai and JiuJitsu and I respect them all. Its ignorant of people to go around saying stuff about Taekwondo when you dont know anything about it. It is one of the oldest arts around and depending on the teacher it is a very good martial art to start your MMA training with.

I agree with you on some of your points but not all. To say that belts mean nothing is a little naive to be honest. I can't speak for belts in every style of fighting because I simply don't know but the styles that I know personally, the training and the testing to get higher ranking was extremely difficult. Now someone mentioned that in tae kwon do the testing was done by red belts and yelloow belts, that seems flimsy to me and if thats true then thats pretty gay, but not all testing is that easy. Getting ranking in Aikido training is CRAZY! each level you move up they throw in an extra attacker and 5-7 extra moves (to get a 4th dan in Aikido you have to be able to handle 7 other black belts Aikido and know every single move, the sensei calls out a move from the side, and you have to use whatever move he/she tells you to use and you have to be able to execute it within 5 seconds). I hope you realize thats a little bit harder than breaking a single piece of wood with a spin kick. I do totally agree with you though when you say you'd take a Muay Thai master over a karate master of course! Karate and Tae Kwon Do are very bad in terms of self defense. even a black belt in karate will tell you that if they got into a real bar fight, everything they learned gets thrown out the window! now thats saying alot! Grappling and submission training is definitely important, but to say someone who is a master at stand up will lose to someone who can grapple?? sorry but that doesn't make sense. I'd like to see someone who is an expert grappler try andm ake Steven Seagal submit. they wouldnt be able to get him down let alone make him submit. though keep in mind im NOT saying grappling/submission training is not important, im just saying it ISNT THE MOST important. Kali definitely kicks ass!!! I love doing that its crazy on so many levels!! And those Escrima sticks could kill somebody if used properly.

Just to finish off, you can't say that belts are not awarded to Muay Thai trainees. Belts may not be traditionally awarded, but you progress in the eyes of your sensei. Saying that, it is up to the Sensei to decide whether or not award you with rankings or not. If the sensei decides, "this person is good he can move up," he is going to advance your ranking, whether it be through a belt, a sash, or some sort of plaque. When I did Muay Thai, my Sensei used a level system, and each level had its own test obviously. Once I reached level 8, i was considered a black belt in Muay Thai, whether or not i received an actual black belt.

An Attacker With a Weapon, is an Attacker Without Hope.

This film is one of the best martial arts/action film. The moves are realistic unlike those fly by wire chinese martial arts film.