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July 24, 2006
THE NAME GAME
In 2005, Tony Jaa (whose real name is Panom Yeerum) made a movie called TOM YUM GOONG. It's now playing all over the world, but everywhere it goes it seems to get a different name. In the US it's going to be called (Tony Jaa is) THE PROTECTOR. In Europe I've seen it under the name HONOR OF THE DRAGON. And now, in the UK, it's being called WARRIOR KING.
Sort of like the way Wilson Yip's SHA PO LANG was called SPL or SHA PO LANG pretty much everywhere until it arrived in America and at immigration had to change its name to KILL ZONE.
And speaking of Wilson Yip, his DRAGON TIGER GATE is set to open this weekend in Hong Kong, and reviews are already starting to show up online. SHA PO LANG did exceedingly well for a Category III movie and with its big budget, more family friendly rating, and two major stars in the lead (Nic Tse and Shawn Yue) it looks like it might make a big sack of cash at the box office. Hell, it's already in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the world's largest punching bag. The sky's the limit now!
July 24, 2006 at 12:28 PM in News | Permalink
Comments
I've said it before and I'll say it again. They're just randomly stringing words together for these name changes. KILL ZONE? You can't convince me that title has anything to do with the actual content of the movie. KILL ZONE sounds like a nickname for Harvey Weinstein's personal editing suite. Weinstein Company, by that logic, ought to change their name to Picture Shakers - I mean come on, the name Weinstein is just way too Jewish, it'll never play outside of the big cities...
Posted by: Rhythm-X | Jul 24, 2006 2:38:11 PM
Typical Harvey behavior on an Asian film which means not at all surprising. "Kill Zone" is insipidly moronic.
Same thing with "The Protector". It has nothing to do with the movie. He isn't protecting anybody! In fact, his elephant in the movie was stolen from him and in the entire thing he is trying to find it and get it back. I don't believe that counts as any sort of protection. And as far as human beings go, he is killing almost every person he sees in that movie left and right.
Seems to me Harvey is real hell bent on making a "The Asian-er Box Set" in the future along with "The Defender" and "The Enforcer".
No doubt that puppet Bey Logan is totally supporting this and will claim, "It sells better! Really it does! I know that cause my monthly check arrives next week!" Damn sell out...
Posted by: the running man | Jul 24, 2006 3:59:56 PM
I totally agree
Posted by: HyperKnight | Jul 24, 2006 4:56:20 PM
It's an 'all-star smackdown' people! Already have my copy on pre-order. I think they should have called it 'All-star Smackdown'. It's as good a title as 'Kill Zone'.
What is not to love about the world's largest punching sandbag? Forget it's irrelevance. It's the world's largest punching sandbag and that's got to count for something. Like TWC renaming DTG, 'The Big Sandbag' when they release the DVD. Or 'Three Guys and the World's Largest Punching Sandbag'. Or just 'Dirty Ho 3' cause it's a hilarious title that should never die.
Posted by: screaming mimi | Jul 24, 2006 11:00:38 PM
It's an 'all-star smackdown' people! Already have my copy on pre-order. I think they should have called it 'All-star Smackdown'. It's as good a title as 'Kill Zone'.What is not to love about the world's largest punching sandbag? Forget it's irrelevance. It's the world's largest punching sandbag and that's got to count for something. Like TWC renaming DTG, 'The Big Sandbag' when they release the DVD. Or 'Three Guys and the World's Largest Punching Sandbag'. Or just 'Dirty Ho 3' cause it's a hilarious title that should never die.
Posted by: screaming mimi | Jul 24, 2006 11:01:42 PM
"and two major stars in the lead (Nic Tse and Shawn Yue)"
Thank you for that, I really felt good after reading this sentence.
Posted by: eliza bennet | Jul 24, 2006 11:09:38 PM
Totally not forgetting that Shawn Yue and Nic Tse would suck without Donnie Yen's choreography and pushing them to do better. Anything good we get out of those two action-wise is completely to Donnie's credit.
Posted by: screaming mimi | Jul 24, 2006 11:35:34 PM
Because Shawn Yue is the leads in several summer blockbusters in the past several years and Nicolas Tse is the most searched pop stars and idol for millions of teenagers in China. This is a juvenile movie and the two young leads will attract tens of thousands of teenage audiences.
Posted by: pizza | Jul 25, 2006 4:33:18 AM
I don't think that neither Nick nor Shawn suck without Donnie - they haven't before.
I actually think that Donnie tries too hard and doesn't recognize the limits of his potential (meaning he thinks more of himself than he actually is) Anyone who saw SPL can see that - he is not even acting, he is just posing (and one can bear with that if he was at least handsome but no, he is not fortunate in that department either) and even though he is a good on screen martial artist I still think that his best moment in cinema was in OUATICII.
Posted by: eliza bennet | Jul 25, 2006 7:13:15 AM
I kind of agree with Eliza about Donnie - he's better off in a supporting role than as a lead because he's just not very likeable.
I thought Iron Monkey was a good role for him - it played to his strengths, being stiff and kicking butt. He was even kind of endearing in it. The romantic lead material in Seven Swords was a huge misfire.
Posted by: David Austin | Jul 25, 2006 7:46:57 AM
Actually, RUNNING MAN, though I'm not saying I like the title, I do believe "THE PROCTECTOR" is appropriate. As I recall, Tony Jaa does not lose HIS elephant, but rather, HIS VILLAGE's elephant (an elephant of considerable historical/spiritual significance to them), for which Tony served as the official, designated protector.
Posted by: Paul | Jul 25, 2006 7:48:15 AM
No...it's pretty well established it's HIS elephant. He was with it ever since he was a child and it was like his best friend...and maybe more. Like a giant ass gray pet with benefits.
Anyway, that's why he is so motivated to get it. And when the end comes and we find out the fate of the thing (not that anyone watching it gives a crap), the film cuts to (hilariously bad) flashbacks of all the loving memories he shared with his precious elephant with him playig, hugging, and kissing it. Giant ass gray pet with benefits indeed.
Movie's a damn awful...anyway...with the name game on this movie, I find the UK title to be the best of the three (the other being the original Tom Yum Goong). Warrior King. Has a lot of power and ring to it. Waaay to good for this "movie".
Posted by: the running man | Jul 25, 2006 8:02:34 AM
Beyond the generic titles, the name game denotes the WC's on-going disrespect for the films they are stockpiling ... a general "these flix are just crap anyway so who cares what we call them or what we do to them" attitude.
Ok, Tom Yum Goong is hilariously awful, but SPL is quite good, and I shudder to think what would have happened had the Bros Weinstein had been around to get a bug about "saving" the golden age of chambara. Then the Baby Cart series may have become The Revenger, Son of Black Mass may have been redubbed (literally and figuratively) The Assasinator, and Zatoichi would've been Blind Justice (wait a minute...didn't someone actually do that?).
And just imagine how they could've "improved" Kurosawa! Kagemusha would've been Death Twin and Ran would be better as King Kill, right?
Posted by: Ric Meyers | Jul 25, 2006 9:47:53 AM
The 'Donnie's just posing' stuff has been said ad nauseum from people who just like to beat the guy up. It's an easy thing to say, but has no merit in SPL. His choreography in SPL aka Kill Zone, rocked the house as well. And what's new about ego in show business? I think if you're going to take on the role of choreographer for Sammo Hung you'd better have a healthy dose of self confidance.
Yue and Tse can do nothing but benefit from his choreography. I was completely unimpressed with Tse in New Police Story.
His (Yen's) best acting, I think, came in 'Fist of Fury: Sworn Revenge'. Granted the rest of that series did not impress me because I think he took Chen Jun in the wrong direction of playing him out as a Bruce Lee mimic.
Of course, if you go no deeper than Iron Monkey you wouldn't see that. And if you just dislike the man for imperceptable reasons based on a perception of personality, you won't like much that he's done anyway.
If you don't like SPL at least for the fights I don't think you're being honest with yourself.
Posted by: Screaming mimi | Jul 25, 2006 11:08:46 PM
For my part, I've seen Donnie in many more movies than Iron Monkey, from Drunken Tai-Chi to OUATICII, and it's not that I dislike him or have some kind of thing against him, I just don't think he has a lot of acting talent or charisma, which to me is very perceptible. I'm happy to see him in supporting roles like in Iron Monkey or Dragon Gate Inn, but don't think he makes a good leading man. It's not a personal attack - I simply think he has limitations which filmmakers would do well to recognize when casting him.
I did enjoy Sha Po Lang for the fights (the ending was terrific), and thought it was a solid movie for the most part (certainly much better than the vapid style-fest that was Dragon Squad), but Yen is not doing himself any favors by surrounding himself with actors who can really carry a film, like Simon Yam and Sammo.
Posted by: David Austin | Jul 26, 2006 7:45:40 AM
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