| I may well have given this 5 stars, but I think at least some points are lost simply through Tony Jaa's first use of CGI. I think they have done a great job with it overall, and given the semi-mythological, almost supernatural, setting, I think it was inevitable. The same goes for wirework.
I have noticed on a couple of sites where this film was mentioned that a lot of the people reviewing it who DIDN'T like it seemed to not like it for what I would call rather small-minded reasons. Personally, I thought the story was fine--I think I saw it called "simplistic" or "childish" or some such. From what I could gather (keep in mind I have a version with no subtitles!), the story was a rather poetic adult fairy-tale affair, great for losing yourself in--something along the same lines as "The Company of Wolves". Most other folk seemed to have nothing else on their minds but the fights--and if you can find anything to complain about in those, even (or perhaps especially!) WITH the CGI and wires, then you ain't watching the same Tony Jaa film as me!
One of the best martial arts films I've seen in ages, made all the better by the storytelling element lifting it out of the "brainless thump and crash" fodder that too many people are happy to settle for. |
