Tom-Yum-Goong

Tom-Yum-Goong is a Thai action film from 2005 directed by Prachya Pinkaew and starring Tony Jaa. It was made by Sahamongkol and the Australian company Baa-ram-ewe and premiered in Thailand on 11 August 2005. In Czech distribution it appeared under the title Ong-Bak 2, which is the same as that of a later film from 2008. The hero Kham grows up in a village where elephants are kept. When his elephant is stolen, he sets out to find it as far as Sydney. There he clashes with opponents of various martial arts styles, among them a capoeirista, a giant wrestler and a wushu expert. The fights were choreographed by Jaa and his mentor Panna Rittikrai. For the film they created a new style of muay thai called muay kodchasaan (in Thai มวยคชสาร, roughly "elephant boxing"), which emphasises grips and grappling. According to Jaa, the style was meant to show the art of the elephant combined with muay thai: the movements imitate how an elephant would defend itself, with the arms standing in for the trunk. The fights thus set muay thai with an emphasis on throws against capoeira, wrestling and wushu. The American version The Protector from 2006, released under the banner Quentin Tarantino Presents, is shortened by at least 25 minutes, has new music by RZA, and a plot altered by editing and captions. In 2013 the sequel Tom Yum Goong 2 followed.

Martial arts in this work

Fight choreography

The film contains a four-minute shot filmed in a single take with a Steadicam: the camera follows Jaa through several floors of a staircase, where he takes out one opponent after another. Even this shot is not entirely free of digital intervention, though: CGI is used unobtrusively when a glass window shatters. Jaa performed dangerous stunts himself. The long fall seen in the film was real: Jaa and a stuntman performed it landing on large mats. According to the crew, nobody ended up in hospital and the injuries were limited to bruises and pulled muscles. The film uses CGI outside this scene as well, for example for a helicopter and in an animated dream sequence.

People and martial arts

• Prachya PinkaewDirector
• Tony JaaFight choreographer· Muay Thai (real practitioner)
• Panna RittikraiFight choreographer· Muay Thai
• Tony JaaActor — as Kham· Muay Thai (real practitioner)
• Lateef CrowderActor — as capoeirista· Capoeira (portrays the art on screen)
• Nathan JonesActor — as T.K.· Wrestling (portrays the art on screen)
• Jon FooActor — as znalec wushu· Kung Fu (portrays the art on screen)