The Protector TV ad looks good, but is RZA added in movie?

[Guest W Hong]

I've been seeing the t.v. commercials for the upcoming U.S. theatrical release of Tony Jaa's "The Protector" on some cable channels, and it looks like a good martial arts movie. But is it true that some rap songs from RZA are going to be added onto the movie, like maybe in the credits? If that's true, then could it have been possible for The Weinstein Co. to instead release the uncut Thai version of "TP" but with only a few changes for the U.S. audiences(English subtitles under the Thai credits)?

Also, I've never seen any of Tony Jaa's movies so I don't know about him as much as you guys. But is he known for never using wires for his fight scenes or for any of his other scenes? And was he born in Thailand or Indonesia or somewhere else?

While at a comic book convention, I do remember a H.K. DVD dealer showing a clip from "Ong Bak". After watching that scene, it seems like Tony is just like Jackie Chan in a way.

[Guest Tosh]

Also, I've never seen any of Tony Jaa's movies so I don't know about him as much as you guys. But is he known for never using wires for his fight scenes or for any of his other scenes? And was he born in Thailand or Indonesia or somewhere else?

Oh, here we go:p , if you look back there's probably a dozen threads on Jaa in the modern section, to answer your questions, he's from Thailand, and he uses no wires, that's all him doing those crazyass flips.

If you haven't seen Ong Bak then what are you waiting for!!!! IMO, his best movie as Tom Yum Goong (AKA the Protector, the dumbest renaming since killzone) was an editing mess, but watch both and decide for yourself.

As far as the rap goes, it has no place in this movie, nothing against rap, but if I want to hear it I'll turn on the radio, I want the original soundtrack. I'm surprised they're even releasing it and not remaking it with Nicolas Cage.

[Guest Chen Zhen]

Rza's job is to score the movie, and i dont think he will put any hiphop-hiphop in it unless its the credits...but i guess we'll find out.

[Guest Liu chung liang]

It's going to be dubbed in English and they're going to add new score music. Why am I not surprise Quentin Tarantino is envolved in this uhhhh man. Another thing they are doing for the movie is a contest, ON YOUTUBE!!! and right now the trailer is on the front page. |I

[Guest Yakuza954]

I don't care if they're editing it, this movie isn't that good to begin with. I saw an interview with the RZA and he said he liked the techno music used during the extreme sports scene, so I still expect the movie to have a soundtrack similar to the original. I think he did the soundtrack to the American release of Ong Bak, and it was pretty much the same as the original other than a rap song in the credits. BTW, the movie was going to get dubbed no matter what, but Weinsteins would be responsible for editing the movie not QT.

[Guest Chen Zhen]

rza didnt score ong bak...he helped promote it i think, but i think thats as far as his involvement went.

[Guest Liu chung liang]

Weinsteins would be responsible for editing the movie not QT.

involved as in representing it. I know he's not going to do any sort of editing on TYG. Look at the Iron Monkey release for the US... QT's name is on top of the DVD. The movie is re-scored and dubbed, but QT had nothing to do with it I'm sure. His name is just on the cover lol, and he has a interview on the disc.

[Guest Yakuza954]

Word out of the grapevine is that The Protector aka Tom Yum Goong will be completely uncut.

[Guest Yi Long]

'Uncut' in the smallest sense of of the worde, perhaps.

It will have a new score, and in my book, that's cut (thus no buy).

I dont care how bad the Thai version is/was. I've seen it on release day in HK, and yeah story-wise (and acting-wise) it's a bad movie. But I still want it in it's original form.

[Guest Yakuza954]

well the movie is available elsewhere on DVD in its original form. So it's not like you can't see it that way.

[Guest W Hong]

Last Sunday's L.A. Times newspaper said that today's U.S. release of "The Protector"("Tom Yum Goong") is going to be in Thai, English, Mandarin, and Vietnamese language w/ English subtitles.

The website address for the movie is "www.theprotectormovie.com", and when I saw the TV commercial for "TP" a few times, it was only on some cable TV channels. I don't think that I've seen the ad on any of the networks, but did any of you happen to see it on those particular channels? If not, then do you know why it's only shown on cable?

[Guest udar55]

Word out of the grapevine is that The Protector aka Tom Yum Goong will be completely uncut.

Nope, it doesn't appear to be. The original running time is 109 minutes and a review in the paper today states this version runs 82 minutes. It seems the Weinsteins have set a new record for themselves in terms of cutting stuff (the previous record holder I believe was DUST DEVIL that had 22 minutes cut out).

[Guest udar55]

THOSE BASTARDS!

I had the afternoon off so I checked out THE PROTECTOR at a 2:00 matinee. Not only is it cut to shreds so that it hardly makes sense, they cut stuff out of the fights!!! Now before I go on, I should say a majority of it remains but they cut stuff in the strangest little place. For example, they cut out Tony Jaa throwing the guy he gets the picture from out the window. Later, in the warehouse fight they cut the bit where he does the splits under that bar. It shows him slink through that narrow opening in the fence and then cuts to him doing his three point climb up the other fences. What the hell? In the final "Tony Jaa vs. 50 guys" fight, they cut various bit out of that too including my favorite bit where he takes the guy down by wrapping his leg around his throat. And they show the baby elephant being thrown but DON'T show it smashing through the glass. WTF!?!

But the worst is the print. For some reason they decided make it look stylish and gave the film a muted, bleached out color scheme a la Mel Gibson's PAYBACK. It makes the movie look absolutely terrible. Now I've seen several copies of the film on DVD and I can attest to the fact that it doesn't look like this. Hell, the TV ads and trailers didn't look like this. I have no idea whose creative decision that was but they should be shot. The review in my morning paper said, "Techinically the film looks like it was shot by amateurs." I wondered what they meant because I always thought it looked nice. But this print looks terrible.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that they actually make it look like Jaa's father is killed. Then he runs around the rest of the movie with subtitles saying, "You killed my father!"

[Guest teako170]

What is the running time for the original Thai film? IMDb lists the run times as US: 109 min & Germany: 90 min. I want to buy the original Thai version but need to verify this first. Thanks.

[edit] Now, I just read the int'l version is 110 and the US is only 85?? Anyone clarify this mess?

[Guest VenomsFan]

For some reason they decided make it look stylish and gave the film a muted, bleached out color scheme a la Mel Gibson's PAYBACK.

Maybe you saw a bootleg print! LMAO. No wait, then it would have been uncut. Honestly there is no reason, other than increasing the popularity by buying tickets, to watch these films in this way. Been out over a year no on DVD from orignal prints, score, scenes, etc. So don't look for the Weinsteins to show us anything similar. Just support the releases in the US.

[Guest udar55]

Honestly there is no reason, other than increasing the popularity by buying tickets, to watch these films in this way.

Yeah, the only reason I went is to support Jaa's box office prospects in the US.

[Guest udar55]

I've been able to compare it to my DVD and here are some other bits cut out (most of which were expected).

-the young Tony Jaa learning how to take down a tree from his elephant is gone.

-the elephant funeral is gone

-the bit where Jaa and his father go to the market and see the sign advertising for the elephant judging is missing.

-the dancing/prayer bit after the elephants are stolen is gone. This is where Jaa has a shot with his injured father.

-the people singing really badly in the scene of the first fight are no longer there.

-after the boat chase things got really screwy. They cut right to Jaa landing in Australia with a title saying "Australia. Two weeks later." The first news report from Australia is missing so we no longer see the people protesting the elephant situation.

-Tony Jaa getting his passport checked is missing, but the "Jackie Chan" cameo stays. He then gets in the taxi and the chase begins.

-Officer Mark is introduced when the cops chase the stolen taxi. His entire intro involving him going around Thai town and acting goofy is gone. So is the store robbery he stops (which will confuse people because the robber is the guy who kills the police commissioner later and Mark knows his name when he sees him). This whole section is the biggest missing bit and it might actually work better.

-the sequences are rearragned here so that after Jaa escapes the cops, they introduce Madame Rose. In the original Thai version she is introduced before Jaa lands in Australia. Here, she is introduced in between Jaa escaping from the cops and the warehouse fight. In the original version, Jaa escapes the cops and is immediately shown confronting Johnny on the bridge.

-the talk they have with the monk is missing.

-the US version offers no resolution for Johnny's character. The last time we see him is when Rose tells him to leave her bathroom. Gone is the ending where he shows up and kills the crooked cop while Mark holds him.

-the shots of Madam Rose imagining herself in the red ornate robe as if she were a queen when the skeleton is unvieled are gone.

There are probably tons of other bits gone but that is just want I can see by memory of the US version and watching the DVD.

[Guest Yakuza954]

wow, looks like they actually found a way to make this film worse. Why cut out any of the fighting? Scared of a higher rating?

the US version offers no resolution for Johnny's character. The last time we see him is when Rose tells him to leave her bathroom. Gone is the ending where he shows up and kills the crooked cop while Mark holds him.

Johnny dosen't have a resolution in the original either. Yeah, he kills the crooked cop, but he says something about coming back and it seems like he'll also have a final fight with Tony Jaa, but it never happens.

[Guest The Running Man]

It seems the Weinsteins have set a new record for themselves in terms of cutting stuff (the previous record holder I believe was DUST DEVIL that had 22 minutes cut out).

Accidental Spy beats that. Harvey had 24 minutes cut out of that movie. And the king at this point is Legend of Zu. That had at least 25 minutes cut out (and that's not even mentioning it being totally reworked).

wow, looks like they actually found a way to make this film worse.

Yeah, tell me about it. I've been hearing reports from people saying that it's somehow worse. I really don't know if that's possible, but hey...

Interesting story on this one fellas. Apparently, the film already had an international version prepared which was 15 minutes shorter. Harvey then took that very version and cut out an additional 10 minutes.

Amazing...I guess no one beats Harvey to the punch on cutting up Asian films.

And the fact that the fights themselves get cut up too is hilarious. I guess the editors were telling Harvey that he can't possibly cut out more footage from the movie so then he just had them cut the fight scenes just so something can get cut up.

Friggin' awesome.... :lol

BTW udar55,

Good job and thanks for offering what you can just from memory.

[Guest udar55]

Thanks man. I try. And it does indeed look like LEGEND OF ZU is the cutting champ. What a dubious distinction.

Miramax/Dimension are notorious for cutting fight scenes. They did it with the Jackie Chan flicks such as OPERATION CONDOR. It is almost like they are egotistically saying, "Eh, it's good but we can do it better." Personally, I think Jackie knows his stuff.

[Guest The Running Man]

A friend of mine fowarded me a list of some more alterations:

- After Kham's father gets shot, they cut the scene showing that he survives, and then purposely mistranslate the Thai spoken lines to say that he was killed.

- Pretty much all the comedic scenes with Petchtai Wongkamlao are cut. That whole scene where he is being interviewed by the news lady is gone. His partial English, partial Thai dialogue with his partner is nonexistent. Now almost everything he says is in English. The only exception is when he is speaking Thai to Kham in the police car.

- Madame Rose is no longer a transexual. They take that out completely. Her mob family doesn't want her to be the leader simply because she is a woman, not because she is a shemale.

- Sometimes they combined two scenes together. For example, you'd see parts of Kham at the religious ceremony after his elephants are stolen mixed with the band playing at his first fight scene. In this way, they shorten that whole segment.

- The movie begins with text telling the background of this Jaturangkabat (sp?) tradition.

- The ending doesn't have the monologue about elephants being respected in Thai culture. Instead they have replaced it with some English monologue that gives praises to the overall culture without even mentioning the elephants

[Guest Liu chung liang]

>: i'm piss.

are the Weinstein trying to ruin Tony Jaa's career? the movie is not even long..... more cuts just kills the flick.

Jaa should be furious.

[Guest The Running Man]

A follow up to my last post here:

I forgot to mention a theory that my friend gave. I mentioned to him about what was mentioned here about the color scheme being messed with and the film looking bad. He told me that it is true and he believes that they were trying to do what Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are doing with their upcoming film Grindhouse by making Tom Yum Goong look like some old 70s kung fu film.

I suppose that's one of the reasons why Tarantino is "presenting" the movie. :rolleyes

[Guest Chinatown Kid]

If that's true they have no business tampering with and altering someone else's film that they had nothing to do with, if they want to do that to their on films thats fine. I think Tarantino needs to stick to films like Pulp Fiction and the like which he excels in and stay the hell out of the martial arts genre because it's not his specialty. I admit liking Kill Bill, but not for the martial arts but because it was more of a campy spoof/homage.

[Guest theportlykicker]

Man, I can't believe how much they've actually altered from what I've read here!>: They've really gone to town on it!