Guest WuxiaFan Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Same here. Almost makes me want to check it out more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member udar55 Posted November 18, 2009 Member Share Posted November 18, 2009 I still don't get it when people use the word realistic. What's realistic about most of what you like? Name a flick, post a youtube link. I bet the house it's not realistic. Was FoL realistic? ... It's the same with Jaa and OB2. The smash 'em fans only want action just like OB. OB2 was very creative and martial. Styles, counters, weapons, long takes. The smash 'em fans don't like that. Kick 'em, knee 'em, mash 'em is what they want. They call it realistic. Outside that box and it's a no-no. It is funny that you brought up the very example I was going to use of realistic fights - ONG BAK 2. My gripe with RAGING PHOENIX is the wirework at the end and how fake it looks. Sorry, but doing a backflip up onto a suspended bridge where you look like you are floating? Terrible. The same with some flips and moves that Jeeja does in her final fight. The pleasure with Tony Jaa is that he doesn't use wires and can do that shit in real life. That is, well, realistic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member MLee Posted November 21, 2009 Member Share Posted November 21, 2009 It was decent in parts action wise. The fights with the other breakdancers had some nice moves but it's just so noticable their opponents react slower and wait after every attack. Jeeja's first fight doing drunken moves mixed with dancing was decent but she lacks power so it's not very belivable she can knock out these guys. I did enjoy the endfight with Jeeja when she fought the 2 guys and than the lady villain despite the heavy use of wires. Lots of slow motion, close ups and replays to show actual contact being made. There were some small exchanges with elbows and knees, they should have done more of that as it looked good while it lasted. Most of the fight was trading blows back and forth. There's a silly moment when Jeeja keeps falling for the same kick at least 6 times! I thought the fight scene before this on the bridge was terribly done. I would go for Chocolate overall apart from the endfight on top of the building. I prefer Raging Phoenix for the endfight with the 2 guys and the lady villain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member lillippa328 Posted November 22, 2009 Member Share Posted November 22, 2009 Saw Raging Phoenix and i enjoyed it!! Its something different and that is deff. good! Its diff with some good action scenes! The style that they use is entertaining....not perfect movie, but shit i rewound it a few times to rewatch certain moves! The story actually developed into somthing pretty good... 8/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted November 30, 2009 Member Share Posted November 30, 2009 I got to see the film over the weekend and despite the wirework on the bridge fight and some other parts, I actually kind of enjoyed it. "Kazu" Patrick Tang pulled off some nice moves and seeing him in the short film HK impressed me enough. Jeeja Yanin's performance was not bad, but at times IMO it wasn't as good as her performance in Chocolate in terms of acting range. I did like the first two of Kazu's cohorts. They tended to bring a welcome comic relief in the film, especially the guy with the mohawk. After he pulls off some nice moves, he slides back on a cart and when Jeeja sees him, he looks at her cross-eyed with tongue out. I thought that was quite funny. Action wise, yes I know the wire enhancements tended to get a lot of fans riled up, but it's not like they did an overdose of it like in Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li (oh god, just the thought of even saying that film made me taste vomit LOL). So I somewhat was able to suspend the belief and enjoy the film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member VenomsFan Posted February 12, 2010 Member Share Posted February 12, 2010 they say she's Action Cinema's first lady. no dispute here. as for the wire work, what's more amazing is HOW it's done with the drawbridges overlapping each other. that's very hard to pull off. and as someone stated, there is a sense of belief in that scene, we won't be seeing that duplicated again. music scoring, cinematography all on point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted February 13, 2010 Member Share Posted February 13, 2010 they say she's Action Cinema's first lady. no dispute here. . I was going to bring that up as well. I would say currently she is, however, should Michelle Yeoh make a successful action comeback that could come into dispute... Plus let's not forget the girl from coweb and is it bad blood? I've not seen any of her films YET but she does look very good in the trailers. It's good to see a few female talents around at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Monk Posted March 15, 2010 Member Share Posted March 15, 2010 I finally saw this over the weekend and I’m surprised it’s received so many negative reviews. Yes, it’s a little haphazard. Sure, the plot if wafer thin. Indeed, the characters are ill-formed. However, the film is certainly enjoyable. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it is VERY enjoyable. I’m not entirely sure as to why everyone critiqued the wirework so much. It’s evident and obvious but it doesn’t hinder the film in any way and I’m a man who typically dislikes wire work. The choreography is quality but does get overly gimmicky in places. It doesn’t get tired though. My largest qualm is that Jeeja Yanin still doesn’t look powerful. Watching Tony Jaa elbow someone and watching her elbow someone is like seeing two different worlds. When Jaa elbows I’ve been known to yell, “That guy must be dead from that!” and yet Yanin’s hits just don’t have the same impact. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AbeRudder Posted March 15, 2010 Member Share Posted March 15, 2010 My largest qualm is that Jeeja Yanin still doesn’t look powerful. Watching Tony Jaa elbow someone and watching her elbow someone is like seeing two different worlds. When Jaa elbows I’ve been known to yell, “That guy must be dead from that!” and yet Yanin’s hits just don’t have the same impact. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and recommend it. That was my biggest issue with Chocolate, her kicks didn't look that powerful and the choreography was pretty bland for the most part. With Raging Phoenix the choreography was a bit more inventive and interesting so it made up for the lack of power i thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member mirrorman Posted April 1, 2010 Member Share Posted April 1, 2010 Ordered this movie the other day and was hoping it would arrive today but no luck, I suppose I'll have to wait until next week to see it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member VenomsFan Posted April 2, 2010 Member Share Posted April 2, 2010 When Jaa elbows I’ve been known to yell, “That guy must be dead from that!” and yet Yanin’s hits just don’t have the same impact. True, but she definitely has sequences where you say OUCH! the cool thing here is that the choreography gets impressive with each film. As with Jaa, you can only imagine what will come up next, as they have a nice formula for the ma scenes in the film to get better and better with each film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WuxiaFan Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 I watched RAGING PHOENIX recently and it was OK. The storyline was just wierd and I thought it was a depressing movie overall. The positive aspect of the movie was the very inventive and innovative fight choreography. It was like drunken kung fu meets hip-hop, and I found it entertaining to watch. I also found Jeeja Yanin's performance to be very good also. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ SPOILER ALERT What I didn't get about the storyline was how Jeeja was brought into the hip-hop-martial-arts gang, then she's out because she dissed them, then she's in because she beats the toughest guy and drinks the apparently awful tasting wine (again why does it have to taste bad?), then she's out at the end after the leader dies..WTF? In the finale, I also didn't like how Jeeja kept constantly and relentlessly getting her ass kicked by the female villian almost to the point of death, then somehow musters up the strength to the point of looking completely fresh and beats her. That gets really annoying and I was left thinking "yeah, right...". Needless to say, I thought CHOCOLATE was a far superior film to RAGING PHOENIX. I thought Jeeja fight skills were much better showcased in CHOCOLATE, and I thought she just did a much better job overall. But that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted April 8, 2010 Moderator Share Posted April 8, 2010 Needless to say, I thought CHOCOLATE was a far superior film to RAGING PHOENIX. I thought Jeeja fight skills were much better showcased in CHOCOLATE, and I thought she just did a much better job overall. But that's just me. WuxiaFan....actually I agree with you, as much as I wanted to love 'Raging Phoenix', I feel that 'Chocolate' was the superior movie....in terms of choreography and story. I was enjoying 'Raging Phoenix' up until the last third of the movie, it had a gritty feel (well, for a Thai action movie) and as ridiculous (but entertaining!) as the fighting was, it still seemed to be based in reality. However as soon as the movie shifted to the mysterious underground lair, with it's many caves, bottomless pits a la 'Lord of the Rings', and what looked like the Fortress of Solitude from the 'Superman' movies...I thought the whole thing lost the plot. The rope bridge scene shouldn't even be there....it had no spectacular moments, and turned out to not even be the finale...even though it had all the signs of being one, so I felt like it was just made to fill out the running time. Still...I remain a fan of Jeeja Yanin, and look forward to seeing what she'll do next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member daisho2004 Posted April 18, 2010 Member Share Posted April 18, 2010 WuxiaFan: I have to agree with you also, I just watched this movie last night and I wasn't going into it expecting a whole lot from all the negative reviews it had gotten. Yes it was entertaining, but to me this is more of a Teenage Martial Arts movie with all the Be-Bopping & Fighting it had mixed together. When this hits the US Theaters the Teenagers are going to love it that is for sure. But after Chocolate I was expecting so much more. True Jeeja is young so maybe this movie was geared towards a much younger crowd. I just thought the end fight scenes was going on for to long. But I will be looking forward to her next movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AlbertV Posted April 19, 2010 Member Share Posted April 19, 2010 The movie surely had its share of wirework, but I was impressed with what I like to call "breakin' kung fu" plus Kazu Patrick Tang is amazing...this is the first exciting thing I saw him in since the short film HK where he was the villain. On a 1-5 star scale overall, I'd give it a 2 and a half stars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted May 26, 2010 Member Share Posted May 26, 2010 very slight spoiler warning below... I was extremely disappointed with Raging Phoenix. Way too much wirework, fights lacked power and what the hell were they thinking with the ridiculous and out of the blue collecting pheromones storyline coming out of nowhere? I really, really didn't like Raging Phoenix at all. My vote for the most disappointing martial-arts film of 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted May 27, 2010 Member Share Posted May 27, 2010 I tried to finish this movie but the fight scenes were not fights but dance moves.. I wasn't feeling the groove one bit... Chocolate was the better film imo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member J-Calli Posted May 27, 2010 Member Share Posted May 27, 2010 I was extremely dissapointed with this when i watched it a while back. I think Chocolate may have set the bar to high for me, but this was just pure garbage in my humble opinion and i have no intention what so ever to watch it again. The most dissapointing film last year period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted May 27, 2010 Member Share Posted May 27, 2010 and i have no intention what so ever to watch it again. . Me nietherI'm going trade my copy in next time I go into the city Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Grimmjow Posted July 13, 2010 Member Share Posted July 13, 2010 I'm really shocked at all the negative comments towards this film, finally watched it today and loved it, thought it was hugely enjoyable had some of the best and most innovative fight scenes I've seen in ages. The story? Yes was a little bizarre and had to be taken with a pinch of salt but I've always thought story was a low priority in a martial arts movie, its not like some classics haven't had weak stories. Jija Yannin really impressed me here, I found her very likeable and of course she looks extremely hot in this film compared to Chocolate, I found her lack of power a problem in Chocolate but not so much here plus it helped that there were so many mulit person fights so she wasn't doing all the work. After this I think she could go very far. The wire work didn't bother me too much, it was more evident then in most Thai action films but come on pretty much every Hong Kong action movie has wire work even for talents like Wu Jing so why this is such a complaint I find a bit strange. In the last few weeks I've seen Blood and Bone, Merantau, Undisputed 3 and this and I would say this has been my favourite of them all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member VenomsFan Posted July 18, 2010 Member Share Posted July 18, 2010 Hey All! There was a HD Master Blu Ray release in April 2010. I suggest any fans of this film catch it. Just received my copy and it has tons bonus footage to boot! Plus an awesome transfer - just google the reviews. It's also Region 0 - all. In August the US 2:35 : 1 release will come out BluRay/DVD with eng dubb, no special features and a hacked subbed job. Smart way for the thai production company Somjnsthflm (sp) to get their money's worth. Would spend the same on a similar release for upcoming Ong Bak 3. Get the cineasia release. The MRP is topping $40-$60 easy right now and climbing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member hardz Posted July 19, 2010 Member Share Posted July 19, 2010 Very cool and off beat film. Had me shouting many times at the sheer imaginativeness of the choreography. Good UK bluray too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member HAZ Posted July 20, 2010 Member Share Posted July 20, 2010 Hi, Just so folks know, RAGING PHOENIX plays tomorrow at Fanatsia! http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2010/en/films/film_detail.php?id=13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BaronK Posted July 20, 2010 Member Share Posted July 20, 2010 "Had me shouting many times at the sheer imaginativeness of the choreography." Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted July 20, 2010 Member Share Posted July 20, 2010 Very cool and off beat film. Had me shouting many times at the sheer imaginativeness of the choreography. Good UK bluray too. I Love flippy, twisty, gymnastic like movements but those performed in Raging Phoenix really didn't excite me in slightest. I agree it was impressive , imaginative and skilful but was overall pointless. Generally there was no power behind it and if you are going to use wirework, only use it to accentuate the star's natural talent. I felt the use of wires ruined any potential quality fight sequences. While the performances where imaginative I didn't think much of the choreography. I just hoped as I shouted at the screen in despair there would be a great finale, to no avail. After Chocolate this film is awful in my opinion. My biggest disappointment in 2010 by some margin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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