Movies Review: Also on Release | Ong-Bak: The Beginning | Outland | Peter Hyams

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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER
Published: 15 October 2009

Also on release...

• Ong-Bak: The Beginning
Directed by Tony Jaa and Panna Rittikrai. Certificate: 15

OK, so it’s is always fun to watch someone wrestle with a crocodile.
It’s staple action film fare from yesteryear, a cinematic trick only too rarely used in recent generations.
Think Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan; Think Roger Moore as Bond, using scaly heads as stepping stones.
So it was a pleasure to watch Thai boxing champ turned martial arts movie actor Tony Jaa (pictured) leap into a muddy pond and grapple ferociously with a plastic croc.
And the way he puts the soon-to-be-a-handbag away with an eye-wateringly powerful punch on the snout is worth the admission money, if you too are that way inclined.
Essentially this is a silly action film set in the 15th century.
We learn that hero Tien has had his birthright as a noble torn from him after his parents are brutally killed.
Living on the streets he is taken in by a Fagin-style gang leader who teaches him how to steal – and more importantly, fight, which comes in handy, to say the least.
Cue lots of action scenes with Tien overcoming various obstacles to wreak revenge, including winning a competition to become a knight of the realm.

• Outland. Directed by Peter Hyams. Certificate: 15.
Moon. Directed by Duncan Jones Certificate: 15.
THIS is a splendid double bill at the Prince Charles cinema tomorrow night (Friday).
Outland, dating from 1981 and starring Sean Connery, tells the story of a police officer sent to work at a Jupiter mining colony to investigate a series of mysterious deaths.
Part two of the double bill is this year’s surprise hit, Moon, which stars Sam Rockwell as the lonely worker on the Moon who begins to wonder if he is who he thinks he is...
Both are compelling, and at £9 entry for non-members to both films including a discussion by Moon director Duncan Jones, what more could any film buff want?

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