Tony Jaa’s Warehouse Scene from Tom Yum Goong

Today is Tony Jaa’s Birthday. So check out this excellently choreographed scene from his cult film Tom Yum Goong.

Quite often we laugh at Bollywood action scenes involving a hero beating a gang of 20-30 people, for good reason. Most of them are shot awfully where the hero throws a punch and six people at a time fly in the air only to get up back again and fight the hero! Neither is such flying possible and neither is the possibility of a person getting hit by one good kick or punch getting up possible.

Here I present a very well realistically choreographed action scene involving Tony Jaa fighting some 20-30 people. The only way a guy can beat/escape such a gang is by scattering them. And the way to choreograph is by involving parkour along with the basic fighting drills. If you are surrounded or grounded, there is no way you can escape beating from a gang. No wonder most gang-based action scenes are nonsensical. Some old school action fans especially Akshay fans think man-to-man is the only good presentation of realistic action. I want to open their eyes and tell them that man-to-man combat is the most UNREALISTIC form of fighting. There is no way you can fight a gang of 20 by being in the middle and attacking them all at once in “fast forward” mode like its shown in Salman/Akshay films. πŸ˜€

Some other times these stupid people do that Magadheera type choreography where hero is beating a guy while others merely watch, admire the guy beating up person by person and wait for their chance to get beaten up πŸ˜‰

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24 Comments
  1. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    this was also a very well choreographed “one-vs-many” fight scenes considering its release time. one of my fav films and scenes from fist of fury – dojo fight

  2. Serenzy 11 years ago

    “hero is beating a guy while
    others merely watch, admire
    the guy beating up person by person and wait for their chance to get beaten up”

    Hahahahahaha…
    I very much “Connect” with this Point.
    πŸ™‚

    I have Noticed it in a LOT of Movies.

    But Same can be Applied for that Famously Long, One-Take Scene from Oldboy πŸ˜‰

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      no,even i mistook the oldboy scene and thought it suffered from that technical flaw when sputnik showed me that scene first time.I remember i had critised that scene. I am surprised that after seeing full film,you are saying that. The fight in that scene takes place in that narrow lane where only one or max two people could come forward at a time from one direction. you must have noticed that when 2-3 guys get on either side of the lane, he gets beaten up badly and is almost killed but since he had that hammer he got away.and most important thing which i dont know if you noticed is there is a wall in front πŸ˜€ we are watching the whole scene from the “wall’s perspective” . Artistic film he bhai oldboy πŸ˜‰

      • Baba Ji 11 years ago

        not to forget the scene was shot in a single take. so there are some other flaws too. if you observe keenly,some of the guys are quite conscious about the distance they have to keep from the hero so that he doesnt get hit.do check that scene again and read my comments πŸ˜€

  3. sputnik 11 years ago

    That awkward moment when Baba will have to support SRK’s son πŸ˜‰

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      aryan khan :blowkiss: πŸ˜‰

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      sputnik – if ever aryan khan aspires to be an actor, his best bet will be to pitch in as a serious action hero may be like akshay in 90s or vidyut type role debut in a film like force (villian). since srk has screen image of romance, there will no direct comparisons. aryan would be working in a space alien to srk. and there is dearth of good action heroes today

      • sputnik 11 years ago

        Yes he should avoid romantic movies completely but he will most probably be launched by Karan Johar in some stupid love story.

        I hope he has the acting talent of SRK (without overacting) and also the brains to not do films just for friends.

  4. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    one thing is sure – srks son wil be a better “action” hero than his dad πŸ˜‰

  5. Suprabh 11 years ago

    Good post Baba. agree with your argument of one vs many. I haven’t seen the video, as I am still in office. I will comment on it once I watch it. Although I agree with serenzy on Oldboy scene than you. The arguments you have for that scene are there because its shot this way. Had all the other guys had some means, then it wouldn’t have been much of a scene. For instance, while he was shooing them off with the hammer, one of them could have broken his knee with a blow using a weapon like a sledge hammer… or kicked him in the balls, etc etc. So although your argument is correct here but its only because the chreographer has manipulated the scene that way. Its not a true representation of one vs many.

    Btw there are two other ways one can fight many

    1) Uproot a handpump (ala Sunny deol from Gadar)

    2) Like this

    Good post Baba. agree with your argument of one vs many. I haven’t seen the video, since I am still in office. I will comment on it once I watch it. Although I agree with serenzy on Oldboy scene than you. The arguments you have for that scene are there because its shot this way. Had all the other guys had some means, then it wouldn’t have been much of a scene. For instance, while he was shooing them off with the hammer, one of them could have broken his knee with a blow, etc etc. So although your argument is correct here but its only because the chreograoher has manipulated the scene that way. Its not a true representation of one vs many.

    Btw there are two other ways one can fight many

    1) Uproot a handpump (ala Sunny deol from Gadar)

    2) Like this

    • sputnik 11 years ago

      I like the Matrix scene right until the end when he just became Superman and flew away. Until then it was brilliantly choreographed.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      suprabh , i agree that oldboy scene has loopholes even after considering the manipulations of the director. as i said earlier also, since it was shot in single take, it has many flaws although the effort is quite praiseworthy .

      I liked this scene of matrix as well as other scenes of matrix too. it is a well choreographed glossy fight scene,very clean but the action is super-heroic.the whole action is in FF-mode and there is lot of super-humanish air borne moves.regarding gadar, i laugh at the hand pump scene everytime,though i must say the scene is fun to watch as well πŸ˜‰ i cant believe no one even tried to shoot him at any point of time.

  6. Suprabh 11 years ago

    Baba,

    The scene is indeed really good. If I had to find one fault I’d say, give the opponents iron rods instead of tubelights and then it’ll be a different game altogether. Nonetheless, a great scene.

    Whatever be the way- in reality it is impossible to fight 20 men, even if one is doing what tony jaa is doing in this scene- because of the unpredictability factor. Even here, none of the fighters is aiming for Tony’s balls or eyes for that matter.

    Regarding the matrix scene- I know its impossible to do what Keanu Reeves is doing in that scene, but still I like it for its choreography.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      “Even here, none of the fighters is aiming for Tony’s balls or eyes for that matter.”

      they would try it if he was in close proximity to them. he is hardly close to them at any point of time.he keeps moving all the time to scatter them away from each other and then attacks selectively. this is why i said in post too that man-to-man close combat is not practical if one is fighting more than one person because someone can always hit you from behind or other vulnerable parts while you are engaged in a fight with your opponent . even in training sessions, teacher will always tell you not to be very close to your opponent for similar reasons.

  7. Serenzy 11 years ago

    Sputnik,

    Haha… Good One on Aryan Khan!
    πŸ˜€

  8. Aditya007 11 years ago

    Agree with Some of Point Body to Body combate fight scene cann’t say real Action ,but It is more Intresting and Impressive scene for watch IMO, btw I loved Die Hard is the perfect action movie, with great set-pieces, humor, character development, a brilliant.

  9. Ritz 11 years ago

    @Baba agree on all points about action which you pointed out.

    But scene was too much choreographed and it was kind of obvious. Guys kicking / hitting hero were doing it as if they didnt mean to hurt him and it showed.

    I have seen better action choreography with Jackie Chan films earlier. This looked too much staged.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      “Guys kicking / hitting hero were doing it as if they didnt mean to hurt him and it showed.”

      yes its not 100% realistic but most realistic that i have seen in films. i will be very eager if you can share those jackie chan vidoes. jackie chan is mostly not serious in his fights, he jokes around . i believe he consciously chose that style so that he could position himself differently from bruce lee so that there are no comparisons.

  10. Ritz 11 years ago

    Well Baba, I am not an expert on this subject so I am not the person who can gather facts….

    But firbhi I felt the kicks were too lame in this scene and atleast jackie’s movies has maybe less number of opponents …but the kicks are somehow more real….or fast paced. Still As I say …I have not watched many of such type of movies so my opinion is just amateurish kind.

    ” i believe he consciously chose that style so that he could position himself differently from bruce lee so that there are no comparisons”

    Yes I read his interview years back in which he stated this.

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      this warehouse scene is about tackling a gang. if you want to see his power of kicks or intensity, watch this scene. There is no verification to my knowledge but IMO the two are actually hitting each other from 0.30 onwards,you can feel the kick even as an audience πŸ˜€ please check this scene from Ong Bak.

  11. Baba Ji 11 years ago

    you can watch his intensity here too. when he is in fighting mood, he becomes pure sadist, he can do anything πŸ˜€

    this one is my all-time fav : tony jaa on a bone breaking spree πŸ˜€

  12. Ritz 11 years ago

    @Baba, no doubt abt Tony’s intensity and kicks …and thanks a lot for this this scene…he is too intense !!

    …..my observation was abt his opponents kicking him

    Anyway I may be wrong and short-sighted.

    You better concentrate on Aditya’s amazing comment here ..( an Akshay fan talks about “character developement” there ) πŸ˜›

    • Baba Ji 11 years ago

      hahaha…. πŸ˜€ let me comment on his larger “issue” πŸ˜‰

      My personal view is action films should have 90% action scenes only. why to add unnecesary emotional scenes, comedy, romance track etc in it? If die hard has humour, focuses on set pieces and character development then its not pure action film,it could be a action thriller or masala or what have you.not a hardcore action film.

  13. Baba 11 years ago

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