I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: One of the best things about following martial arts action cinema is the young and up-and-coming talent on the rise. As such, one caveat of reading Film Combat Syndicate is following our weekly Hit List wherein time and again you’ll find a few updates on the activities involving Jean-Paul Ly, a Cambodian martial artist and actor living in London whose stunt credits include shortfilms like Deep Pan Fury, the JpLp action short, Dead End and the James Bond-inspired Sapphire, and performing stunts in films like Now You See Me 2, Luc Besson’s hit movie, Lucy and Joey Ansah’s Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist.
It’s no mistake to see, though, really. His skillset is one that has become pertinent to the development of martial arts and action genre films that utilize people like Ly of his caliber, and that is happening in many areas around the world, some of which are slow to pass with film industries reluctant to invest heavily in action films. And then you have places like Cambodia that are all the same despite its current crop of talent, and most notably reviving itself nowadays with the efforts of filmmaker Jimmy Henderson who eventually found a path to give the Cambodian action community a taste of support with local rising star
Dara Ours in the vigilante revenge action thriller, Hanuman with co-star Savin Philip as the the villain.
The film does takes a few of its action cues from titles like Indoesian thrillers, The Raid and Merantau, while amid the presentation of a Cambodian vision of martial arts style on screen through the presentation of Bokator. The result is pretty pleasing despite the film’s own flaws as a low-budget work of cinematic action and I would wholly recommend martial arts fans rent it if, when and wherever they can find it, while as for now with the latest ventures involving Henderson and Ours, I have no question when it comes to Ly’s own will to adapt and help bolster Cambodia’s action film identity in world cinema.
For this, we now draw our attention to the new action comedy, Jailbreak from Puprom Entertainment and Kongchak Pictures. The film is written by Michael Hodgson with a story that centers on a special task force sent on an escort mission to Koh Kla prison where five members are forced to fight their way out when the inmates take over. Ours and Ly, the latter serving as action director, are starring in the film along with Philip in addition to MMA League female premier Tharoth Sam, Bokator veteran fighter Tara Vy, and actor Sirivudh Sisowath.
Henderson is also producing the film with Loy Te while production is expected to commence this summer. Alas, with the warm weather approaching, Cambodian news site,
Sabay, managed to catch up with Ly upon landing in town for a quick interview you can now listen to in the player below.
Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!
Like this:
Like Loading...