Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior

In terms of sheer athleticism and martial artistry, Tony Jaa certainly lives up to his billing as 'the Next Bruce Lee'. He puts the kick into this quick-fry Thai fightfest that mixes dynamic set-pieces with skull-splitting one-on-ones. It should also remind fans of the Crouching Hero, Flying Dagger brand of Eastern blockbuster (including myself) that Oriental action cinema was founded on action without safety nets, never mind all that fancy wirework and colour-coordinated mysticism.

But for all his physical prowess, Jaa falls short of Bruce Lee (and even Jet Li) when it comes to charisma, sounding nervous and looking slightly uncomfortable in the action-free scenes. Director Pinkaew perhaps recognises that Jaa will need time to build his own screen persona, so wisely gives him very little to say. I wish the same could be said of screechy female sidekick Muay who is both an irritation and a distraction. However, quibbling too much about the acting would be churlish.

Who cares that the plot's straight out of The A-Team when the adrenaline flows this thick and fast? The foot pursuit through Bangkok's backstreets is not just five minutes of pure exhilaration, it turns a few chase clichés on their heads (uh-oh, look out for those two guys carrying panes of glass across the road… hold on a minute!). There are even replays of the most jaw-dropping bits so that you can believe what you just saw.

Ting lives in a village where they worship the statue of Ong-bak. When an unscrupulous young man comes to the village to buy valuable goods, he steals the head and returns to Bangkok where he gives it to his boss – a crime lord who presides over illegal pit fights and steals historical artefacts. Ting goes to Bangkok to join up with former villager Humlae (who now is a street hustler and calls himself George). However, once there, he finds that the only way to get the head back is to kick and elbow people. Lots.

Before I talk about the main (only?) reason to see this film, let me at least pretend that it is meant to operate like a normal film and look at the traditional aspects that give a film value – plot, acting, characters etc. First off, the plot is very basic, so basic that really I could have done it in a sentence and still given you more than you needed to know. Happily it only really last 15 minutes before we are given the first of many, many action scenes. Within this basic frame it is no surprise that none of the characters work or are developed to a point were we care about them – this is a given, but why then did the film still labour under the idea that we did? I didn't care that much for any of them, because none were written as people – only action figures or one-note characters (ie the girl who is suffering due to crime, the crimelord, the middleman etc etc).

With this, perhaps it is no surprise that the performances are roundly average. Wongkamlao is pretty funny but can't do much more than that – but he looks like Brando at his best compared to the wooden and unconvincing Yodkamol. The rest of the cast fill their genre cliché shoes well enough; leaving us with the reason we are here – Jaa himself. Now, as an actor, he needs work – he can't really deliver a character, seems unsure of how to handle comedy and, despite having a good screen presence, didn't convince delivering dialogue neither. However, none of this really matters does it? I didn't come for plot, narrative, script, acting or directing – I came to se people get kicked and, by god, that is what this film delivers.

Without wires and without special effects, the fight scenes had the cinema audibly reacting with gasps and groans as Jaa did things that did not seem possible but also delivered some very, very brutal moves that made even the toughest in the room wince. Of course, a film that relies solely on action is never going to be one that manages to win praise beyond the bounds of the genre, but it helps that, within that genre it blows away a lot of competition and justifies its UK wide cinema release. Rest assured, it is stunning at times and, although it niggles that the film is set around the action (as opposed to vice versa) it is forgivable when it is this enjoyable! Overall, not a brilliant film by any means but one that really delivers in terms of what it sets out to do. Action fans will love it and those that thing martial arts started with the Matrix will find out just how much more compelling action is whenever it isn't being produced on a hard drive somewhere. With a plot so basic, acting so poor and characters so thin, it speaks volumes about the quality of the action that I was engaged and entertained from start (well, ten minutes in) to finish.

I saw Ong-Bak for the first time on the Stockholm Film Festival in November of 2003, and now recently saw it again on DVD. I usually see at least 4-5 Asian films on the festival every year and each one is a gamble. At worst Asian action films can be unbearably slow and dull with uninteresting action scenes and horrible acting. At their best they can be like a wonderful ballet with astonishing moves and moods. Ong-Bak falls somewhere inbetween these two.

The story and set-up in Ong-Bak is nothing very original. The head of the village Buddha-statue (named Ong-Bak) is stolen which spells bad luck for the village. So they send their best man to the city to find the son who moved away, and they can search for the head together. Of course the villager is completely lost in the city and soon gets himself into trouble.

So the story is nothing new, neither is the setup which is more or less van Damme standard fare movies like "Lionheart" except in Thailand. We see some street-fighting and some tournament-style fighting in seedy bars. So, what makes Ong-Bak stand out? Well, the fighting! I have seldom seen such well-made fighting scenes. Both well choreographed and plentiful! The thai-boxing done here might be very stylized to look good, but it really does the trick. The fights are simply put amazing! The lead actor really knows his moves and his acrobatics, and many times you can really feel the crushing hits as kicks and elbows hit home. Also the pace is very high with almost constant fighting in the last half of the movie. And it all looks very very nice.

So, Ong-Bak is definitely for those of you who are suckers for martial-arts and fighting. Don't expect an original story or terribly solid acting. But expect a fun ride, lots and lots of violence. And for me that's enough. Ong-Bak receives a 7/10.

This movie is just great. There are no words to explain how classicly the actions has been choreographed. Tony Ja is simply great and beyond comparison. Bruce, Jet and Jackie took a couple of movies to reach the top in my favorite list..But Tony Ja is at the top in one shot. Sure I would add this movie as No.1 in my top 5 list of action movies ever. The first chase in the streets is one spectacular proof of Tony's efforts. The thai free style kickboxing is simply superb.

Sure a BIG feast for any action lovers.

Regards, Venkat.

Each decade ,the cinema produces a new martial arts hero .On the years 70s ,from Hong Kong arrived Bruce Lee,the Kung Fu hero whose shadow still moves about the cinematographic industry, thus successors were Wang Yu,Sonny Chiba,Sammo Hung...At the years 80s decade was Jackie Chan and still continuing.His amazing slickness united with a great humor sense and risk converted him in an international star.Also in years 8os were Japan and the Ninjas whose principal representation was Sho Kosugi.At the years 90s,Jet Li defied the gravity in a films series that would make a revolution in chop-socky genre.Today in this decade and with a new century has originated a new star.He comes from Thailand and is called Tony Jaa.

The picture deals about robbery a Buda head (Ong Bak) which is adored by a village people.A young,the Muay Thai warrior,is assigned to retrieve it, and he flies to the city where is allegedly found .Colourful,Backock-set chopsocky big budget, leave no cliché untouched,but fights are well staged with spectacular pursuits of Thailand typical cars.,He'll fight for a big match which turns out to be fixed by a local mobster .For a little more entertainment ,our hero saves an abducted girl and struggles a hired killers. The movie is well directed by Pinkaew. The motion picture will like to martial arts fans.