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| One of the many posters for Ong-Bak. |
Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior is a Thai martial arts movie released in 2003, starring Tony Jaa, Mum Jokmok, Suchao Pongwilai, Pumwaree Yodkamol, and Chattaphong Pantana-Angkul. The movie is directed by Prachya Pinkaew, with fight and stunt choreography by Panna Rittikrai.
In Ong-Bak, Tony Jaa plays Ting, a skilled muay thai fighter who volunteers to find the stolen head of his village's Ong-Bak statue. The village is small and impoverished, and they give the little money they have to him to help him survive the city they suspect the lead suspect lives in. In Bangkok, Ting meets up with George/Humlae (played by Mum Jokmok), his cousin who has abandoned his humble village's values. One thing leads to another, and Humlae steals the villagers' money and bets it all at an underground fighting tournament. Ting unwittingly enters the tournament and wins his fight easily. This embarrasses Komtuan (played by Pongwilai), the local crime boss, and gets Ting on his radar. From there, Ting and Humlae team up to find the Ong-Bak, with chases and fights galore!
This movie was Tony Jaa's break out role, and it is a showcase for his incredible martial arts and acrobatic skills. In the first chase sequence, you see Tony doing incredible acrobatics to run away from a crowd of thugs. The way he slides under an SUV is amazing. Not only that, he jumps over two moving cars twice in a row, all without wires! Tony Jaa makes gravity his b****!
The fight scenes are choreographed to show off a more traditional form of muay thai, and to show off Tony Jaa's fighting prowess. His second underground tournament fight is hard-hitting, and he takes on three different opponents (including a very Bruce Lee-like fighter). This is his first major fight in the movie, and he impresses! There are other fights with crazy stuff in them, like when he does a knee, then a multi-spin kick to a guy's face...with his legs on fire! Literal fire kick! Of course, the final fights are the best. You see his quickness, his agility, his weapon ability, and the power behind his strikes in these fights! The fights in this movie may not have the incredible choreography of Hong Kong movies, but Panna Rittikrai does a great job showing the power of traditional muay thai and the skill level of Tony Jaa.
The story is a bit simple, I will admit, but there is nothing wrong with that when you have characters and action scenes that make up for it. Humlae, though a bit of a greedy scammer at the start, is great throughout this movie. You grow to like him. He is really funny, too! Komtuan, the main villain, is a very flawed character. He is very powerful, but he is confined to a wheelchair and has to talk with an electrolarynx. Even so, he is a very proud, greedy, and petty man. What a jerk! As is Don, the guy who steals the Ong-Bak head in the first place! I hate that guy!
The version I watched was the edited version released by EuropaCorp. A subplot involving Muay's sister is apparently edited out, and the final fight between Ting and Saming is shortened. It also has a hip hop/techno soundtrack, as compared to the Thai rock the original had. All in all, three minutes are edited out. Even so, I would like to see the original version. This version is very good, though! I like some of the music in it! I have to get this on Blu-Ray!
So, should you see it? I would say yes! Just keep in mind, the story is a bit basic. If you've never seen Tony Jaa in action, you need to see this NOW! I just hope Tony Jaa will gain that superstardom that has eluded him since. He is way too talented to not be starring in huge action movies!
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| Front cover of the DVD I watched for this review. |
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| Back cover of DVD. |
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| Disc of version I watched. |
Reviewed by David Williams
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