This movie is filled with incredible fight scenes, from the multitude of fights in the fighting circle, to that final fight in the cave. I've seen some of the negative comments people have made, and they are really off base, and quite frankly, stupid. But expect a fun ride, lots and lots of violence. Don't expect an original story or terribly solid acting. So, Ong-Bak is definitely for those of you who are suckers for martial-arts and fighting. Also the pace is very high with almost constant fighting in the last half of the movie. 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. Both well choreographed and plentiful! The thai-boxing done here might be very stylized to look good, but it really does the trick. So, what makes Ong-Bak stand out? Well, the fighting! I have seldom seen such well-made fighting scenes. We see some street-fighting and some tournament-style fighting in seedy bars. 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. Of course the villager is completely lost in the city and soon gets himself into trouble. So they send their best man to the city to find the son who moved away, and they can search for the head together. The head of the village Buddha-statue (named Ong-Bak) is stolen which spells bad luck for the village. The story and set-up in Ong-Bak is nothing very original. Ong-Bak falls somewhere inbetween these two. At their best they can be like a wonderful ballet with astonishing moves and moods. At worst Asian action films can be unbearably slow and dull with uninteresting action scenes and horrible acting.
I usually see at least 4-5 Asian films on the festival every year and each one is a gamble. 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. Jaa and Pinkaew have hit the nail right on the head when it comes to action movies, and in only their first go!ĩ/10 - Hopefully I can catch it on the big screen some time. As for stunts: some of them would make even old-school Jackie Chan green with envy. Most of the one-on-one fights are well choreographed and quite intense. Tony Jaa is pretty good showing off his muay thai skills on screen as he fights a range opponents. Action wise, its a pretty awesome action movie. Story wise, its a pretty standard action movie - it touches briefly on serious social issues in Thailand, but only very briefly. Ting follows Don to Bangkok and fights for the return of Ong Bak. Don, a former villager turned criminal, removes the head from the statue and takes it to Bangkok, to curry favour from the crime lord Khom Tuan. The villagers revere Ong Bak, a statue of Buddha kept in the village's temple, and believe it guarantees the safety of the village. Jaa plays Ting, a muay thai fighter from a small village in Thailand. In only their first movie, director Prachya Pinkaew and lead actor Tony Jaa have created a very impressive, awesome action movie in "Ong Bak".
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