Review of Ong Bak

Introduction

Prachya Pinkaew`s directorial debut tells the story of Ting, a young Thai villager and soon-to-be ordained monk. Highly skilled in the art of Muay Thai; he volunteers to reclaim the head of a sacred Buddha (Ong-Bak) stolen from his village by Bangkok gangsters.

Ting must track down an old friend in the city and persuade him to assist in his quest to avenge his people - however the city holds some surprises and he soon finds himself forced into the dangerous world of illegal fighting….

Introduction

What do you get when you put 30 Thai villagers up a tree? The opening scene to Ong-Bak and quite possibly the beginning of a new era in martial arts movies - not to mention high-flying Hollywood careers for leading man Tony Jaa and Prachya Pinkaew; the director of this fantastic film from Thailand. It would almost be a shame though if the two touched down at LAX to take over where Jackie Chan and Jet Li have left off because this film is clearly not Hollywood and it makes no excuses for it.

Ting (Tony Jaa) is introduced to us following his simian-style triumph in the village annual tree climbing ceremony. This is no doubt due to his finely honed Muay Thai skills, but he`s a humble man with monastic aspirations and vows never to use his skills again - that is, until the village is robbed of Ong-Bak`s head (the sacred village Buddha).

He vows to track down the thieves in Bangkok and triumphantly return with the head so the village ceremony can take place.

The village bumpkins bunce their baht and Ting goes to find ex-villager Humlae (Dirty Balls) or George as he is now known in his urban surroundings.

Played by Petchtai Wongkamlao, George provides the best non-action moments in the film and soon becomes Ting`s reluctant right-hand man. More interested in ripping people off than helping out, he provides some badly needed comedy moments throughout the film in a James Belushi kind of way and makes the film a lot more bearable (check out the Tuk-Tuk and market chases).

Ting is forced into battle at almost every turn and becomes rather popular at the local fight club where illegal fights are orchestrated by a gang boss who talks by pressing one of those Remington fuzz-away things against his neck and bets millions of baht on anyone brave or drunk enough to step in the ring.

The fight scenes are incredible, very well choreographed and it`s impossible not to furrow your eyebrows, purse your lips and take a slow intake of breath when you hear an elbow connect with cranium.

There are some very convincing villains throughout; including a mega-violent, marine type called Mad Dog (David Ismalone). The man has the unusual hobby of fridge fighting and goes through bar furniture like a Tsunami. He wastes absolutely no time in exchanging pleasantries; much preferring to introduce himself by way of bottle-to-head. I am convinced he will not be welcome at any nice hotels in the near future.

Muay Thai is a more brutal fighting style than say, Bruce Lee`s Jeet Kune Do and it`s sometimes amusing the way Jaa casually pushes and pulls lesser opponents around. The ex-stuntman`s skill is simply astonishing and his agility is demonstrated in a market chase scene where he jumps through a hoop of barbed wire and bounds over an eight-foot fence quicker than you can say Jackie Chan.

Before long you don`t care about the plot any more, the story plods along as you expect it to and anyway by the time Ting susses the gang boss` day job you`re far too busy rewinding fight after fight to watch in super slow-mo - although Pinkaew does decide to replay his finer moments for your pleasure anyway.

The direction in the film doesn`t really provide a platform for Jaa to show off much of his personality and Muaylek (Pumwaree Yodkamol) the female lead, turns out to be more irritating than sunburn and completely irrelevant to the entire story.

I would say the film offers nothing to anyone who is not the least bit interested in martial arts but for those who enjoy their celluloid spread with generous helpings of cracking limbs this film is a treat and worlds apart from the latest martial arts heavy-hitters such as Crouching Tiger and The Matrix.

Where those films relied on CGI and wires to have people jumping over buildings, this is much more real and raw and simply shows the audience how much the human body is capable of.

Hollywood can learn a lot from this film and JC`s move to comedy capers such as Shanghai Knights may be perfectly timed, Jaa certainly expels the last puff of air from the wheezing career of Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Wow! Murray Head was right then - One night in Bangkok (does) make a hard man humble.

Video

Ong-Bak is presented in 16:9 anamorphic ratio. The picture quality is very good, even in the dingy fight club all the fighter`s moves were easily visible. There are some very good camera shots possibly made less difficult by Jaa`s ability but all the same quite impressive.

The only gripe I have is that, unless you are fluent in Thai, you will be watching via subtitles. I was unable to watch the movie on my widescreen television in any other format than subtitle-zoom; the titles were running too low otherwise.

Didn`t bother me but thought I`d better mention it.

Audio

The soundtrack in the film is unremarkable although the music that is there is relevant to the scene that accompanies it. For instance there is some oriental style "chase music" during the market scene. Music is composed by Richard Wells and there are also tracks on there performed by the fantastically named Monkeytooth.

Features

The check disc I was given along with this movie tells me that there are some decent extras included.

They include promotional archive material:

· Ong-Bak - On Tour
· The Art of Muay Thai - This is a fairly good documentary that traces the roots of the art and includes interviews with the owner, trainers and fighters from the world famous Sor Vorapin Thai Boxing Gym in Bangkok.
· Promotional Trailer
· Road to Glory - The Making of Ong-Bak
· From Dust to Glory - Interview with Tony Jaa and Prachya Pinkaew

You also get feature length commentary, deleted scenes and an alternate ending.

Conclusion

I won`t beat about the bush here; I really liked Ong-Bak. Despite its many flaws and the fact that you are forced to read subtitles while a hysterical woman cries and wails in a language you don`t understand - I still really liked it.

It has real action performed by an actor with real star potential.