Caffeinated Clint
“The DVD extras component is fatter than Roseanne Barr’s seat-cheeks” – Daulton Dickey
Tony Jaa, Petchtai Wongkamlao, Pumwaree Yodkamol, Suchao Pongwilai
Action movies have not been the same since famed director and choreographer Yuen Wo Ping perfected the art of wire enhanced kung fu. Every film requiring elaborate fight scenes, from “Charlie’s Angels” to “Scary Movie,” has since benefited from, and exploited, the gravity defying, heavily stylized routines made famous by Wo Ping in such films as “Iron Monkey” and “Black Mask.”
While the style may have worked in some films, the “Matrix” trilogy, for example, the style seems to detrimental to other films. Usually it’s too distracting and, in a sense, anarchic to the tone and style of the pictures.
Jackie Chan provided a wonderful escape from such gimmicky action scenes when he burst onto international screens with his death defying stunts, but age has caught up with him and he seems to have slacked off on his stunts over the last few years. Since his decline, we martial arts fans tired of gimmicky action sequences have had no one to turn to.
Until now.
With the international release of “Ong Bak The Thai Warrior,” a little known Thai film, star Tony Jaa offers a nice retreat from the new-style martial arts films. With Jaa, we’re introduced to an extraordinary physical specimen, a man to whom it appears the laws of gravity only partially apply. We witness him leaping over moving cars, diving through barbed wire, leaping on top of a group of men and running over them, bouncing from head to head, shoulder to shoulder. In watching some of his more breathtaking stunts, its easy to assume that wires were involved, which makes his physical feats all the more breathtaking.
As for the story, it’s typical martial arts fare: the small village rests outside of contemporary culture; it is a village steeped in tradition, devoid of modern technology and fanfare—kind of an eastern version of an Amish village in North America.
The village has remained simplistic thanks to its devotion to Buddhism and the appreciation and expectation the villagers’ hoisted upon Ong Bak, a Buddha statue and resident Idol. But the villagers’ morale drops when a two-bit thief steals Ong Bak’s head. Charged with the task of retrieving the statue’s head, Ting (Tony Jaa) travels to Bangkok to locate the thief and the sacred idols head. From there Ting encounters small time and big time gangsters, fight clubs, and any other device implemented to create intense action sequences.
But, like every other great martial arts films, the story isn’t as important as the action scenes, and while the direction is okay and the cinematography surprisingly avoids heavily stylized compositions, Jaa and his physical abilities are the true stars here. And if “Ong Bak” is any indication, Jaa has an epic career ahead of him; as it stands, he is simply the most exciting thing to happen to martial arts films since Jackie Chan’s breakthrough from serious martial arts films to comedic fare.
The DVD extras component is fatter than Roseanne Barr’s seat-cheeks. Best is a detailed ‘making of’, also a documentary on Thai Boxing, interviews with the punchers, kickers and creators of the film, some behind-the-scenes footage of the fighters getting ready and prepped, and an interesting bit on different Thai fight moves. In addition, there’s an option to watch the French cut of the film or the uncut two versions (Sadly, no option to watch ‘Aussie’ version where Jaa takes on a keg-adorned Bill Hunter).
Rating : 
Reviewer : Daulton Dickey
