Ong-Bak (2004)

Overrated

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

In Ong-bak, monk-in-training Ting volunteers to go to the city to hunt down the mobster who stole the head of their sacred statue. He falls in with a couple of swindlers and winds up in a whole bunch of fights. The fights are brutally entertaining, full of leaps and kicks and elbow jabs. Star Tony Jaa is athletically acrobatic, something shown off to greatest effect not in a fight but in a long chase sequence in which Ting does things like leap over cars (in splits position). The action is terrific, but not much else is. It's a little hard to judge things like acting and dialogue when watching a foreign movie, but most of the acting seemed pretty bad (especially the early scenes in the village) and the subtitled dialogue was pretty stupid.Jaa himself has solid screen presence, and Petchtai Wongkamlao is amusing as one of the swindlers, but take out the action sequences are you have a really bad half hour. The story isn't even neutral; it is actually worse than if they'd had no story at all, because it relies on criminals so spiteful that they do things that lead to their ruin (a smart criminal could have ended the whole sage in five peaceful minutes), and because the ending is a bummer.But if you want to see a bunch of martial arts, definitely check this one out.

Martial arts films don't come with more action than Ong Bak. Tony Jaa is by no doubt an astonishing fighter, and Prachya Pinkaew (director) & his cinematographer Nattawut Kittikhun do well in milking his talents for all their worth. The pair stun us with astonishingly detailed fight sequences, choreographed to perfection by Tony Jaa - the leading man himself. Cinematography is pin sharp, and the Thanat Sunsin-Thanapat Taweesuk editing team fly the banner of their craft high with jaw dropping cuts and manipulations - foremost being ingenious use of instant replays.All that being considered, Ong Bak falls far too short in an area arguably more important than technical mastery of filmmaking: the script is terrible. Gaps in the fighting sequences and landscape fills play out like a painful Jackie Chan overdub without the Chan. Kittikhun manages to stun us with majestic landscape cinematography - which does somewhat make up for the shocking script; though cannot ever restore the potential destroyed by the shoddy framework.Technically speaking, Ong Bak is convincing - it certainly lives up to its expectation as martial arts eye candy; though if story and depth are what you seek, then you can give it a miss. But if mindless thrills portrayed with majestic technical mastery are what you seek, then Ong Bak is for you.

When the head of an ancient statute known as Ong-bak is stolen it is up to Ting, a proud Muy Thai martial artist must battle urban chaos and organized crime to get it back.This is beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the most action packed martial arts films I have seen in a very long time. With some of the most spectacular stunt work this side of any Jackie Chan, a spring board for Tony Jaa as a martial arts sensation. The story why clichéd and not at all without flaw is not the reason to watch this film. The sheer brilliance and beauty of the action sequences are what make this film a true cinematic wonder to behold. No CGI, no wire work whatsoever make this a pure action film. Spawning two less than impressive sequels, the Ong-bak films are not known for their story or plot but for there hardcore death defying action sequences. I can't recommend this film enough to any fan of Asian cinema.

I saw RZA present this movie in a commercial once so decided to check it out when it came out. And I can see why RZA who is a fan of martial arts movie wanted to present this movie. The fight sequences when this kickass flick came out was just about second to none when it came to the fight sequences. And it's brutal like muy thai movies should be. This is the flick that boosted Tony Jaa to stardom. His acrobatic and muy thai martial arts skill really shines through. There is a female lead in this I thought was annoying and didn't add much to the story at all. But I guess they just wanted a female lead. The story is simple a statue of head of ong bak gets stolen in a rural village and Ting(Tony Jaa) leaves the village in order to retrieve it. And there are fighting and chases along the way to retrieve the artifact. The story maybe simple but it flowed very well with the action scenes that are really cool to watch. And can tell the stunt people and Jaa put their bodies on the line to make this movie. Overall this is the movie that boosted muy thai onto the movie screen and is a very entertaining martial arts flick.8/10