Ong-Bak is a fantastic film, its one of the best action films I have ever seen and is defintely the best Asian action movie. I don't think it was very high budget but Tony Jaa is an amazing martail artist/ actor, and made up for the lack in CGI by performing all his own stunts.
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Experience the most breathtaking action spectacle of the year with martial arts ... more
phenomenon, Tony Jaa.Abandoned on the steps of a rural village temple shortly after his birth, Ting (Tony Jaa) grows up to become a master of Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) and a ...
Tony Jaa follows in the powerful martial arts footsteps of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet ... more
Li in ONG-BAK: THE THAI WARRIOR, one of the first films to centre on the ancient fighting system of Muay Thai, which utilizes the body's limbs to potentially devastating effect. Jaa stars as Ting, a quiet young man who lives in the peaceful village of Nong Pradu. As the village's special celebration approaches, a Bangkok villain named Don (Wannakit Siriput) steals the head of the Buddha statue Ong-Bak, which is said to protect the village from bad luck. Ting volunteers to go to the big city to bring back the head of Ong-Bak, but remembers what he was taught by sage monk Pra Cru (Woranard Tantipidok): he must not use his Muay Thai skills to harm people. However soon after arriving in Bangkok, Ting, a peaceful fish out of water, finds that the only way to recapture the village's sacred treasure is by using his arms, his legs--and his head. Influenced by the films of Thai action star Phanna Rithikrai, director Prachya Pinkaew hired the Muay Thai expert to serve as martial arts and stunt choreographer for ONG-BAK, resulting in highly effective and believable scenes between Ting and a multitude of criminals and evil boxers out to get him. Pinkaew adds a fun sense of humour to the serious story, not only in some of the crazy stunts but also in the character of George, played by Thai comic Petchthai Wongkamlao. Jaa is charmingly fearless in the lead role, performing all his own stunts without any special effects, computer enhancement, or ropes.
Tony Jaa leapt on to our screens in the phenomenal Ong-bak - jumping over cars, heads and ... more
through barbed wire hoops with grace and ease! The man is a legend after his first film. He reinforces his reputation as the new Bruce Lee in the international hit Warrior King, building on his trademark no wireworks, no CGI, no stunt doubles action to deliver even more jaw-breaking stunts and incredible fight scenes.So sit back and brace yourself for the very best of Tony Jaa!
Martial Arts - Director: Prachya Pinkaew - Original Language: English\Vietnamese\Thai\Mandarin - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Tony Jaa, Bongkoj Khongmalai, Petchtai Wongkamlao
Production Year: 2006 - Martial Arts - Director: Ronny Yu - Original Language: Mandarin - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Nathan Jones, Jet Li
Martial Arts - Director: Prachya Pinkaew - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Nathan Jones, Bongkoj Khongmalai, Petchtai Wongkamlao, Tony Jaa
Production Year: 1981 - Martial Arts - Director: Kenji Misumi, Robert Houston - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ohki, Akiji Kobayashi, Shin Kishida, Masahiro Tomikawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama
Advantages: over 5 hours of amazing bonus material Disadvantages: i cant think of any
..."kon dib Ihek nam pee", Ong Bak is definitely the superior. I have taken into consideration that "Kon dib Ihek nam pee" was a lower budget movie, but the story to it, the in-camera editing skills; they just weren't as good. Ong-Bak is much better.
The director, Prachya Pinkaew, has brought such films as the announced "sword" (also featuring Tony Jaa), "Cherm", and "7 pra-jan-barn". ... ...the other two and I wasn't as impressed as I was with Pinkaew's work on Ong-Bak.
As I said before, it was so worth the £10.99 it was purchased for. I definetely recommend this movie to anyone with at least half a brain. LOL :D
Thankyou very much for reading my review, I hoped you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Feel free to leave any comments on how I can improve, I'm all ears. ... more
Ong-Bak is a fantastic film, its one of the best action films I have ever seen and is defintely the best Asian action movie. I don't think it was very high budget but Tony Jaa is an amazing martail artist/ actor, and made up for the lack in CGI by performing all his own stunts.
I bought this 2-disc set for £10.99. I think it is a bargain considering the bonus material; not to mention one of the best feature films of all time.
---------THE STORY------------------
Abandoned on the steps of a rural village temple shortly after his birth, Ting (Tony Jaa) grows up to become master of Muay Thai, a form of Thai boxing, and a hero to the only family he has ever known. When the future of his people is threatened by the theft of an all powerful Buddha statue, Ting must sacrifice all he believes, and, single-handedly, overcome the might of a ruthless criminal empire, to win back their greatest treasure.
------SUMMARY---------------
I loved this film. I have never been so entertained whilst watching a movie, I can't tell you how many times I would go back to certain scenes trying to figure out how Jaa does his stunts. My favourite scene has to be the "Market chase", whre we find Ting and his cousin, Humlae, being chased through the streets of Bankok.
The story is really unique, I haven't seen any martail arts films based around religion, symbolism, and friendship. The story line also has further meaning and deepness, this makes the story line re-watchable i.e. that are several aspects to the film that you won't have seen first time round, alot of these are pointed out in the special features. I really enjoyed watching the film after first looking at how all the fight/ action scenes were choreographed.
Tony Jaa's performance was electrical, truelly amazing. This was his debut film release and resulted in film offers for "rush hour 3" (which he had to decline, sadly), and "indiana jones 4" (of which he is to star in).
There was no stunt-doubles, no wire-work, no CGI used in any of Tony Jaa's scenes. There were a few special effects used in parts of the film however (e.g. in relation to the giant Buddha head near the end of the film). These special effects were of top realism, and certainly a new higher standard of movie effect for the Asian film industry.
The music was really cool and enjoyable, setting each scene up without fail. The music during the Tuk-tuk chase was my favourite because although the vehicles used were slow, the music gave the atmosphere a faster pace.
If I compared it to a similar Asian film, of which Tony Jaa also starred, called "kon dib Ihek nam pee", Ong Bak is definitely the superior. I have taken into consideration that "Kon dib Ihek nam pee" was a lower budget movie, but the story to it, the in-camera editing skills; they just weren't as good. Ong-Bak is much better.
The director, Prachya Pinkaew, has brought such films as the announced "sword" (also featuring Tony Jaa), "Cherm", and "7 pra-jan-barn". I have yet to see "sword", but I have seen the other two and I wasn't as impressed as I was with Pinkaew's work on Ong-Bak.
As I said before, it was so worth the £10.99 it was purchased for. I definetely recommend this movie to anyone with at least half a brain. LOL :D
Thankyou very much for reading my review, I hoped you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Feel free to leave any comments on how I can improve, I'm all ears.
Advantages: Breath taking martial arts and agility Disadvantages: Poor story
Ong Bak is the 2003 film directed by Prachya Pinkaew, choreographed by Panna Rittikrai, starring the great Tony Jaa as Ting, and Thai comedian Petchtai Wongkamlao and George (Humlae).
The thing with Tony Jaa is he doesn't have the screen presence on Bruce Lee, or the charisma of Jackie Chan, but what he can do is perform fight scenes better than anyone before him. It takes Jaa atleast twice as long as his predecessors to make a movie because of ... ...a ancient buddah statue named Ong Bak has been stolen. The statue is worshipped by the village's people so Ting decides he will find Ong Bak at any cost. This leads him to the big city were he meets his cousin Humlae (Wongkamlao) who has renamed himself George (for reasons I'll let you find out) who takes a interest in Ting's quest after seeing the amount of money the village have given him. The main story isn't exactly the most compelling in the ...
mcicp19 16.08.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ong Bak (DVD)
Advantages: Funny, exciting, amazing, great popcorn flick. Disadvantages: The story is a little hokey. Who cares?
This is a fantastic film, I'll say that now. If you are already a Martial-Arts movie fan, you should believe the hype. I actually took quite a while to get round to seeing this one, but that was because I hadn't seen a good martial arts flick since... Jackie Chan! I hate Seagal, and Van Damme only has one or two good films. So when I finally watched Ong-Bak: my faith in 'chop-socky' films was reaffirmed. Balletic, exciting, there's even a little ... ...fight scenes, and incredible acrobatic feats that you watch this one for. The 'pants on fire' moment blew me away! When I first watched Jackie Chan (I was very young at the time) I was filled with a 'wish I could do that' sense of awe. Watching this film I felt the same way, and that's rare now that I am at a very jaded age. Very little cinema leaves me feeling the way this film does. A must watch movie, especially if you have been to Thailand! (which ...
Queequeg77 30.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Ong Bak (DVD)
Advantages: Tony Jaa...The Man Is Not Human Disadvantages: Lack Of A Story
...does he do that?". With Ong Bak you see a breathtaking on screen debut from Tony Jaa and i guarentee you hav never seen a martial arts movie quite like this. The story line itself is very basic and predictable and really is just an excuse to showcase Jaa's rare talent, none the less you will be heavily entertained from start to finish. The co-stars also play a good part in the movie and are some what amusing and very clumsy. If you appreciate amazing ...
stewartcran 21.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Ong Bak (DVD)
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Advantages: Amazing fight scenes and stunts, no wires so everything you see is for real. Disadvantages: The plots aren't amazing but still watchable, not for people who don't like foreign films.
OngBakOngBak is the 2003 film directed by Prachya Pinkaew, choreographed by Panna Rittikrai, starring the great Tony Jaa as Ting, and Thai comedian Petchtai Wongkamlao and George (Humlae).
The thing with Tony Jaa is he doesn't have the screen presence on Bruce Lee, or the charisma of Jackie Chan, but what he can do is perform fight scenes better than anyone before him. It takes Jaa atleast twice as long as his predecessors to make a movie because of the one fact that makes him better then those before him - he doesn't use wire's! There is no jumping over house's 'Crouching Tiger' style, no mid air fights with opponents freezing still in mid air for 30 seconds, just Tony Jaa doing incredible feats of agility and skill. If anyone doesn't believe he's not using wires I suggest you look up 'Tony Jaa high kick' on you tube and watch ...
Advantages: Fast paced action Disadvantages: subtitled or dubbed
Ongbak, starring martial art, and gymastics genius Tony Jaa, is a must see for all martial art lovers. Although subtitled, (i dislike watching it dubbed) its a very good film, and the story is easy to follow. Tony jaa's character is a villager who has spent his life training in the arts of Muay thai, A thai martial art/ sport. His village believe that the condition of their statue OngBak bears resemblence to the wellbeing of the village.
Basically all you need to know is, the bad guys who become annoyed at the village somehow, steals the head of the statue, and Tony jaa is sent to reclaim it swiftly kicking anyone who gets in the way in the face. (which he does quite a lot.
The main aspect of the film is the fact that there are no stunt actors, and no strings or CGI everything you see Tony or others do. Its quite amazing to see ...
Advantages: Fighting, fighting, story, and fighting Disadvantages: Dubbing / Subtitles
I was given OngBak - and I'm glad I was.
I am a fan of martial arts films - especially ones like OngBak.
The best part of the film was the fact that the fights are realistic and - I'm reliably informed - mainly full contact fights.
This wasn't like the majority of martial arts films - for a number of reasons.
Firstly as I've said - the fights are realistic and genuine (ish). This makes it an excellent film for those martial arts fans / enthusiasts.
Secondly there are no wires or CGI - making the film even more realistic. This means you watch the film in open-mouthed-awe at the skills of Tony Ja (especially the street-running scene) - aren't you annoyed by those unreal films.
Finally - THERE'S A PLOT - it ain't no Lord of the Rings but a plot nevertheless - making it perfect to drag those reluctant friend / partner to ...
Tony Jaa follows in the powerful martial arts footsteps of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li in ONG-BAK: THE THAI WARRIOR, one of the first films to centre on the ancient fighting system of Muay Thai, which utilizes the body's limbs to potentially devastating effect. Jaa stars as Ting, a quiet young man who lives in the peaceful village of Nong Pradu. As the village's special celebration approaches, a Bangkok villain named Don (Wannakit Siriput) steals the head of the Buddha statue Ong-Bak, which is said to protect the village from bad luck. Ting volunteers to go to the big city to bring back the head of Ong-Bak, but remembers what he was taught by sage monk Pra Cru (Woranard Tantipidok): he must not use his Muay Thai skills to harm people. However soon after arriving in Bangkok, Ting, a peaceful fish out of water, finds that the only way to recapture the village's sacred treasure is by using his arms, his legs--and his head. Influenced by the films of Thai action star Phanna Rithikrai, director Prachya Pinkaew hired the Muay Thai expert to serve as martial arts and stunt choreographer for ONG-BAK, resulting in highly effective and believable scenes between Ting and a multitude of criminals and evil boxers out to get him. Pinkaew adds a fun sense of humour to the serious story, not only in some of the crazy stunts but also in the character of George, played by Thai comic Petchthai Wongkamlao. Jaa is charmingly fearless in the lead role, performing all his own stunts without any special effects, computer enhancement, or ropes.
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