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.
More details
Soundtrack
Outstanding
How does it compare to others by the same director?
Outstanding
Value for Money
Excellent
What format are you reviewing?
DVD
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ONG BAK
Tony Jaa follows in the powerful martial arts footsteps of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet
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