Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior

[Fearless Freep]

This movie was talked about here recent;ly.  I just watched it last night.

I enjoyed it quite a bit. For a bit I thought the main actor (Tony Jaa as "Ting") was trying to be Thailands answer to Jackie Chan :)

The plot is pretty simple.  A theif (Don) steals the head of the local idol (Ong-bak) from a small, poor village.  Ting, who has been trained in Muy Thai, elects to go to the city to hunt down the theif and return the head.  So...he's off to Bangkok, where he meets up with his cousin, George, who is in trouble for a lot of debt to various organized crime types.  From there, Ting tries to get George to show him where Don is, and George tries to get Ting to fight in various underground fights to win money to help George pay off his debts.  Eventually they find Don, and the crime boss behind him, leading to a showdown with Ting fighting the boss' underling.


Lot's of good MA in this one.  It didn't have the look of any wires or CG so it was all athletic skill, which I kinda enjoy.  I wish there had been more fights on the street and less fights in the ring

All in all, I enjoyed it.  It was well produced and had some humour and some good fights and the stroy was a little bit of a depearture from normal.

In the street fight scene early on, you can see chalk on the walls. writtin in English, a statement to an American producer.  It says "Hi, Spielberg, let's do it together"

[Ash]

I definitely think I'm gonna have to go rent this one.
Everyone I've talked to also agrees that it's pretty good.

Plus, It's been awhile since I watched a good martial arts film.

[Shadowphile]

Sounds like a good rental to me as well....

[lester1/2jr]

no some people didn't like it.  But i did, especially the opening scene.  and all the old school action cliches!  all it was missing was a chuck norris cameo

[LH-C]

This flick seems to be one that people either love or hate. There is no middle ground. Don't know yet whether I'll rent it or not.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I've had it sitting at home from Netflix for a couple of days.  I really need to get around to watching it.

[nobody]

I can't believe everyone is being so kind to this movie. I couldn't stand it. (See my older post, "Ong Bak: The Time Waster" for more details).

[Fearless Freep]

Well, I wouldn't say I loved it...but it was a lot of fun to waste an hour and a half with.

BTW, nobody, the 'repeat scene from several angles' is fairly common in kung-fu movies, especially ones with natural stunt work.  I think Jackie Chan's fall from the clock tower was repeated about fout  times in "Project A".  That's a genre cliche.  You may not like it, but no reason to ding this movie on it personally

[nobody]

I've seen a lot of martial art flicks, but that repeated angles shtick was a new one on me. I do believe you when you say it's a genre cliche, I've just never seen it for myself before (or after) Ong Bak.

[Scott]

I'll be waiting for cable for this one I guess.........................

[Ash]

I finally watched this the other night.
Some of the story line was kinda cheesy but the film did have this kind of weird charm to it.
Just when I was beginning to think that the repeating camera thing that 'nobody' previously mentioned was getting a bit repetitive, it stopped, and wasn't really used again until the end fight scene.
That end fight was damn good.

What did Ting eat before the fight?
He put what looked like a roll of resin into his mouth.
Then he spit liquid onto his arms.

And I wonder what the henchman injected himself with?
In that end scene he jams like 5 syringes into his chest at once.

And Freep, I did notice that nod to Spielberg written on the wall in that alley chase scene.
I had to rewind it and pause just to be sure.

The treasure of this film is the fight club scene where Ting takes on three crazy mofo's:

1. Big Bear - Big Aussie with long black curly hair.  Psychotic.

2. Don Chido-(I think that was his name) An asian with an afro.  Tae-Kwon-Do master.

3. Mad Dog- Totally insane Adam Sandler look alike.  Attacks using objects around him like chairs, bottles, vases, refrigerators and live electrical lines ripped out of the wall.

That bar fight scene was awesome!
After the film ended, I had to go back and watch that scene again.
And I think I counted at least 30 elbows straight down to the top of the head throughout the movie.
And Ting uses the Super Elbow!  He takes a chunk out of the top of a guy's head with it.

It actually was a pretty good movie.
If you haven't seen it, I definitely recommend it just for the fight scenes.



Post Edited (11-28-05 21:13)

[Mr_Vindictive]

Yeah, Ong-Bak was a blast.  

The best part for me was the chase scene in the streets.  Watching Jaa do the various stunts, all without wires, was absolutely stunning.  

I can't wait till the psuedo-sequel Tom Yum Goong comes out here.

[Archivist]

I saw Ong Bak near the end of 2003 or so, on a Hong Kong VCD I bought online.  I had heard great things about it in Asian Cult Cinema, and I was not disappointed.  The plot had every martial arts/action movie cliche it could fit in, and the action was absolutely top notch.  It was like watching a great HK action flick from the late 80's; it's a shame they only do Canto-pop star nonsense movies now.

I saw it again in 2004 when it got a theatrical release, and the French distribution company had altered the soundtrack, removing the traditional Thai music from some fight scenes and chase scenes and replacing it with idiotic quasi hip hop beats, probably to give it more 'international appeal'.  Blah.  But all the action was still there, including an arm break and leg break that were excised from the HK release.

And Tony Jaa has come out with a new one:  Tom Yum Goong.  The trailers at www.tomyumgoongmovie.com are making me itch for the 'View Basket' button even as we speak...

~Archivist~