Dir.
Prachya Pinkaew, 2003, Thailand , 105 mins approx, subtitles
Cast:
Tony Jaa, Petchthai Wongkamlao, Pumwaree Yodkamol, Rungrawee Borrijindakul, Chetwut Wacharakun, Wannkit Siriput, Sukhaaw Phongwilal
Set in present day Thailand, the film begins in the village of Nong Pra-du, a Buddhist community centred around the 'Ong-Bak' statue, which the people believe protects the village. When the head of the statue is stolen by a criminal, Don (Wannkit Siriput), the villagers are thrown into a panic. Ting (Tony Jaa), a young man trained in the fighting skills of Muay Thai, volunteers to leave the village and retrieve the head before the community succumbs to famine. Journeying from his rural village to the urban environs of Bangkok , the good-hearted but naïve Ting bumps into George (Petchthai Wongkamlao), a petty criminal and who steals Ting's money to bet on a fight in a seedy club. Ting follows George to the club to retrieve the money and stumbles into a fight, which he easily wins. Ting is soon inadvertently caught up in George's scams and finds himself pursued by local thugs, but the essentially good-natured George promises to help Ting find the statue's head. Ting is soon on the trail of the thieving Don, who is connected to Khon Tuan (Sukhaaw Phongwilal), a crimelord who oversees the fight club bouts. It's not long before Ting is forced to use Muay Thai to help him defeat the bad guys and retrieve the head of 'Ong Bak'.
If you've never heard of Tony Jaa and Ong-Bak , odds are that you soon will. Jaa is a major new martial arts star in the making, and Ong-Bak is the film that showcases his amazing acrobatic and martial arts skills, in scene after scene of bone crunching fights and gravity defying stunt work. As well as a lengthy chase involving a fleet of three-wheeled taxis and an inventive foot chase through the alleys of Bangkok, there are a series of increasingly jaw dropping combat scenes that display Jaa's remarkable martial arts skills. In many sequences, Jaa's moves are slowed down and repeated, so that we can fully appreciate the skill involved in what he is doing, and see that it's achieved without the aid of wires or CGI. If there's a gripe about Ong Bak , it's that the film doesn't really allow Jaa to develop a distinctive screen persona. Ting is a rather bland version of the archetypal hero and he doesn't really possess any unique character ticks or personality quirks that may have endeared him more to audiences. Simply put, we admire Tony Jaa the star, not Ting the character. To be fair, this is Jaa's first starring role in a feature film, so it's not surprising that a unique star persona or character type has not established itself. Although Jaa isn't playing a particularly memorable character here, he more than compensates for this with his extraordinary range of physical skills. Jaa is being marketed as a combination of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and although he doesn't get the chance to portray a memorable character here, the skills he displays indicate that he's worthy of the comparison with these three greats. Ultimately, Ong Bak is less a story with characters enacting a drama and more a showcase for Tony Jaa, and on this score, audiences will surely be amazed and impressed.
Reviewed by Martyn Bamber
© Martyn Bamber, April 2005
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