This is it. After the long wait for the revival of the gritty, awe-inspiring Hong Kong martial arts film, it finally comes from Thailand in the form of Ong-Bak—complete with a sparse, simple narrative, gravity-defying stunts and gorgeous action direction. Star Tony Jaa deserves much of the credit for his stylish fighting blend of Muay Thai and gymnastics without the aid of any CGI or wirework, but director Prachya Pinkaew never misses a beat in capturing the splendor of the feats performed by Jaa or Panna Rittikrai’s near-suicidal stunt team. This is a film where everyone involved wants to take the genre into a new, exciting place, and they are willing to break bones, catch on fire and fall flat from towering trees to do it.
Ong-bak’s story begins when a poor village’s prized Buddha statue is robbed of its head and taken to the city to be sold to a crime boss collector. The villagers are quite distressed, expecting a drought from the angry gods, so Ting, a young Muay Thai trained man from the village, volunteers to journey into the city and bring back the head. Within twenty minutes, Tony Jaa’s Ting is simply dropped into the city to begin his search and the film takes off with escalating action sequences from street brawls and underground fight clubs to explosive Tuk-Tuk chases in the middle of the city highways.
Viewers may deride the film for its poor narrative, but in fact, the simplicity comes as a blessing. While the plot has its share of misguided and contrived tangents for supporting characters, it succeeds remarkably with the straightforward story of a morally righteous lead that refuses to be deterred from his search for the head and his revenge. There are no complicated plot turns or betrayals. There are no conversations when punches can be thrown instead. There are simply one dimensionally evil characters, doing comically evil things on screen and a hero that sets things right. This is a simple world meant to highlight epic, complex action motivated by strong, uncomplicated emotions.
This phenomenal action is what sets the film apart. Jaa engages in everything from one-on-one fights to epic one-versus-many battles filled with beautiful flurries of kicks, painful knee attacks and leaping elbow drops to put other recent action films to shame. The action is splendidly shot with wide angles, rarely cutting away from the stunts—and it is well paced, always surprising the viewer with new moves and new props to be handled creatively. The film builds and builds without repetition and it reaches an energetic and cathartic climax.
And that’s not to mention Tony Jaa’s acrobatic skills, displayed in a needlessly long and showy chase scene through city backstreets, as he flips through conveniently timed mirror movers, or somersaults market stands without disrupting the flow of business. He proceeds to slide under cars, hurdle over others, walk along the heads five men and scale walls without a sweat. Jaa’s sequences often double as stunt reels, harkening back to 80’s Jackie Chan flicks where centerpiece stunts were repeated multiple times as if to tell the viewer: “Yes, you just witnessed that.”
Of course, you will want to watch it again and again. Though it has its minor faults, Ong-Bak is a huge crowd-pleaser, and hopefully the start of a new wave of jaw-dropping martial arts films. If you miss the wide-eyed wonder and sheer glee you felt when you first saw Bruce Lee destroy twenty men at once in Fist of Fury, Jackie Chan break every bit of glass in the Pollce Story climax or Jet Li fight in the Once Upon a Time in China ladder sequence, then Ong-Bak is just the film to take you back there.
Reviewed by Tarun
