Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/02/2010 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: RNo computer graphic can ever surpass what a real human body can do–and what the body can do is on spectacular display in Ong-Bak, a Thai action movie starring the lithe and flexible Tony Jaa. When the head is stolen from a holy statue in Jaa’s rural village, he goes to Bangkok to get it back. Of course, it just so happens that the thief is connected to a bar where criminal big shots gamble over bare-knuckle brawls, and Jaa is–despite his virtuous efforts–drawn into the game. But that’s only the beginning; a chase through the city streets rivals the ingenious acrobatics of Jackie Chan, with Jaa leaping between panes of glass, over a bicycle in motion, and through a wreath of barbed wire. Jaa’s fighting prowess has been compared to Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and just about every other martial arts master, but he has an equal degree of charisma as well. He won’t win acting awards, but his engaging presence carries the movie. One word of warning: The numerous fights will make you wince as much as gape in astonishment. Ong-Bak follows the action-flick tradition that the hero needs to be as battered as possible before he ultimately triumphs, and the battering is intense. –Bret Fetzer
Buy “Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior “ For Only $14.20
March 10, 2008
#1
the action scenes are all computer generated. They can do wonderful things with special effects nowaday. Makes everything look real when theyre really not. Hope that clears things up. Please click helpful on my review.
March 10, 2008
#2
Tony Jaa maybe a great athlete/stuntman, but he sucks as an actor. No on-screen presence, an annoyingly high voice – if he bleated “Humlae!” one more time… – and, what’s worse in this movie, is that he is surrounded by other bad actors. No story, no character, no entertainment – except for Jaa’s stunts (which were *always* run twice with a first- and second-camera arrangement that would drive you crazy). Look, there’s more to a movie than stunts. Just stunts, no story: that’s a circus,folks. It’s almost like the old days of porn: guys and girls just doing it before Dirk Diggler discovered that, hey, you could add a real plot and acting. Yeah, let’s put on a show in the barn!
Maybe Tony can mature as an actor. Maybe he can get better scripts. (And not surround himself with annoying actor-cliches.) Even the august Jackie Chan started somewhere. But really, don’t you long for the days of Bruce Lee?
March 10, 2008
#3
I’m sorry to say but the bootleg version I watched of this was waaay better than this dvd version of the film.The bootleg wasnt mine haha but I watched it cuz my friend had it and I thought the film was hella tight.So I decided I’d buy it when it dropped on dvd.I just bought this dvd not even thinking they might re-edit it from the theater release and now I’m not sure if the bootleg I watched was the foreign cut or the US theater release cuz I never seen it in theaters so I wouldnt know.But I know that the little edits they did make on this dvd and certain scenes that were cut out and the fact I pretty much watched the better version enough times to notice the difference makes this dvd version WACK as hell.It had a whole different feel to the film overall.It is minor changes they made but they made a big difference.If this version were the one I’d seen first I wouldnt have wanted to buy it.Does anybody know the regular version I’m talking about and know where I can buy that? One little change to help you folks to know what version I’m talking about in case you have info on where to get it.In the first cut of this movie I watched,when Ting first gets to the city he meets his cousin “Dirty Ballz” and that was a funny scene but in this dvd version he only calls him “Humlae” and just killed the mood of that scene.So if yall know where to get the version I’m lookin for please reply.This movie isnt bad,just this version of it.Other than that this movie is the sh*t.
March 10, 2008
#4
i bought this movie from [...] a month after it came out in theaters. I saw both and having the chance to have seen it several times I can say that the action is really well but the acting is virtually non existant and a lot of the dialogue is not believeable…i don’t know if thats from bad translation or from bad in movie dialogue but nothing is really believable in the entire movie other then the fighting
March 11, 2008
#5
I don’t care that the Thai Warrior does his own stunts. I don’t care if he doesn’t use wires. All I wanted were well-choreographed fight scenes. Sure, the Thai Warrior is a very agile stuntman, but the choreography looks like a 2 year old was in charge. The Thai Warrior does the same moves over and over again – and he always ends each fight with that flying elbow attack. That move looks boring, and worse, any competent fighter worth his while could probably think of at least 2,000 ways to counter that lame-looking move.
At one in the movie, we’re treated to a chase scene that DRAGS and DRAGS FOREVER and EVER. It seemed like 5-10 minutes of seeing the Thai Warrior jumping in the air and doing splits over various obstacles. Congratulations to the actor for his agility, but unfortunately for us, it’s not very entertaining to watch after the first 2-3 jumps. If I wanted to see someone jumping through hoops, I’d go to the circus.
Sure, this guy’s acrobatic, but the fight scenes are far BELOW par. If you want to see good fight scenes, go check out a Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan or Jet Li movie. But if you want to see a 90 minute audition tape for the circus, go watch “Ong-Bak.”