Ong Bak - Guerreiro Sagrado

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior more than exceeded my expectations. I have been waiting for nearly a year since I first heard of it to actually see it and it did not let me down. Although the movie started a bit slow, after about half an hour, things began to pick up and the movie never looked back.

Ong-Bak is about a small town villager named Ting (Tony Jaa), who sets out to find the head of his beloved sacred statue, which was stolen. Ting finds his long lost cousin from the village, Humlae (Perttary Wongkamlao), who at first claims to not know Ting until he sees that his village did not send him alone, but with a bag of cash to use as he sees necessary to get the statue head back. This is our first real look at Tony Jaa's talents, as the first chase scene begins after Humlae takes off with the bag on his motorcycle. Amazingly, Ting follows Humlae all the way to a pit fighter type of place where the real action begins.

Although the plot is pretty thin, it is more than made up for by Jaa's entertaining and seemingly impossible stunts. The movie plays up the stunts big, as it claims no stunt-men, no wires, no CGI, etc. With all that in mind, this movie is pretty mind boggling. Comparisons to Jackie Chan are going to be inevitable, and not undeserving. I can only imagine what the two of them could have accomplished if they did a movie together while Chan was younger. Simply amazing. 8/10

This movie is just great. There are no words to explain how classicly the actions has been choreographed. Tony Ja is simply great and beyond comparison. Bruce, Jet and Jackie took a couple of movies to reach the top in my favorite list..But Tony Ja is at the top in one shot. Sure I would add this movie as No.1 in my top 5 list of action movies ever. The first chase in the streets is one spectacular proof of Tony's efforts. The thai free style kickboxing is simply superb.

Sure a BIG feast for any action lovers.

Regards, Venkat.

The storyline is predictable, but the visual and the fights makes up for it. I understand why people compare the lead actor with Jet Li. They both have that presence on screen, the amazing flexibility and fighting sequences. Outstanding acrobatic movements when running from the bad guys in the street and it was good to see the shots from different angles.

It reminds me of some Jet Li's better fighting sequences before he took to the wires. This is the kind of martial arts film that makes me smile and cheer.

If you like martial arts films, then you'll sure to like this.

In terms of sheer athleticism and martial artistry, Tony Jaa certainly lives up to his billing as 'the Next Bruce Lee'. He puts the kick into this quick-fry Thai fightfest that mixes dynamic set-pieces with skull-splitting one-on-ones. It should also remind fans of the Crouching Hero, Flying Dagger brand of Eastern blockbuster (including myself) that Oriental action cinema was founded on action without safety nets, never mind all that fancy wirework and colour-coordinated mysticism.

But for all his physical prowess, Jaa falls short of Bruce Lee (and even Jet Li) when it comes to charisma, sounding nervous and looking slightly uncomfortable in the action-free scenes. Director Pinkaew perhaps recognises that Jaa will need time to build his own screen persona, so wisely gives him very little to say. I wish the same could be said of screechy female sidekick Muay who is both an irritation and a distraction. However, quibbling too much about the acting would be churlish.

Who cares that the plot's straight out of The A-Team when the adrenaline flows this thick and fast? The foot pursuit through Bangkok's backstreets is not just five minutes of pure exhilaration, it turns a few chase clichés on their heads (uh-oh, look out for those two guys carrying panes of glass across the road… hold on a minute!). There are even replays of the most jaw-dropping bits so that you can believe what you just saw.

Saying that Ong Bak was a bad movie because of the weak story is like saying that the Simpsons is a bad series because of the lack of continuity from show to show.

YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT! The story is only there to loosely tie together the fact that this guy is being a badass. Which he is. There were only a FEW fight scenes? What are you talking about? There were so many fight scenes and chase scenes and the like. Every time you thought you saw the coolest thing ever, he breaks out another move that STILL totally blows you away. The only reason that this movie exists is simply to showcase Phanom Yeerum's skills as a martial artist and an acrobat, which frankly, is enough for me.

*sigh* If you care so much about story, steer clear. If you have any interest whatsoever is the GENRE of martial arts movies (where the quality of the story is usually not the primary concern), watch this movie. You won't be sorry.