Ong-bak 3 - L'ultime combat

Pretty much everything I have to say is already out there in different reviews, but I'm going to say it anyway. The acting is bad, the dialogue atrocious and the storyline confusing. This I wouldn't care for, if they hadn't spent so much bloody time on it. I expected to see Tony Jaa kick ass, but as many of you pointed out, there's almost none of that as well. Especially the final fight is very disappointing and if you've watched the previous Tony Jaa movies you know all his moves by now. While I appreciate the effort to make a "real" film instead of an action flick, it was done horribly as the cinematics are awful: numerous completely pointless close-ups and weak special effects make it look like a college project at times. Special mention goes to the Comic relief character; never have worse humorous attempts been put to film.

Recently I was re-watching all of the Ong Bak trilogy and found it much better than a decade ago. Obviously part one is a milestone and true classic of martial arts movies. The 2nd installement was set in a different time and thus did not feature modern muay thai/muay boran. For part 2 I recommend, to try and get hold of the european cut, that runs about 20 minutes longer, than the theatrical version. Then we come to this here part three. Yes, it's the weakest of the trilogy, yes it cannot live up to what most of us fans hoped for. BUT, it's not half as bad, as some people want you to think. I am not Thai, so I need to watch it with subtitles, but it's still giving me joy, when I understand part of the conversation. And concerning the "lack of action" that some reviewers mentioned before me, the first part of the movie is really rather historic or telling the background, but the final twenty minutes, are outstanding. And to combine classical siamese dance moves with muay thai/muay boran is not an easy feat, the coreography is beautiful in my personal view.

Just take it for what it is and enjoy, don't try to find a deeper truth within.

Picking up directly where we last left off in that cliffhanger ending in Part 2 after an opening credits montage to quickly jog our memory, we see how Tien gets systematically broken down by the many minions of his nemesis Lord Rajasena (Sarunyoo Wongkrachang). Here's where I think the Thai audience have the last laugh with their recent censor ratings. Ong Bak 3 is rating an 18+ there, and over here, we got by with an NC16. Not so bad I thought to myself, until the first 5 minutes saw a number of badly executed butchering of the film, that I balked. We should have gone M18 to be in line, and perhaps those torture scenes would have survived the censors scissors. But no thanks to the distributors who decided to try and make this film appeal to a larger Jaa audience. Surprisingly though the more violent moments later on in the film were left untouched, scenes that I felt were violent enough with the likes of a decapitation, and face/head stomp to warrant an axe under the NC16 rating. But I guess I'm not a censor.

Anyway, action fans may feel a little bit disappointed with this installment which ran just over 90 minutes. For the first hour we only have limited battle sequences involving our hero, so savour whatever you can in his fight for survival against hordes of weapon wielding enemies who have the unfair advantage of strength in numbers against a badly beaten (just came off those numerous fights from Ong Bak 2) Tien. Totally broken and just as he's about to be executed, Tien gets saved by the bell and brought back to the village of Kana Khone, where another fight ensues involving his new rescuers against Rajasena's assassins.

Then it's a good plod onto the hour mark, where Tien goes through a reincarnation of sorts, involving body wraps, mystical chants, Master Bua (Nirut Sirichanya) turning to monkhood and imparting pearls of wisdom, the rehabilitation of body, mind and soul, time for romance with Pim (Primorata Dejudom) his pillar of strength, discussions of karmic philosophy and the circle of life. Tien has to unlearn what he has learnt, and basically has to snap all the bones of his body back in place before he can practice martial arts again, which brings us a bearded Jaa and a training montage in a tree, under water, showing off a lean though scarred body, and is that a little paunch I see as well?

So while Tien takes a breather of sorts for his transformation, the duty of keeping the action junkies entertained fell on Dan Chupong's shoulders, as his very short supporting role as the Crow Ghost got expanded here, with his motivation fully revealed. His character soars to evil heights here, taking over the mantle as chief villain, and allowing Chupong to reintroduce himself as an action star to be reckoned with in his own right. Those who have seen Born to Fight and Dynamite Warrior will know what he is capable of, and I really salute him for daring to take on a negative role just to spar with Jaa on screen.

But what a letdown when they finally get together to do battle. Overall I found their sparring quite weak compared to what had been done earlier in the film involving other exponents, and the finishing blow was quite a letdown. Already the number of fights and spars here were limited to begin with, one even involving the architecture of the mind (sorry, Inception still fresh), and this one just didn't pack enough oomph. It's built up to be something like Tien being a Moses to lead his people, captive by the Crow to be slaves getting constantly whipped, back to their promised land, and hey, he even comes with a staff that got dropped off after a magical moment got executed, in time for fisticuffs.

The only positive coming out from this new Tien, is his new fighting ability. Tien is now more graceful, thanks to the fusion of dance to his moves, and the many moments when this parallel that dance brings to the table, got heavy emphasis, meshing what we usually think of as effeminate, to giving that suppleness to the more masculine moves involving elbows and knees to bone-crunching effect. This to-the-point moves were not forgotten of course, and come in the form of very economical, sometimes comical, but always simple, strikes involving forearms and a rigid body trained to be as hard as steel. I still miss those drunken fists moves from the earlier film, and the insanely choreographed finale battles then, which this one had tried to emulate, only to be a pale shadow of its former's glory.

Comedian Petchtai Wongkamiao provided some comic relief in a film that took itself quite seriously, and I think in light of some of the themes that were handled in quite a verbose manner, this was much appreciated. Ong Bak 3 straddles martial arts and philosophy very openly and tried to strike a fair balance between the two, but alas it came off as quite a schizophrenic film very much like True Legend in spirit. I hope the Ong Bak 2 and 3 episodes don't tank Tony Jaa's career, because I'm sure he has enough in reserve to wow audiences once again, should the right story come along that pushes his physical boundaries.

It's a martial arts film. Nothing more. Jaa is one of the best movie fighters on the business and that is what you get after seeing this movie: a fun and amazing experience from one of the best martial artists of today. If you want "something more", go on and watch "The Notebook" or something like that.

For those who doesn't think that a movie should always try to be a "masterpiece", this is their kind of movie: pure fun, full of kicks, a history of vengeance, some love, and a lot of people getting kicked on the head.

Maybe is not at the height of Ong Bak 1, but it doesn't mean that it isn't a good film to watch if you like martial arts flicks.

Well, picking up where part 2 left you hanging, the 3rd installment of the "Ong Bak" movies was somewhat of a disappointment. Why? Well...

The storyline was almost non-existent, and whatever story was being told there was told in a really confusing and weird way, so it was difficult to make any sense of the movie.

It seemed like this was a showcase of how cool can we make Tony Jaa look? Let's put him in front of all these wonderful, beautiful scenic locations and have him work out his martial arts there. That was what most of the movie was about. Sure, the scenes were nice, and sure Tony Jaa sure knows how to fight and show it, but it is a very weak broth to make soup of.

The action and fight scenes were top of the line, as always with Tony Jaa movies. And there is something very dynamic and energetic to his movements and fighting style. So, if you like that, then this movie doesn't let you down in that department.

As for the acting? Well, not much of that actually going on here, to be honest. It is mostly just showing off Tony Jaa and have these really cool images of ancient Thai traditions shown off on the movie. Honestly, I liked seeing those cultural scenes, but again, not really something that can carry a movie.

I think "Ong Bak 3" is pretty much as weak as the 2nd part, except the story in this one is more confusing. They should have stopped after the original "Ong Bak" movie which was a blast of an action movie.

I was disappointed with this movie, and I was actually just sitting through it at the end to watch Tony Jaa fight and show what he can do. The movie lost me somewhere in the beginning already, because it was way too confusing and didn't really come together in a greater sense. Lots of action, but that is about it that this movie has to offer. Which is a shame.