Ong-Bak (2003)
6/10
Starring
Tony Jaa
Petchtai Wongkamlao
Pumwaree Yodkamol
Directed by Prachya Pinkaew
I have never seen Ong-Bak before, but after seeing it I have to say
it is an okay movie. The cinematography was not that good and the
lines were cheesy, but the action and stunts were good enough to keep
me going.
It has a weird start, which made me almost not see the movie to the
end, but determination from the fact that when I was in the
university, this was a film everyone saw but me. In the end it was
worth it and I like the way Ting (played by Tony Jaa) was not
portrayed as overly naive. He was sharp and smart even though his
cousin seem to want to take advantage of him at every turn.
The fights were cool to see, but then there are times when it felt
like a showcase. I felt there were moves he did just to show us what
he can do.
Well, if you want to see what he can do, this movie does not hold
back and note, he did all his stunts.
The movie plot starts in a village in Thailand where a young man
named Ting is very skilled in Muay Thai. Ting was trained to know
that fighting for no just cause is wrong. We also get to meet a
greedy man who wants to buy artifacts from the village. The village
seems to have many artifacts which would fetch good money.
Same man returned and stole the head of a Buddha statue named
Ong-Bak. This devastated the villagers, one of them saw who stole it
and the information of his whereabouts in Bangkok was given to Ting
as he volunteered to go get the head back.
Ting was to find his cousin who stays in Bangkok so that he could
assist Ting for accommodation and the search. Unknown to the
villagers Ting’s cousin Humlae has turned to a nobody, unable to
pay his own way and in such gambling debts that his life was in
danger.
Humlae and his friend Muay are regular scammers on the street who are
in too deep for their own good.
Ting finds Humlae and gets dragged into his mess, while he still has
to locate the lost statue head that was stolen.
The movie plot is not so exciting when I come to think of it, but the
whole stunts were. The movie is good to watch for the stunts and the
fights. As long as you can overcome the distaste of repetition when
he does a cool stunt. Seeing him doing it again in different camera
angles may look cool the first time, but then becomes annoying when
it happens all the time.
See it if you want to see the movie that gave Tony Jaa his big break.
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