TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

rdoyle29 When criminals steal the head of their Buddha statue, a young warrior from a Thai village travels to Bangkok to get it back. This film has a fairly perfunctory plot and is really a showcase for Tony Jaa's Muay Thai skills and for the outrageous stunt skills on display here. On those terms, it's really impressive with one small flaw ... it climaxes way too early. There's a fight sequence in the middle of the film with Jaa fighting an escalating series of enemies in a bar that is so good that it completely overshadows the second half of the film. The film's actual climax is a let down by comparison.

zardoz-13 "Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior" wasn't the first film in which Tony Jaa appeared, but it was the first one to make international audiences sit up and pay attention to him. This action-packed martial arts thriller about Muay Thai kickboxing is a high-octane, fast-paced, stunt-laden epic with Jaa performing all his own fighting, running, jumping, and hitting. Director Prachya Pinkaew has helmed one exciting movie, and you cannot say you've seen every good martial arts actioneer if you've somehow missed or skipped "Ong-Bak," which cost a little over a million dollars but grossed over twenty million worldwide. The screenplay by "Born to Fight" scenarist Panna Rittikrai and co-scribe Prachya Pinkaew of "The Protector" bristles with stock characters and formulaic shenanigans, but the dazzling action scene choreographed by Tony Jaa provide some memorable moments during this 105-minute opus.Tony Jaa portrays the superbly fit hero who is often referred to a 'country boy' by people in the city. As Ting, Tony Jaa has been taught Muay Thai, but the priest who instructed him hopes that he will refrain from deploying this deadly skill set. The tiny village that Ting grew up in is poised to celebrate their village deity Ong-Bak with a festival that occurs once every twenty-four years. A village elder has summoned a notorious drug dealer from Bangkok, Don (Wannakit Sirioput), to appraise a family amulet, but the individual refuses to part from it at any price. Later, Don and his henchmen remove the head of Ong-Bak from the Buddhist statue and flee with it. Uncle Mao (Chumphorn Thepphithak) interrupts the thieves and one of them clobbers him with a plank and they leave him unconscious as they flee. The Pradu villages are frightened by this turn of events with the impending festival long in the works. They want somebody to find the statue's head and bring it back before seven days is up when the festival begins. Ting (Tony Jaa) volunteers for the assignment and the village shells out some money for him to survive on during his journey. Literally, the country boy heads to Bangkok in a ramshackle bus. Once he arrives in Bangkok, he goes looking for Humlae (Petchtai Wongkamlao) who has told his father that he is waiting to be ordained as a monk. Humlae is a con artist who works with a girl, Muay Lek (Pumwaree Yodkamol), to scrap together money. Typically, Humlae owes money to somebody. When he meets Ting, he spots our hero's money and immediately appropriates it for his own use. Usually, Humlae) loses when he bets on anything or anybody. He owes a thug named Peng (Cheathavuth Watcharakhun) a pile of dough. Anyway, Humlae lets Ting crash at his pad and promises to provide him with information on the whereabouts of Don. Later, we learn what a ruthless character Don is when he wastes cocaine on a prostitute, Ngek (Rungrawee Barijindakul), simply to kill her. Don is a first-rate bastard. Indeed, all the villains in "Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior." This turns out to be particularly true of the chief villain, Komtuan (Suchao Pongwilai of "Deathwave"), who is not only confined to a wheelchair but also relies on an electrolarynx in order to talk. He operates a night club where bets are placed on any kind of fighting. Eventually, Humlae takes Ting to this den of crime, and Ting impresses everybody with his close-quarters combat skills and his use of Muay Thai to whip four formidable opponents who never give our hero a break."Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior" is a good movie with lots of first-class stunt work and fight scenes. The death of Komtuan is especially fitting since he is the mastermind behind Don.

Adam Foidart The simple story of "Ong-Bak" is enough to carry the audiences through, but poorly developed characters means that the martial arts by Tony Jaa are the real highlight of the movie. The martial arts work are impressive and varied from scene to scene and mixing chases with fights against increasingly difficult opponents means that you will be excited to see what comes next. Some of the stunts here are unlike anything you have ever seen (except maybe in exaggerated animated films) and if you're a fan of kung-fu films, or if you're OK with non-stop action with a thin storyline and non-characters, you'll be blown away.Watching this movie, it got me thinking. In this age of CGI and quick-cut editing, there's a real lack of material for people who like seeing real physical performances like dancing, martial arts/fighting, singing and other stunt work. There's probably a lot of that market that can be crossed over as well. I mean while we have "Step Up" style extreme dancing, maybe the thin story lines those movies have can be spiced up with the elements of these type of martial arts films. You already have people jumping around and doing flips and crazy stunts so why not? Maybe a kung-fu musical where we don't get a thousand cuts and we get the actors to sing as they are doing the actions (instead of dubbing them in post) could be a real eye-opener for fans of either genre. Does that sound so crazy? It's starting to make sense to me. With that in mind, even if a movie about martial arts doesn't sound like your thing, give this one a try because the stunt work is impressive and there is a lot of enjoyment that can be had knowing that on screen you're actually seeing real people throwing punches and kicks at each other. (On DVD, August 12, 2012)

owen9825 This movie appealed to me because of the fight scenes, but even that wasn't enough to keep me interested.I was dragged through tiresome clichés and a plot that was unbearably predictable and dull. Amateur film-makers tried to stick to a formula, but they failed to execute it properly.The bloke in the wheelchair had breathing problems because he's the boss of the bad guys; there was a girl because there has to be a girl (she had no reason to be involved in any of the story); bad guys make poor decisions just so they can be evil; and the good guy doesn't use guns because good guys don't use guns :/There's no CGI in the fight scenes, but that doesn't stop them from looking frustratingly staged, especially when we get to review each big move three times.