It’s got a bare bones story and is really not much more than a demo reel of what star Tony Jaa can do, but damn if he isn’t better than Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee put together!
Ok, that’s slight hyperbole but he’s at least as good as Chan in his prime and does stuff that looks like it should be physically impossible, but are framed in a way that show they aren’t aided.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen better fight scenes in a movie!
Plus, I had no idea there was a Thai film industry, much less one capable of coming up with the the budget that this movie looks like it had.
Augh. Damn Hamsters. Here’s what I think I wrote the first time (and some better grammar hopefully):
a) Best ever? Nah. Jaa was brilliant physically, but he has no charisma. Two things that I couldn’t stand:
All those “instant replays.” They really destroyed the pacing to show that they didn’t use any wires.
The standard goofy opponents. Guy who has silly hair and is a priss, guy who uses furniture, Racist White Guy, etc.
The random cuts back to the village showing the effects of having Ong-Bak’s head stolen were likewise tedious.
One more thing: The complete ambiguity of throwing the rope-fist fight. Was it a tough decision? Was it going to fuck up his karma? Apparently not. And why the hell did the Burmese guy have to use steroids to win a fixed fight? Poor economy of writing, I’d wager
However, I did love the action, espeically the flaming pants and the running on guys’ shoulders and, last but certainly not least:
THE GIANT BUDDHA-HEAD. I was waiting for it to explode, but what they ended up doing with it was so much cooler.
Just saw it a couple of weeks ago and loved it. The plot was thinner than most video games, but it was full of fantastic stunts with some nice humor touches as well.
Hero and sidekick are being chased by thugs through a market street. Sidekick grabs a giant meat cleaver off a butcher’s stall and turns to face the thugs. Thugs stop, unsure of what to do. For a moment, they’re in a standoff, until an old woman carrying a loaded basket slowly walks between them chanting:
“Knives for sale!”
Cut to: Sidekick running for his life as now every thug has a meat cleaver, too!
I fell for the hype and watched it. The stunts are cool, the story kinda sucks, the fighting gets tedious. I know the guy practices muai thai but all those knee and elbow hits get repetitive very quickly. And this comes from someone who like thai boxing.
