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Ong-Bak 2003 Directed by; Prachya Pinkaew
Ong -Bak is your typical asian kung-fu flick, complete with all the cliches. Basically this film was made to showcase Thailand's new martial arts superstar Tony Jaa's particular brand of Muay Thai kickboxing. The story revolves around a stolen sacred Budha's head from Ting's(Tony Jaa) village. Ting sets off to Bangkok to retrieve his villages sacred ornament.
All the cliches are here, the former villager turned bad boy who eventually redeems himself, the annoying nasal voiced female sidekick(her voice is a form of torture, I kept hoping she would be killed off for the sake of my sanity) the evil genius who masterminds the theft of the Budha head, his ever so evil sidekick/right hand man, and the usual bunch of extras who grow to love the simple country boy hero.
Tony Jaa is indeed a very talented martial artist, Muay Thai is more direct and brutal form of martial art, compared to recent years more baletic performances in films such as Crouching Tiger..., Hero, and House of Flying Daggers. My main problem with this film, was that the story was very weak, and the movie was fleshed out with needless and unbelieveable set pieces for Jaa to show off. After about an hour, I didn't care any more about the film, and even the fight scenes had become repeatative and boring, similar to Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Segal movies, a few nifty fight scenes does not a great movie make.
This movie is only for Muay Thai kickboxing fanatics, a return to the old days of bad chop sockey movies that are instantly forgetable.
Rating 1/5
Ong -Bak is your typical asian kung-fu flick, complete with all the cliches. Basically this film was made to showcase Thailand's new martial arts superstar Tony Jaa's particular brand of Muay Thai kickboxing. The story revolves around a stolen sacred Budha's head from Ting's(Tony Jaa) village. Ting sets off to Bangkok to retrieve his villages sacred ornament.
All the cliches are here, the former villager turned bad boy who eventually redeems himself, the annoying nasal voiced female sidekick(her voice is a form of torture, I kept hoping she would be killed off for the sake of my sanity) the evil genius who masterminds the theft of the Budha head, his ever so evil sidekick/right hand man, and the usual bunch of extras who grow to love the simple country boy hero.
Tony Jaa is indeed a very talented martial artist, Muay Thai is more direct and brutal form of martial art, compared to recent years more baletic performances in films such as Crouching Tiger..., Hero, and House of Flying Daggers. My main problem with this film, was that the story was very weak, and the movie was fleshed out with needless and unbelieveable set pieces for Jaa to show off. After about an hour, I didn't care any more about the film, and even the fight scenes had become repeatative and boring, similar to Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Segal movies, a few nifty fight scenes does not a great movie make.
This movie is only for Muay Thai kickboxing fanatics, a return to the old days of bad chop sockey movies that are instantly forgetable.
Rating 1/5