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Chris and I don't go to the movies very often - the price of admission is so high, and people are so annoying, that it's generally better to wait for the DVD, pop up some microwave popcorn, and enjoy it in the comfort of our own home. Occasionally, however, we make an exception and catch something really good in the theatre. If it looks really awesome, we even see it while it's still in the first-run theatres. Ong Bak - The Thai Warrior was certainly awesome-looking enough to merit viewing within its first week of release.
You see, when the first trailer showed up on Quicktime's website, they made some spiel about how this new "Tony Jaa" guy was taking what Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li had done to new levels. Here was another skilled martial artist who did all of his own stunts - no wires, no trick cameras, no body doubles, etc etc. Now, that was all very good and nice, but the fact that they were trying to tout him as the newest martial arts legend (and comparing him, no less, to the man himself, Jet Li - no, I'm not a raving fan girl or anything...) in his first American movie, if not his first movie altogether, seemed a bit egotistical.
Then we saw the second trailer, which demonstrated an excellent sense of humor and showed some awesome fight scenes. Since we're fans of the Muay Thai style and martial arts movies in general, it was decided that we would indeed give Tony Jaa and his Ong Bak movie the first-run treatment. So when it finally hit Tucson (over a month after being released) we grabbed a couple of like-minded friends and hit the only screen it was playing on.
Holy crap, what a movie!
The plot is nothing to write home about - the head of a small village's buddha statue (The Ong Bak of the title) is stolen by corrupt city guys. Nice guy and Muay Thai expert Ting (played by Tony Jaa) volunteers to return the head in time for the important festival. He then has to beat the crap out of half the people in the city to get the head back. Oh, and drugs and gangsters are bad. The end.
But honestly - you're not going to the movie for the plot. You're going to the movie to see if Tony Jaa is the next Lee/Chan/Li. I think it's too early yet to decide, but the potential is there. He has a certain charisma, an incredible body (duh) and a martial arts style that most Americans probably aren't familiar with. If you aren't familiar with Muay Thai, let me tell you - it's brutal. You have probably never seen more extras get elbowed in the top of the head, kicked in the back of the head, kneed viciously, and generally pummeled to a pulp by a hero who has toughened his body so much that he feels virtually no pain.
In addition to the many, many fight scenes, Ong Bak features the greatest chase scene I've seen in a while! If you are familiar with Jackie Chan's movies, you will definitely see his influence in this foot chase. The hero and his friend are chased through the city by a gang of angry thugs. The hero is of course more nimble than the thugs, and runs, jumps, and dodges through and around things that everyone else crashes into. While the scene occasionally seems like a resume for Jaa - "Watch me nimbly jump through this barbed-wire hoop!" - the humor throughout it will doubtlessly keep you entertained.
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