Ong Bak is Thai for action
Muay Thai may not be the prettiest or most graceful martial art but its effectiveness is unquestionable. Tony Jaa (Phanom Yeeram) is one of Muay Thai's finest exponents.
Ong Bak (องค์บาก) is a recent Thai movie starring Tony Jaa. While Jaa may not yet be well known outside his own country, judging from his performance in this movie his name could soon rank alongside the likes of Jackie Chan and Jet Li.
What Ong Bak lacks in production values it more than makes up with the most extraordinary fast paced action scenes. And unlike most movies today there are no wires, digital effects or stunt doubles.
The plot of the movie is quite simple. Tony Jaa goes to Bangkok to recover "Ong Bak", the sacred Buddha image that has been stolen from his village. A series of fights and chases then begins and hardly relents. I watched the film in Thai without subtitles. Although I couldn't understand much of the dialogue I had no trouble understanding what was going on.
This movie is well worth watching as great entertainment and as an exposition of Tony Jaa's martial arts skills.
Links
- Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior
- Ong-bak - Internet Movie Database
- Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior - Wikipedia article
- Tony Jaa - unofficial fan site (in English)
