“Thai kickboxing is very dangerous” The world of Muay Thai kickboxing has just opened up to Ting (Tony Jaa), after 21 years of training in the field of Muay Thai, it is time he finally used his skill. Ong Bak is truly the mother of all martial arts movies. Set in the streets of Bangkok, a gang infested world of drugs, motorcycle races, and fighting for money, that Ting must overpower his enemies and retrieve the sacred and worshiped head of Ong Bak. Whether it be deserting a mob by running through the streets – jumping over cars, school children and scaling high walls or engaging in more than half a dozen fights with random thugs. There is however, one predicament; will Ting be able to rescue Ong Bak’s head before the gangsters demolish it?
Prachya Pinkaew’s 2005 blockbuster cost approximately £4.3 million to produce however; it generated an astounding £30,407,319 million with a profit of £26,107,319 million (approximately). After the head of Ong Bak, which is worshiped by the villagers of Nong Pra-du, is cut off by Don (Wannakit Sirioput), a gangster, the villagers, who are now in bereft are determined to do whatever it takes to retrieve Ong Bak. The villagers implore Ting to venture out to Bangkok and retrieve the head. Along the way, he makes two new friends: Humlae (Petchtai Wongkamlao), the son of the villager’s chief, who has gone off to Bangkok, changed his name to George and become a local scam artist, scrounging for money and Muay (Pumwaree Yodkamol), Humlae’s partner in crime. But, will Ting and his friends be successful in retrieving Ong Bak’s head before the gangsters destroy it? Or will one of them die during the retrieval? What will happen to the village and its residents if Ong Bak’s is not bought back?
Ong Bak is a movie with “no stunt doubles, no computer graphics, and no wires” The “devastating martial art” moves performed by Tony Jaa is “the long overdue answer to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan” This is what makes Ong Bak such a magnificent and diverse movie – the sheerness of its martial arts. We see Ting engaging in many fights, whether it is forced or inevitable. However, as we see these fights take place, there is not one jaw dropped in the whole theater!
Ting, throughout the movie, stays absolute to his soul purpose of finding Ong Bak’s head, occasionally saving the damsel in distress. However, Ting is also distracted by Humlae’s persuasion of fighting to win money, and once in the ring, is forced to stay in till he clears all his opponents. Towards the end of the movie, Humlae and Muay’ attitude towards finding Ong Bak’s head change, I’ll leave it up to you to find out how.
As if the jaw-dropping martial arts scene is not enough to keep you entertained, and apart from retrieving Ong Bak’s head, there is also the side story(s) of: what is occurring in the village, could it be a disaster? What’s happened to Muay’s sister, could it be death?
So, after all that effort, did Ong Bak deserve its Academy awards? I, certainly think so! Ong Bak won: the Orient Express Award and the Action Asia Award. It was also nominated for: the OFCS Award and the Best Film Award. However, this production could not have been made without Tony Jaa’s expertise in Thai Boxing, excellent work Tony! Being a MA 15+ movie, I would highly recommend anyone over the age of 15 to watch it! It is an excellent movie and will always be number one for me!
