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Released by: Fox
Released on: 2/2/2010
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Cast: Tony Jaa, Mum Jokmok, Pumwahzree Yodkamol, Suchoa Pongvilai
Year: 2003
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The Movie:
The film that made Tony Jaa an internationally known action star, Ong Bak takes place in a remote village somewhere in rural Thailand. Here we meet a young man named Ting (Tony Jaa) who was raised by monks and trained in the art of Muay Thai. When a criminal from Bangkok named Don (Wannakit Sirioput) steals the head of their Buddha, Ong Bak, and takes it back to the city with him, the villagers pool together what little money they have and send Ting after him to get it back. When he arrives, he finds his cousin, Humlae (Petchtai Wongkamlao), who is going under the name George and trying to hide his small town roots. Humlae is in a bit of a bad place, he's in debt to some gangsters and can't seem to resist wagering whatever cash he comes up with at the local underground fight club.
Eventually Ting has to stand up for his cousin and when everyone realizes he's a natural born ass kicker, everyone from Humlae to the local crime bosses want him to compete. He's not interested in fighting for money, all he wants is to get Ong Bak's head back so that he can return to his small town home. Eventually, Humlae agrees to help him find Don, well known in Bangkok for his ties to a local crime boss who is running a business specializing in stealing national treasures, but the loan sharks that Humlae owes money to want their cash and Don and the local gangsters aren't going to let him take the head back without a fight.
The plot is straight forward and very simply but it does exactly what it needs to and that's to set up each one of a successive series of action set pieces that allow Tony Jaa to strut his stuff. You wanna see him spin around and kick people in the face? Ok. He'll do that. But he's also acrobatic enough and limber enough that in addition to the impressive sparring scenes we get to watch him jump and flip over cars, slip through rolls of wire, fit through narrow panes of glass without breaking them and zip underneath moving vehicles without the aid of CGI or wirework. Jaa might not have the emotional range of better known martial arts superstars like Jackie Chan or Jet Li (both of whom can act) but his distant and stoic turn as Ting works in the context of the character he's playing here. His training dictates that he doesn't use his skills for profit and his reluctance to do so provides Jaa's character with enough inner turmoil that he's more than just a random cardboard action dude.
Petchtai Wongkamlao is amusing as the primary source of comic relief in the film. Looking ridiculous with his short, bleach blonde hair and sometimes flamboyant dress style, he's the consummate wannabe player. Whether he's scamming motorcycle racers, rigging card games or getting a fight thrown he's believable and entertaining as the 'would be hustler.' His character's evolution in the later part of the film may be predictable but it seems inevitable.
That said, you're not signing up for a movie like this for the plot or the performances, you're signing up for the action scenes and on that level the film definitely does deliver. It may not start off as a whirlwind of martial arts insanity but it definitely builds to that level very quickly and it's hard to imagine anyone who appreciates action and martial arts films not having a really good time with this one.
Video/Audio/Extras:
To be blunt, Ong-Bak looks pretty bad on Blu-ray. The AVC encoded 1.85.1 1080p anamorphic widescreen transfer was taken from the original 35mm negative according to information included on the disc, but detail is murky and colors look flat. The image is grainy and often very noisy looking and detail doesn't look much better than the SD release of the film that came out a few years back. The picture is murky and poorly defined, black levels tend to look dark grey, and skin tones and detail are often lacking in texture. Yuck.
Audio options are supplied in the film's original Thai and in an English dub, both in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio with optional subtitles offered up in English and Spanish. While this is a very front heavy mix that almost sounds like a pumped up stereo presentation, it doesn't sound bad. There are some good directional effects, the electronica score pumps and bumps with sufficient thump and the levels are reasonably well balanced. The effects don't have as much punch to them as you might want them to and often things sound a little on the flat side but the mix is at least properly balanced and if its unremarkable, it's at least sufficient.
What's included here, as far as the supplements go, is a collection of brief featurettes starting with a bit called Live Tony Jaa And Stuntmen Performance (2:34) piece that shows Jaa and some of his cohorts exhibiting their skills in front of an appreciative French audience for two and a half minutes. There's another bit on Jaa's art called The Movement Of Muay Thai (1:43) that explains some of the stances that Jaa's character uses in the film, and a collection of deleted footage included in the B-Roll (2:33).
Rounding out the extras are a few trailers for the feature (French, Thai, and an odd one with the Wu Tang Clan's RZA in it), a rap video featuring Tony Jaa, a brief look at the making of that video, menus and chapter selection. All of the extra features are presented in standard definition.
The Final Word:
Ong Bak is a pretty rad movie. It moves at a very quick pace and features loads of ridiculously impressive stunt work. The story might not change your life but it gets us from point A to point B easily enough and provides Tony Jaa with plenty of reasons to knee people in the face and jump around a lot. Is it deep? Not really, but it sure is a lot of fun. A shame then that the transfer on this Blu-ray debut from Fox isn't all it should be. It's recommended on the strength of the movie but do keep in mind that on a technical level there isn't much here to impress.