CompleteMartialArts.com - Ong Bak Thai Warrior
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List Price: $29.95
Our Price: $29.95
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Red Sun RSP
Starring: Petchtai Wongkamlao, Tony Jaa, Pumwaree Yodkamol, Suchao Pongwilai, Chumphorn Thepphithak
Directed By: Prachya Pinkaew
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: NC-17
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0876543223301
Format: NTSC
Label: Red Sun RSP
Manufacturer: Red Sun RSP
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Red Sun RSP
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-05-07
Running Time: 105
Studio: Red Sun RSP
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Editorial Reviews:
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Ong-Bak stars Phanom Yeerum as the earnest Ting, a martial-arts hero to the little backwater Thai village of Ong-Bak. The very first scene has him competing in a brutal variant of capture-the-flag, which involves climbing a tree naked and throwing everyone else off the branches with one's bare hands (or feet, or whatever else is handy). Not long after, gangsters vandalize the town's statue of Buddha, tearing off its head and hocking it on the black market. Ting is incensed, and with the support of his village elders, heads off to the big city to get it back.Ting is totally unequipped to deal with city life, and he's no detective, either. When he hooks up with his old friend George (Mum Jok Mok), who's now a wheeler-dealer in the city's underbelly, George stiffs him for the seed money he received from his fellow villagers for the mission and blows it on a cage match. Ting follows him to the fight club, literally walks into the middle of a battle, and before he knows it is fighting an army of the meanest Bangkok street brawlers imaginable. (He also doesn't understand showmanship: when the first challenger charges him, Ting puts him down with one blow to the side of the neck. Blam! End of fight.)
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Tony Jaa the next major action star
Comment: Tony Jaa is a new and powerful force that can recieve the torch that will be passed on by Jet Li, if he retires I only hope that the film makers can find a more creative and credible way to show his talent. This film is a 3 star at best only because I can see their, the film makers, struggle to develope a format to justify some of the crazy fight scenes. Some of these fights were good to watch but the over the top story line got in the way most of the time, martial art films don't have to get into heavy stories because the focus is on the fighting but this one didn't work for me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not his best work
Comment: While this movie is good, it is not his best work. See The Protector for a great martial arts film.
Customer Rating:
Summary: careful not to get the red sun version
Comment: It may be uncut, but the 20th century fox version has much better picture quality and good subtitles too. The only thing you are missing out on is a couple mroe parts in the village. It is just not needed. If the story was actually good, it might matter. But the reason to watch this is the stunts. The fights are some of the hardest hitting stuff you will ever get but Tony Jaa's stunt work is second to none. If you are a fan of watching great action movies, check this out casue it is the best one that has come out in a while.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Action fans rejoice!
Comment: Action fans around the world rightly rejoiced when this film came out. Why? Because people are SICK and TIRED of computer-animated and computer-assisted action, and martial arts fans are REALLY sick of Matrix-style wire work. Ong Bak (Thai Warrior) was, therefore, a sigh of relief for many fans. It proved that someone, somewhere, can still make a good action film. Tony Jaa, hailing from Thailand, and practicing Muay Thai, a martial art renowned for its brutal knee and elbow strikes, has been praised as the next Jet Li/Jackie Chan/Bruce Lee, etc. He's quick, efficient, and truly amazing. The fights, thankfully (gloriously!) look more like real martial arts fights and less like dance rehearsals. (Is anyone else getting sick of how over-choreographed most martial arts fights look nowadays?) The blows look, and sound, like they really hurt. I've read that critics literally cheered at screenings of this film, wincing during fights, and yelling disbelief whenever Jaa took to fleeing his opponents in his amazingly jaw-dropping way. Ong Bak will certainly delight martial arts fans with its no nonsense, brutal fights. Equally astounding is Jaa's sheer mobility. Some of the film's scenes are almost bewildering, especially when one keeps in mind that there were no stuntmen or wires being used. A good example of this is the scene where Jaa, running, comes upon an SUV backing out. Instead of running around it, he jumps into the splits, and, grabbing one leg, literally slides on the ground under the SUV while doing the splits! The man is pure excitement, and reminds one of Jackie Chan in his younger days. With all of this said, however, the film is not perfect. Some of the fights are a tad unrealistic, with Jaa literally hurling himself through the air and landing an elbow or knee on the opponent's head. Any real-life martial artist will attest to the how farfetched it is when, in a film, a fighter lets his opponent fly through the air at him. Watch Prodigal Son with Yuen Biao if you doubt why this is so. Also, and MUCH to my disappointment, despite the thrill of the brutal fighting, and despite the lack of wirefu (THANK GOD), it is nevertheless obvious that quite a few scenes during the fights are sped up. It's too bad that editors think they need to speed up certain moves, as these moves look just as good a little slower (in fact better - you can actually see what's going on!) Other annoyances are present in Ong Bak's story, such as the fact that Tony Jaa never really has a real mano-y-mano fight with his main adversary. Both times he confronts the villain the villain resorts to some type of steroid to hulk up to superhuman powers. Also annoying, and out of character, is when in the pit fight Jaa's character won't step in to save a small man who's literally being stomped to death. He waits until a woman is attacked before he'll step in. This scene very much so detracted from my opinion of Jaa's character. However, all-in-all, all self-respecting martial arts fans should own Ong Bak. It truly deserves its cult status. For fans of this film, I also recommend District B13 (an amazing French martial arts film featuring the founder of Parkour), Ong Bak 2, and Sha Po Lang (an amazing Hong Kong action film), all of which are excellent, recent returns to form for the action/martial arts genre. It must be added, so that fans of the film don't start flocking out and studying "Muay Thai" thinking they will be learning Jaa's martial art, that many critics, writing about Ong Bak I, state that Jaa is a Muay Thai master. He doubtlessly is, but this statement is misleading. Muay Thai is a sport that is more similar to boxing than the martial arts displayed in Jaa's films. What Jaa is practicing is a much older martial art called Muay Boran, which is an older form of Muay Thai. It could be said even that Muay Thai is the "sport version" of Muay Boran, which was practiced by soldiers as a means of still fighting effectively after they had lost their weapons. Many of the moves in Muay Boran are illegal in Muay Thai competitions, and it is actually very, very difficult to even find anyone today (even in Thailand) who teaches Muay Boran. Many schools that claim to teach Muay Boran are really only teaching Muay Thai and claiming otherwise in order to attract students!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Next Generation of the Martial Arts Star with Strongest Style on the earth
Comment: First of all, if you want anything originally produced by foreign country, it is ALWAYS the BEST to STICK WITH FOREIGN IMPORT. Do not buy USA (North American edited/re-produced Version). WHY? Because it cut best scenes usually, and dubbing makes the act stupid. Watch this film in ORIGINAL language with English subtitle. The film is incredible. It is because REAL. Muey Thai is one of Strongest Standing Ring sports on the Planet, right next to Mas Oyama's Kyokushin Karate/World Oyama Karate (USA). Now, if you are TRUE fan of Martial art. or Practice Full Contact Martial Art system. You are guaranteed to love this IMPORT version of the film. Enjoy..and tell me what you think. This is a keeper.
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