Ratings: C+/C+/C-
Dir: Prachya Pinkaew, Tony Jaa, Panna Rittikrai
Star: Tony Jaa, Petchthai Wongkamlao, Sarunyoo Wongkrachang, Primorata Dejudom
Ong Bak
The grade reflects I can’t help being somewhat disappointed by this, given the drooling reviews (“possibly the best martial arts movie ever“? I think not). Truth is, it’s more throwback than great leap forward; while I can’t deny Jaa’s amazing grace, there’s little here that wasn’t done by Jackie Chan, two decades ago. And, while neither are Oscar-worthy actors, Chan had an endearing, “everyman” persona: Jaa lacks charisma and, worse yet, personality, in a way which makes you wish they could have replaced his acting, rather than action, with a CGI double.
The plot is paper-thin: someone steals the head off a temple idol in a small, country village: Ting (Jaa) goes to the big city, meets George (Wongkamlao) and his girlfriend Muay, who discover Ting’s skills and use them in an underground fight den. George = annoying, fat comedy sidekick, who needs lessons from Sammo Hung; Muay = irritatingly helpless, like Maggie Cheung in the Police Story films. Neither can act beyond mugging or shrieking, respectively, and we grind to a painful halt when either are on screen. About the only novel feature is a villain with a hole in his neck, who speaks with one of those vibrating gizmos.
But the action is sound: in particular, a fluid chase through Bangkok where all the cliches – glass panes, fruit-cart, fences – show up. Yet whoever choreographed things seems lazy, and I can only wonder what Jaa could do with somebody like one of the Yuen family. But it’s a relief to see action in middle-shot, without the vapid editing that destroys the rhythm of many Hollywood entries. Jaa certainly has potential, but could end up becoming Van Damme, unless he gets better scripts and acting lessons. Mind you, as I recall, Chan’s first star vehicle wasn’t all that hot either…
Ong Bak 2 + Ong Bak 3
I combine these two, since they are one three-hour movie, to all intents and purposes, divided in half – and bearing absolutely no relation to the original Ong Bak. That was a contemporary movie, this one whizzes back half a millennium or so, and tells the story of Tien (Jaa), the son of a provincial ruler. He sees his parents killed by their rival Lord Rajasena (Wongkrachang), and Tien barely escapes himself. The first film covers this in a series of flashbacks, as well as his capture by slavers, escape and adoption by the leader of an outlaw gang. Tien becomes an expert fighter, and the film ends with Tien discovering who killed his parents, but at the cost of his own capture by Rajasena. The sequel follows immediately on, with Tien being beaten mercilessly before escaping capture. There follows the inevitable rehabilitation, and Tien reunites with childhood sweetheart Pim (Dejudon), before he finally returns to kick ass on Bhuti Sangkha, the minion who overthrew Rajasena.
Despite the differing era, the strengths and weaknesses are the same as the original: “action” and “everything else”, respectively. The earlier film is the stronger, despite its lack of a conclusion. It leaps back and forth in time like a startled gazelle, probably for pacing reasons, as the early stages of Tien’s life are largely fight-free, but the final battle is just so damn impressive as to make you forget the movie’s earlier issues. I’ve never seen anyone use an elephant as a prop in a martial-arts fight before. That’s just part of a fabulous sequence, where Tien fights his way up towards the big boss…only to then get kicked all the way back down to Level One the ground. Where the elephant is waiting. Jaa has broadened his styles somewhat, not just using Muay Thai here, but a range of forms including drunken boxing. The whole thing works, as long as you regard it as a show-reel for Jaa’s ability to kick ass, not as an actual motion picture, with things like meaningful character development or an ending.
Part three, while more linear, suffers from efforts to add a philosophical justification for the violence. The moral appears to be – and I stress the word “appears” – that you can only successfully kick ass if you do so without hatred or desire for revenge. Which kinda removes the entire point, I’d say. This results in a strange climax where Tien gets impaled, realizes the folly of seeking revenge, and then cranks events back so he can kick ass (again, aided by a pachyderm) with the appropriately clear heart. Even by the loose standards of storytelling on view here, it’s a cheap shot, and compared to the insanity of its predecessor, the action is more than slightly “meh”. Especially after watching Tien hobble around for much of the film, we expected better. Perhaps the films make more sense to an audience familiar with the backdrop and cultural references. A Western audience just won’t care.