DVD | Ong Bak

Apparently Tony Jaa is the new Bruce Lee/Jackie Chan.

Can’t say that I’ve seen any Bruce Lee movies, but I can see the similarities to early Chan movies. Only his movies seemed lighter.

Back to the movie at hand, some one has stolen the head of Ong Bak (A local village god) and it’s up to local Muay Thai fighter Ting to travel to the dark and violent underworld of Bangkok and fight for it’s return.

Darker and more violent that most Jackie Chan movies, Ong Bak does contain some funny and very well done Chan-esque set pieces that leave you wondering just how the hell he just did that. But set pieces does not make a movie, and if you took these away and removed the fighting you wouldn’t have much of a movie.

A movie like this is of course all about the fighting – and the fight scenes are great – with no wire use or CGI it’s amazing to see just what Tony Jaa can do. But for me it comes back to the fact that with wire work, the fight scenes in movies like Arahan and Hero add a unreal almost humorous feel to the movie that lightens the mood.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do like dark movies, but sometimes I want more that just violence.

Having said that – given the right scripts, Tony Jaa will be some one to look out for.

August/Spetember release.