Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior

ONG-BAK – THE THAI WARRIOR: The world has been waiting impatiently for the next Bruce Lee to surface ever since his untimely death in 1980. Jackie Chan and Jet Li both stood to inherit the crown but chose their own path to martial arts sainthood. Now the torch has been passed to Tony Jaa, whose debut in Ong Bak serves as a demo reel for his unique fighting style, combining Lee’s quickness with Van Damme’s groin-stretching flexibility. Jaa’s signature move, a pair of elbows to the top of the head, is just one of the many Muay Thai combat moves that make use off all the body’s pointy parts. Like the early Bruce Lee films, the story is only a loose structure used to introduce one fight sequence after another. Yet the film’s best assist goes to Petchtai Wongkamiao as Jaa’s fellow villager and comic relief, who keeps the film from falling into a monotonous series of Bloodsport-style deathmatches. Jaa himself doesn’t have much charisma when he’s not throwing a punch – unlike Lee, whose glare was almost as deadly as his fists – so the film plays to his strengths. The alleyway chase sequence guarantees it’s fair share of “oooos” and “ahhhhhs” as Jaa jumps, flips and seems to float the air. And just in case you missed it, the film shows everything twice in super slo-mo. Try that at home, I dare you! Debuting on Blu-ray for the first time from Fox, special features include a breakdown of the Muay Thai moves and a couple of videos.