| Ong-Bak - The Thai Warrior |
 enlarge
|
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $12.44
You Save: $7.54 (38%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $5.15
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 98 reviews)
Sales Rank: 814
Category: DVD
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Label: 20th Century Fox
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Taiwanese Chinese (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 101 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 024543204084
EAN: 0024543204084
ASIN: B0009VBTQY
Release Date: August 30, 2005
Theatrical Release Date: November 30, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
|
Similar Items:
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
No computer graphic can ever surpass what a real human body can do--and what the body can do is on spectacular display in Ong-Bak, a Thai action movie starring the lithe and flexible Tony Jaa. When the head is stolen from a holy statue in Jaa's rural village, he goes to Bangkok to get it back. Of course, it just so happens that the thief is connected to a bar where criminal big shots gamble over bare-knuckle brawls, and Jaa is--despite his virtuous efforts--drawn into the game. But that's only the beginning; a chase through the city streets rivals the ingenious acrobatics of Jackie Chan, with Jaa leaping between panes of glass, over a bicycle in motion, and through a wreath of barbed wire. Jaa's fighting prowess has been compared to Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and just about every other martial arts master, but he has an equal degree of charisma as well. He won't win acting awards, but his engaging presence carries the movie. One word of warning: The numerous fights will make you wince as much as gape in astonishment. Ong-Bak follows the action-flick tradition that the hero needs to be as battered as possible before he ultimately triumphs, and the battering is intense. --Bret Fetzer
Description
When the head of his village's sacred Buddha statue is stolen, simple country boy Ting (Tony Jaa) is sent to Bangkok to retrieve it. Raised by a monk who has trained him in Muay Thai, Ting has vowed to never use his lethal martial arts skills. But once he arrives in the big city, Ting is forced to fight. It's non-stop action as Ting infiltrates Bangkok's seedy underworld and takes on a series of lowlifes and criminals in his quest to obtain the sacred head.
|
|
Customer Reviews: Read 93 more reviews...
 Wow June 11, 2006
Let me preface my review by saying that you don't watch Ong-Bak to see great acting or a compelling sotryline. You watch for one thing: Tony Jaa. This movie has the most ridiculous stunts and fight scenes that I have ever seen. I keep hearing about Jet Li and how awesome he is, but I would never know because all of his movies (the ones made in America anyhow) are so full of computer generated effects that it's not clear what he's doing or what is a special effect. This movie has none of that. No CGI, no wires, no stunt doubles even! Everything you see here was done by the actors without aid of computers or other tricks of the trade. And that's what makes this movie all the more impressive. When you see the stuff this guy does you will be blown away. This is definitely one of the best action movies I have ever seen!
 Action fans rejoice! June 8, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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!
Refreshing... May 28, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am so pleased with a movie that Americans can purchase of an asian culture that shows substance. This movie is one of the best movies that I have ever seen; I watched it 3 times. This movie even got me hooked on French music.
I can't wait until America wakes up and starts allowing more foreign movies into the country. American movies have lost their appeal for me; they seem to either not show minority actors in real life-like roles are they show them in the same stereotypical roles. I love this movie!
Sensational Action Turned up to 12! May 28, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've been eyeing this film ever since it discreetly came onto the DVD scene last August. I had heard about it online. I can't remember exactly where but I remember reading about the awesome action scenes and if you know me, I'm a sucker for big, awesome action scenes, particularly ones that involve intense moves being performed.
The plot to this movie is very very simple. When the head of a statue sacred to a village is stolen, a young martial artist goes to the big city and finds himself taking on the underworld to retrieve it. That's it. It's almost paper thin but it doesn't matter cause if you pick this movie up, you aren't doing so for a deep plot.
Tony Jaa is simply stunning in this movie. The moves he pulls off are awe-inspiring. They're wonderful to watch but there is something about them that takes them to the next level: they're real. That's right. EVERYTHING you see Jaa do in this movie he does for real. There's no stunt doubles, no CGI and no wires. It's 100% Jaa and boy, some of the moves he pulls off are astounding. He trained for four years for this movie and it shows big time. Jaa is an utter joy to watch. He's elegant, yes elegant, in his fluidity and the array of moves he pulls off. He uses his elbows, A LOT. You think Tom Cruise went elbow crazy at the end of M:I: III? In Ong-Bak Jaa goes nuts, and it's awesome.
The movie is in Thai but also has an English dubbing. Dubbing is evil so forget about that. The acting is solid for the most part. It's hard to say how they are exactly considering you can't tell how their delivery is, but their performances were solid. Each character was unique but not out there (ok, the voice box guy was different). Jaa though, has no charisma. When Jackie Chan or Jet Li are in a movie, they tell a story and are...well charismatic. Jaa's moves are amazing yes, but sometimes (rarely) they get repetitive, especailly towards the end. The music is funky at times but generic fare here. Nothing memorable or stand out. There's a lot of techno and hip-hop used throughout though and it isn't as distracting as you'd expect. This movie also has the best Thai three-wheeler chase I've ever seen. Probably cause it's the only Thai three-wheeler chase I've ever seen. It sounds extremely lame on paper, but its quite exciting to actually see.
As I said above, the action is top notch. But it isn't flawless. The faults in the action scenes are the director's fault though. He uses slow motion way too much and he shows almost everything Jaa does (and other things that happen) more than once. At least 2-3 times (sometimes more) for most "events", as we'll call them, that happen. Slow-Mo is a great technique to use in movie making, but while some things look cool slowed down, other things don't. There are plenty of scenes and moves that were slowed down in this movie that would have been better if they were kept at a normal speed. Jaa is fast and his elegance and fluidity should be shown at normal speed for some scenes. Some things turned out well with the aid of slow-mo but there were some scenes I would have liked at a normal speed. This sounds like a major gripe but it reallyt isn't. It doesn't hinder the movie severely or make it any less enjoyable, its just something that I as a viewer noticed.
There are also some genuinely funny moments, some are even unintentional but aren't what you're thinking. They aren't the ones that are so bad they're funny or ruin the movie. They're the rare unintentional funny moments that are good. One in particular is when you first see what Jaa can do in the boxing ring. When he does what he does I laughed to myself and said "Ha-ha, that's awesome!" It's those kind of moments, not moments of cheese.
I'm a sucker for a good action or martial arts movie. I really enjoyed this movie. The plot was not overly complex and was there enough to the point where I stayed interested, but never bored. Ong-Bak was a fun romp. The action was turned up to 12 and it was never boring. I definitely recommend a viewing if you like action/martial arts movies and/or just want to have a good time. It's not a "second coming" nor anything that will radically change your views about action movies. Its just a fun movie and nothing more, nothing less.
Ong-Bak 2 May 2, 2006
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
This no doubt is an amazing film...but it does not compare to the second installment of the Ong-Bak series. Ong Bak 2 is unreal!!! The guy is w/o question the artist of form fighting. But the sad part about the 2nd movies is that it is only in private release areas. So if you are not in the know of where to go, you may have to wait for awhile. Just as this 1st Ong-Bak was released in France two years before making it way to the State shores. Good luck. ;->
|
|
|
