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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
ONG-BAK: THE THAI WARRIOR
Baby-faced Ting (Tony Jaa), an orphan from a drought-stricken village, arrives in
Bangkok to track down the thief who ran off with the severed carved head of Buddha,
dooming his village. George (Petchthai Wongkamlao) hails from the same town and is
the only person Ting knows in the big city. Bleached-blond and with a crew cut, George
is either running from thugs or running scams with his shrieking teenage tomboy
sidekick Muay Lek (Pumwaree Yodkamol). In order to confront the crime ring holding
the statue, as well as recover the village savings that George has stolen from him, Ting
will have to break his promise not to employ the fatal moves of Muay Thai taught to him
by a monk. The goodhearted rube meets his match in crime boss Khom Tuan
(Sukhaaw Phongwilai). Surrounded by mini-skirted eye-candy, the wheelchair-bound
smuggler speaks, and smokes, through a tracheotomy scar.
The slender story line of good vs. evil is an excuse for many terrific fight scenes. The
film begins spectacularly as young villagers race up a tree to capture a flag. In an illicit
fight club, Ting inadvertently faces off with opponents three times his size. But the
centerpiece is a chase through a marketplace, where anything from fried food to chili
paste is a weapon, set to a throbbing disco beat and a wah-wah electric guitar.
The fighting choreography almost has a balletic grace to it, but equally impressive are the human
punching bags that bear the blunt of Ting's kicks and punches. About 20 minutes too long, the action
sequences are exhausting, but Ong-Bak is refreshingly free from CGI-enhanced action, a
departure from recent martial art films. Kent Turner
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