Film Review - Ong Bak

ONG-BAK - Quite the most fabulous martial film in recent years (and that's saying something!) Starring an unknown Tony Ja in this Thai-boxing spectacular, this films rocks big time!

As usual, the plot is incidental to the stunts, and boy what stunts. Too used to the wire-fu of films such as Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Ong-Bak is a refreshing return to 'old skool' stunts of the Jackie Chan kind, where comedy and risky inventiveness combine to great effect. The difference here is that all the stunt moves are Muay Thai inspired, rather than kung fu, so you will notice a radically different set of moves between the combatants.

Amongst the many favourite scenes, is one where the star is fleeing from a really big gang of roughnecks and has to dodge over, obstacles such as panes of glass, boiling woks, and get this - a pike jump through a ring of barbed wire as small as a sterring wheel...amazing stuff! Even the slow action scene where we watch Ja perform a Muay Thai style kata is quite amazing to see.

Forget Van Damne's apalling effort (Kickboxer) this is the real deal, I'm not sure it has seen an official release in the UK yet, so go order it from import on Amazon now!