The film "Hero" was praised for looking beautiful while still containing wonderfully energetic action scenes that could be seen in no mere Hollywood action movie.  The same goes for films such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," both volumes of "Kill Bill," and, reaching way-back-when, Bruce Lee's "Enter The Dragon."  Now, in the vein of great, "dirty" kung-fu flicks along the lines of "Mortal Kombat," comes "Ong-Bak," a great ride from beginning to end.

This is not a beautiful film to behold.  The lighting in most scenes is painfully low and the whole screen seems to always have a layer of filth over it.  Though, that is not to the film's discredit (except for the low lighting which, in some cases, completely blinds the viewer as to what exactly is going on).  The action comes quick and furious and, once the story gets going (though, sadly, there is a bit of tedium and boredom associated with the first twenty minutes or so), the fights do not stop.

And, oh, what fights they are!  The film boasts no wire-work, which makes the scenes of lead actor Panom Yeerum (or Tony Jaa as he is credited) jumping around in mid-air just that much more of a spectacle to behold.  One scene involving a massive chase through the streets of Bangkok is incredibly well crafted, cramming both jaw-dropping action and laugh-out-loud humor into a single ten minute sequence.  Yeerum is the new Lee, and I believe we will be seeing much more of him in more mainstream films in the very near future.

Of course, not all is well.  For one, though the griddy texture of the movie did not bother me so much, those expecting something along the lines of a "Hero" or "Crouching Tiger" may be a bit dissapointed.  Also, there are some really campy moments as well as some horribly written melodramatic scenes that produced more laughs then tears.  Finally, as mentioned earlier, the actual story does not pick up until about twenty minutes into the film and, before then, you may just be lulled into a deep sleep.  But try and stay awake by knowing what is to come.

You may have noticed that I have yet to summarize the story.  That is because it really isn't that important; more of an excuse for hero Ting to get from one fight to the other.  Hence, the lack of any real story works towards both the film's credit and discredt.

While I am not giving this a **** review, it would still be an incredible shame for anyone to miss this.  Judging from the crowd in the theater I saw this in, this one may not even crack the top 5 come Monday.  Unfortunate, considering should a sequel be produced, it may just not make it to North American shores.

Here's hoping the DVD does phenomenally well.

*** out of ****    

These guys, the actor and director are working on another project already or they've finished it. I heard no story but it's got some good action. I just don't see why doing these stunts makes people care, if you can't act stay in the stunt double business.

The guy who plays the mc in Ong Bak was a stunt double on Mortal Kombat 2 is what I was reading. I'd want to see this film nonetheless but if it's anything like bruce Lee's older films than it will be bad.

They need to be in english and not dubbed, it's not hard to learn the basics of another language and in this case that's english if you want to be an American movie star like say a Jackie Chan or Arnold who learned the language pretty well.

Quoted from Old Time Wesley They need to be in english and not dubbed, it's not hard to learn the basics of another language and in this case that's english if you want to be an American movie star like say a Jackie Chan or Arnold who learned the language pretty well.

Arnold?  Alright.  But Jackie Chan?  C'mon, his English is friggin' terrible.

Of course it is but at least he knows it, the voice acting in some cases like Jackie's early work is so bad that it ruins the film.

I heard this one wasn't dubbed and just subtitled which I hope stays that way, I'd rather read than listen to these happy go luck crap voice actors that sound stupid and butcher the dialogue.

It is about 75% Thai with subtitles and 25% English spoken with thick, Austrailian or Thai accents (not dubbed, it is just the way it is; it is a Thai film, but some of it was filmed in Austrailia, explaining some of the English-speaking extras).

Thats good though, I actually want to see it

I saw the version without subtitles so I didn't understand a word accept for when they gave each other the finger, I actually think it was a very good story/action packed ride though there was a lot of violence for the sake to put this guy over.

Reminded me of Jean Claude Van Damme films a few times and taking from the reviews JCVD's films have recieved over the years thats a bad thing. I'll save judgement on the actual film until the dvd because I honestly didn't know one word of dialogue accept the fight stuff with english speaking big men.

Right now I'll give it a 6.5 out of 10 and when the dvd comes maybe it'll go up or possibly down depending on how it is.

ps. That girl had those screams of sadness when here friend dies and when her husband i guess dies and that tookme back to TCM2 with that annoying girl, please if anyone here who is a film maker listens don't have excessive screaming girls in your film... Please.