Ong-Bak

What a guilty pleasure! Tony Jaa is the new Bruce Lee + Jackie Chan + Jet Li plus a bit more.

I was never a big fan of martial art movies, still not am. I don't like movies that is promoting violence, rage, and torture. Ong-Bak was all that. It's a martial art movie comparable to Jackie Chan's Police Story. It carried all the commercial elements that people bought tickets for. And yes, Tony Jaa is young and energetic and he is the real deal. (Though the movie was released in 2003, I think he's still valid)

The plot was a vehicle to link all the action scenes together. It's silly but it served the purpose. I almost wanted to fast forward the movie. Needless to say, it's not an intellectual movie, and it never planned to be one. It's all action like a circus play. It entertained on some levels - maybe deep down I enjoyed the violence, or appreciated the peculiar athletic moves Jaa made that I knew is impossible for normal human like me.