Ong Bak: A nice breath of fresh air

Last night I went to see Ong Bak with my friend. The commercials had been running on TV for a couple of weeks and had struck my curiosity right from the get go. After having seen dozens of Kung Fu movies and Samurai movies, I was wondering what kind of movies Thailand can come up with. Now that I saw it, I gotta admit it was very refreshing. Choreographed Muay Thai ROCKS!



Overall the movie reminded me of Rumble in the Bronx, but obviously the fights had alot more knees and elbow strikes. Generic goons often went down with one hit, and the fights between people who can take a couple elbows to the head were just plain SICK. Tony Jaa got the chance to show off his tumbling skills in some of the chase scenes. The plot is kinda stupid, but there's so much action that you don't care.

I suggest any hardcore martial arts fan see this movie in theatres if you can, and the other fans can rent it when it comes out.