Plot: One day a sacred Buddha statue called Ong Bak is stolen from the village by a businessman who sells it for exorbitant profits. It soon becomes the task of a young man, Boonting (Tony Jaa) to track the thief down to Bangkok and reclaim the religious treasure. Along the way, Boonting must use his Muay Thai skills to combat enemies who stand in his way.

Review: Ong Bak is a violent martial arts film that is mainly concerned with showcasing the power of Muay Thai and the star Tony Jaa. The story is, as you might expect, pretty much non-existent. It’s not really a great film as whole but a series of super energetic action sequences performed without wireworks or CGI make this film jaw dropping sometimes laugh out loud ultra entertainment.

Director Prachya Pinkaew knew what he had to work with (no story and Tony Jaa). He spent all his directions to conducting action sequences. The film offers up some daring fights that audiences have been longed for since Jackie landed in Hollywood. Panna Rittikrai is the man behind the action choreography for ONG BAK. It is easy to recognize that Rittikrai’s main influences have been the films of Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee. These influences can be seen throughout the film. Tony Jaa didn’t have to do much as an actor. Well, his character actually has less dialogue than Boba Fett. But just like Jet Li, Jaa is very effective with very little dialogue. He is a mixture of Jackie Chan’s ability and Jet Li’s coolness. It is too bad that none of his enemies in the film can meet his skills. The fight scenes become little more than white men getting their butts kicked to the moon.

ONG BAK is very intriguing even though sometimes it feels it relies too much on Tony’s ability. It’s a collection of super impressive action sequences which makes it great for multiple viewings.