The thing about kung-fu pictures is, you either get them or you don't. Or, perhaps it should be put that you either love watching people kick ass or you don't. Me? I love watching people kick ass.
And few people kick ass like Tony Jaa. I recently got around to watching Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, and the feeling is like the first time I saw Jackie Chan in Rumble in the Bronx. Like Chan, Jaa does things with his body that have to be seen to be believed - all without wires or stuntmen.
In addition to Jaa's superb athleticism, the physicality is striking because Jaa practices Muay Thai. I'm far from an expert in the martial arts, so I'll sum up Muay Thai by simply saying it involves a lot of knee and elbow strikes and is stunning to watch.
Ong-Bak does the genre right by framing the spectacular fight sequences with a simple, straight-ahead folk tale. A valuable object is stolen from a small village. The villagers are forced to send their best fighter to the city to retrieve it, etc., etc. The characters are all familiar archetypes, but they all do just enough to keep the story moving and the focus on the action.
It's not an "important film" or something that will resonate in your soul days after, but for a graceful and fresh martial arts film, you'd be hard pressed to find its equal.
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