| Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior | |
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 The Thai movie poster. |
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| Directed by | Prachya Pinkaew |
| Produced by | Somsak Techaratanaprasert Prachya Pinkaew |
| Written by | Prachya Pinkaew Panna Ritikrai Suphachai Sittiaumponpan |
| Starring | Tony Jaa Petchtai Wongkamlao Pumwaree Yodkamol |
| Cinematography | Nattawut Kittikhun |
| Editing by | Thanat Sunsin, Thanapat Taweesuk |
| Distributed by | Sahamongkol Film International |
| Release date(s) |  January 21, 2003 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country | Thailand |
| Language | Thai, English |
| Followed by | Ong Bak 2 (2007) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (Thai: องค์บาก; IPA: [ɔːŋbaːk]) is a 2003 Thai action film. It was directed by Prachya Pinkaew, featured stunt choreography by Panna Rittikrai and starred Tony Jaa. Ong-Bak proved to be Jaa's breakout film, with the actor hailed internationally as the next major martial-arts star. Jaa went on to star in Tom-Yum-Goong (called The Protector in the US and Warrior King in the UK) and is directing a sequel to Ong-Bak, Ong-Bak 2.
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Plot synopsis
The scene opens in Ban Nong Pradu, a peaceful rural village in northeastern Thailand. A group of villagers, covered in white mud, are standing by an immense Bodhi tree, looking up to the top where a flag flaps in the gentle breeze. With a great yell, they all run toward the tree and begin to climb, knocking others away. Men fall to the ground with a thud, bouncing off branches as they go. One climber comes out on top. It is Ting, the village's best athlete and fighter. He grabs the flag, ties it around his neck and descends, deftly avoiding the other climbers. Ting is established as a reverent, respectful young man, and is anointed as such by the village's monk, in a ceremony at the community's humble little temple that night. Though extremely skilled in muay Thai, as he demonstrates for his "Uncle Mao" (indeed, it is literally "Uncle Drunk" in Thai), he has made a vow that he will not use it to harm another person for any personal monetary gain. It is a poor village. All it has is an ancient Buddha image, named Ong-Bak. During the night, Ting's drunken Uncle Mao stumbles into the temple to discover something bad going on. He awakes the next morning to find the Buddha statue's head missing. The villagers all despair of the bad luck that will befall them if the Buddha's head is not returned. Ting speaks up and says he will recover it at all costs. The villagers all chip in, giving up treasured baht and hoarded trinkets to pay for Ting's way to Bangkok, where he is to meet his ne'er-do-well cousin Humlae and get help in tracking down the men who stole Ong-Bak's head. In the city, we find that Humlae has dyed his hair blond and renamed himself George, since his village name, "Humlae", also means "Dirty Balls". He and his friend, Muay Lek, are street-bike racing hustlers who have fallen in with a bad crowd of yaba dealers. Humlae is at first reluctant to help Ting, but when he sees the small fortune in coins that Ting has collected from his village, Humlae takes an immediate interest. And, when Ting is in the bathroom, Humlae grabs the sack and heads for a bar on Khaosan Road where an illegal boxing match is going on. Ting tracks Humlae down, but instead of getting his money back, he ends up fighting and being named the new champion after one high knee smash waylays the old champ.
This makes Ting an enemy of Komtuan, a gray-haired, wheelchair-bound crimelord who needs an electrolarynx to speak. He's been watching the fight from his private room, and losing money because Ting keeps beating his fighters. Meanwhile, back in Ting's village, there is bad luck indeed. The ground is dusty and full of cracks and all that's left in the village well is muddy water. They need the Buddha's head back for the drought to end and good luck to return to the village. George keeps working shady deals, with he and Muay Lek working a scam at a baccarat game in an illegal casino. Eventually, the scams catch up with him, and the drug dealer shows up to give George a beating. Ting ignores George's cries for help, but when the drug dealer starts smacking Muay Lek around, Ting takes care of things. But then the drug dealer's friends and the cheated casino boss show up and a footchase through the alleys ensues, with Ting showing off his acrobatic skill as he walks over crowds, jumps through a barbed-wire hoop, leaps over a rack of sharp tools, cartwheels through a narrow space between two panes of glass, doing a gymnastics move over a wok of hot oil, and jumping up and down scaffoldings. Meanwhile, George is being chased by several gangsters as well. After encountering a hot chili powder stand, he takes a handful of it, and sticks right into the gangsters' eyes. He then runs into a dead end where Ting helps him escape in exchange for George's assistance in helping Ting find Don. That night, there is another fight at the bar. Ting is egged on by Big Bear, a vulgar Australian fighter. At first, Big Bear attempts to provoke a fight with Ting by insulting Thai people. But after Big Bear beats another Thai man and assaults a waitress, Ting takes up the fight and easily beats the hulking man. He then must fight Toshiro, a very fast and felxible Japanese fighter. His final opponent Mad Dog, another farang, who favors the use of such objects as chairs, tables, electrical wires and even a refrigerator to punch and smash his opponents with. The fight takes them up to Komtuan's private booth. Komtuan hands Madd Dog a knife, but Ting simply kicks Mad Dogg out of the viewing booth's glass right back onto the battle area. An African man steps into the ring to throw a coin at Ting's feet and at the same time, he gives Ting a thumbs up. This starts loud cheering from everyone who's just seen the fight go on. And everyone from everywhere throws coins at Ting, much to the delight of George and Muay Lek. Muay Lek, meanwhile, has been struggling to keep her older sister Ngek from using drugs. Ngek has fallen in with a small time crook named Don. Muay Lek shows up at Don's apartment with George and Ting to find her sister overdosed. George and Ting take off and chase the boyfriend in tuk-tuks, with several of Don's buddies joining in. The tuk-tuks take to an elevated expressway, and the scene climaxes with many tuk-tuks driving off the edge of an unfinished portion of the highway. Ting follows the bad guys and ends up at the port and in the Chao Phraya River, where he discovers a cache of stolen Buddha images. This leads back to the gangster Komtuan, who makes Ting fight one of his bodyguards who has been treating himself with drugs, making him full of rage and impervious to pain. The following day, George, Ting and Muay Lek are kidnapped by Komtuan's henchmen. After Komtuan leaves and orders the henchmen to kill the 3, Ting attacks the man with the assistance of George. As one of the gangsters mounts his motorcycle, we see Ting come out of nowhere with fire on his legs, his knees colliding with the gangster's helmet. Eventually, Ting and George are taken to the gangster's hideout in the mountains, where the head of a giant Buddha image is being chiseled away. There is a final showdown, with Ting fighting off all of Komtuan's henchmen with George, who tries his hardest to fight them, but is still beaten badly. Komtuan's bodyguard injects himself with several shots of drugs at one time and attacks Ting. Ting is then beaten badly until he reminds himself of the village and the head of Ong Bak. Soon, the bodyguard is killed by Ting. Komtuan then attempts to cause the Buddha head to crush George by breaking the scaffolding. George rolls away before the giant Buddha head hits him, but dies as a result of injuries inflicted upon him by being beaten by a sledgehammer while trying to protect Ong-Bak's head from its blows. George's last wish was for Muay Lek to graduate school and for Ting to look after her. The head of the Ong-Bak Buddha statue is restored in the temple of Ting's village. Ting, now ordained as a monk with shaven head and white robes, arrives into the village in a procession on an elephant's back while the villagers and Muay Lek celebrate his ordination.
Cast
- Tony Jaa as Ting
- Petchtai Wongkamlao as Humlae/George
- Pumwaree Yodkamol as Muay Lek
- Suchao Pongwilai as Komtuan
- Wannakit Sirioput as Don
- Chumphorn Thepphithak as Uncle Mao
- Rungrawee Barijindakul as Ngek
- Chatthapong Pantanaunkul as Saming
Production
Background
Featuring amazing chase sequences and bouts of intense, but gracefully choreographed violence, as well as Tony Jaa's own acrobatic agility and fighting prowess, Ong-Bak became most notable for eschewing CGI and wires in favour of physical stunts for its outrageous action sequences (however, a crane was used to lift a tuk-tuk during one sequence). Indeed, much of the film's international advertising boasted of the fact, with a tagline stating: "No stunt doubles, no computer images, no strings attached." The film introduced international audiences to a traditional form of muay Thai (or Muay Boran, an ancient muay Thai style), a kickboxing style that is known for violent strikes with fist, feet, shins, elbows and knees. The fights were choreographed by Panna Rittikrai, who is also Tony Jaa's mentor and a veteran director of B-movie action films that all feature realistic stunt work. Jaa was trained in Muay Thai since childhood, he wanted to bring Muay Thai to mainstream so he decided to make this movie. Jaa and Panna struggled to raise money to produce a demo reel to drum up interest for the making the film. Their first reel was made on expired film stock, so they had to raise more money and start over.
Stunts
- During the foot chase through the alleys, there is writing on a shop house door that reads "Hi Spielberg, let do it together." This refers to Tony Jaa's desire to someday work with Steven Spielberg.[1]
- During the tuk-tuk chase, when a tuk-tuk falls off the elevated highway and hits a building, the following message is written on a pillar on the left side of the screen: "Luc Besson, we are waiting for you." The French producer-director's company, EuropaCorp, would go on to purchase the international selling rights to Ong-Bak outside Asia.
- One of Tony Jaa's favorite scenes is at the gas station. With his trousers on fire, Ting kicked one of the villains in the face. The flames spread upwards very fast and burned Tony's eyebrows, eyelashes and nose. He then had to do a couple of more takes to make sure it was right.
Alternate versions
After Ong-Bak became a hit in Thailand, sales rights for outside Asia were purchased by Luc Besson's EuropaCorp, which in turn re-edited the film. Most of the subplot involving Muay Lek's sister, Ngek, was removed. The French company also rescored the soundtrack with some hip-hop sounds, replacing the Thai rock score, and it's this version that has been made available in the United States. For the United Kingdom release, the soundtrack was scored yet again, this time with an orchestral score. The Hong Kong cut of the film's theatrical release omits a "bone breaking" sequence toward the end, where George's arm is snapped and Ting in turn snaps the leg of a bad guy. DVD releases in Hong Kong have the scene restored. An "alternate ending" offered on the Thai DVD release has George surviving. He is seen at the end bandaged up, limping, with his leg broken, supported by his parents.
Alternate titles
- In Thailand and in France, it was simply called Ong-Bak. This name was preserved in Premier Asia's UK release.
- For the release in Singapore and other territories, as well as film festivals, the movie was released as Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior.
- In the United States and some other places, the movie was released as Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior.
- The Hong Kong English title was Thai Fist.
- In Japan, the film was released as Mahha! (the Japanese word for "Mach").
- In Italy the title was Ong-Bak: Nato per Combattere, which translates Ong-Bak: Born to Fight.
- In México the title was Ong-Bak: El Nuevo Dragón, which translates in to Ong-Bak: The New Dragon. in reference to Bruce Lee
- The Indian release featured the title "Enter the new dragon" also in reference to Bruce Lee
Subtitle issues, DVD releases
English subtitles were absent from early DVD releases of Ong-Bak. The Thai release omitted the subtitles, as did the versions released in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. For a time, the only legal home-video version of Ong-Bak with English subtitles was a Hong Kong VCD, but the translations were generally pretty poor. With the UK and US DVD releases, Ong Bak became officially available with English subtitles, but those are versions that have been re-edited. There's an Australian-issued DVD that's a two-disc package featuring both the original Thai cut and Luc Besson's version.
Box office
Ong-Bak premiered as the closing film of the 2003 Bangkok International Film Festival, and then opened in a wide release in Thailand cinemas in February 2003. On February 11, 2005, the film was released in North America in 387 theatres under the title Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior. In its opening weekend, it grossed US$1,334,869 ($3,449 per screen), on its way to a total of US $4,563,167.
Sequel
After Ong-Bak became a huge worldwide hit, Jaa's name was attached to many projects. He went on to act in a small role in the Petchtai Wongkamlao vehicle, The Bodyguard (co-directed by Panna Rittikrai), and then starred in the much-anticipated Tom-Yum-Goong in 2005. In March 2006, it was announced that filming for Ong Bak 2 would start that fall and be released sometime in 2008, with Jaa as director.
References
- Yusof, Zack (November 21, 2003). "Selling a Thai style", The Star (Malaysia). (Retrieved from Google cache on March 28, 2006)
- Franklin, Erika (May 2005). "Alive and Kicking: Tony Jaa interviewed", Firecracker Media.
- ^ Duong, Sehn. August 16, 2006. Tony Jaa Says No to "Rush Hour 3," "Yes! Yes!" to Indy 4, and Reveals "Ong Bak 2" Tidbits, Rotten Tomatoes (retrieved August 24, 2006)
External links
- Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior at the Internet Movie Database
- Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior at Rotten Tomatoes
- Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior at All Movie Guide
- Ong-Bak at the Thai Film Database
- Ong-Bak review at cityonfire.com
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