Ong-bak (2003)

Director:

Prachya Pinkaew

Writers:

Prachya Pinkaew (story)
Panna Rittikrai (story)

Release Date:

23 October 2003 (Singapore)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

To fight for the honor of his village, he must unleash the ancient art of Muay Thai: 9 Body Weapons

Plot:

When the head of a statue sacred to a village is stolen, a young martial artist goes to the big city and finds himself taking on the underworld to retrieve it.

Plot Keywords:

Buddha | Head | Statue | Muay Thai | Thief

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Petchtai Wongkamlao	...	Humlae / Dirty Balls / George (as Petchtai Wongkamlao)
Tony Jaa	...	Ting (as Panom Yeerum)
Pumwaree Yodkamol	...	Muay Lek
Suchao Pongwilai	...	Komtuan
Chumphorn Thepphithak	...	Uncle Mao
Cheathavuth Watcharakhun	...	Peng
Wannakit Sirioput	...	Don
Rungrawee Barijindakul	...	Ngek
Chatthapong Pantanaunkul	...	Saming
Nudhapol Asavabhakhin	...	Toshiro
Pornpimol Chookanthong	...	Mae Waan
Udom Chouncheun	...	Ta Meun
Boonsri Yindee	...	Yai Hom
Arirat Ratanakaitkosol	...	Tang On
Woravit Tanochitsirikul	...	Sia Pao

Also Known As:

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (Philippines: English title) (USA) (trailer title)
Daredevil (USA) (informal literal English title)
Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (Singapore: English title)
Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (International: English title) (festival title)
Thai Fist (Hong Kong: English title)
Ong-Bak: El nuevo dragón (Mexico) (Peru) [es]
Mach (Japan) [ja]
Ong Bak: Le guerrier (Canada: French title) [fr]
Ong bak - O polemistis tou Muay Thai (Greece) (festival title) [el]
Ong-Bak - Guerreiro Sagrado (Brazil) [pt]
Ong-Bak - Nato per combattere (Italy) [it]
Ong-Bak: El desafío del dragón (Venezuela) [es]
Ong-Bak: El guerrero Muay Thai (Spain) [es]
Ong-bak (Spain) [es]
Ong-bak: The Muay Thai Warrior (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated R for sequences of strong violence, language, some drug use and sexuality.

Runtime:

Canada:105 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Hong Kong:108 min | USA:105 min | 104 min (director's cut) | Spain:100 min (DVD edition)

Country:

Thailand

Language:

Thai | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Canada:14A (British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:18A (Alberta) | New Zealand:R16 | Spain:13 | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | South Korea:15 | Australia:MA | Austria:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB (cut) | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:T | Netherlands:12 | Philippines:R-13 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | UK:18 | USA:R | Mexico:B15

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Company:

Baa-Ram-Ewe

Trivia:

Tony Jaa trained extensively in the ancient form of Muay Boran (the predecessor to Muay Thai) for four years in preparation for Ong-bak (2003).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the tracking shot of Ting being chased, just after he leaps over the children, the sound recordist can be seen holding his microphone and moving with the gang members on the right side of the frame.

Quotes:

Humlae: At least let me help you start your motorcycle.

Movie Connections:

References Spy Game (2001)

Most awesome, violent, raw martial arts film ever made

Tony Ja is the new Jet Li and Jackie Chan with a thai boxing background. This guy moves as quick as Jackie, has the strength of Jet Li, put packs a more violent, deadly assault - he uses his knees and elbows for pure annihilation. Why does he use his elbow and knees so much? Because they are the hardest parts of the human body. And god damn in Ong Bak he proper messes up everyone he comes across. Thai boxing is proper hardcore, they don't mess about.In Ong Bak, the story is pretty non existent, basically some gangstas from the city come to our heros poor village and steal the Buddha's head statue, and so Tony Ja commits to bringing it back and restoring peace. Now with that out of the way, let's talk about the fighting as this is where the film excels. WOW, this IS the most realistic fighting you will ever see. The only thing I can compare it to is Ultimate Fighting, but ten times worse. Tony Ja will become a legend this is fact. His flexibility in fighting is so extreme, and this film is basically just crammed up with the biggest, most violent stunts you will ever see. For instance, in a scene where Tony and his newly met friends run away from a group of hoodlums, he gets away in style. This is done by jumping through the tiny gaps, either backwards sliding underneath cars, jumping feet and hands outstretched through a hope, running across people's heads, flippin, kicking, somersaulting absolutely everywhere. Remember when you first saw the matrix and you were like `woah', well this is so much better. For starts, the stunts in this film are REAL. Everybody gets injured. There are no wires, pulleys, fake punches, fake blood. This is how it should be. Hollywood take note. The best scenes come where there is a kinda of street fighter style arena, where the deadliest fighters compete to be champion. Tony gets accidently caught up in this, and doesn't mess around by defeating the champion with a single powerful knee thrust into the opponents chest as Tony bends forwards and twists to avoid the ensuing punch from the opponent then unleashes the killer blow. Everyone in the arena is stunned and Tony gets booed for bad sportsmanship.. But don't worry about that has the biggest fights of his life coming up.You need this film in your life. I haven't seen anything as violent and hardcore as this ever before. But even though its hardcore and low budget, the direction is slick. Double takes are often used for the incredible action so you can really appreciate, for example, taking out three men with a triple, twisting back flip and smashing their heads in with your knees and elbows at the same time with pure accuracy. I have watched this four times now and cannot get enough. Overall, the story line is weak and there are some hilarious cheesy moments, but this all works perfectly well as instead of going `god damn thats sick!' at the beginning, you will end up saying `ha ha! Did you see his elbow get torn backwards then snapped! Ha ha! This is genius!'. It's like CKY2 with all the accidents, but here it is intentional for someone to do themselves in. This is a film you will watch over and over again, and show your mates everytime they come round. 10/10