Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 102
Fresh: 87 | Rotten: 15
While Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior may be no great shakes as a movie, critics are hailing the emergence of a new star in Tony Jaa, whose athletic performance is drawing comparisons with Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 25
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 6
While Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior may be no great shakes as a movie, critics are hailing the emergence of a new star in Tony Jaa, whose athletic performance is drawing comparisons with Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 65,547
When the head of Ong-Bak--the sacred Buddha of a poor village--is stolen, the population is plunged into misery. The Buddha was the focal point of an anniversary vigil believed to bring rain to the drought-stricken area. Young Ting is selected by the villagers to travel to Bangkok and rescue the relic in time for their ceremony. Ting has an affinity with the statue as he was left on the temple steps as a baby and raised by monks, who taught him muay thai, but forbade him to use it in combat. But
R, 1 hr. 47 min.
Feb 11, 2005 Wide
Aug 30, 2005
$3.9M
Magnolia Pictures
All Critics (113) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (92) | Rotten (15) | DVD (24)
Jaa's moves are impressive, but the choreography ranges from bland to ridiculous (as when one dirty fighter resorts to using major appliances as weapons).
No prizes will be awarded to anyone who guesses that Ting beats all assailants and recovers the artifact. What you might not anticipate is how viscerally exciting director Prachya Pinkaew makes the action scenes.
What Jaa does is often mesmerizing.
The artifice-free antidote to such F/X enervation -- a jaw-dropper of a star-making display from lithe fighter-artist Tony Jaa, framed by a plot as bare-bones as a backroom boxing ring.
I think you have to hang a plot and some suspense around this. It was just so dopey and so endless and so repetitive. The guy's got talent, but thumbs down for this movie.
An effective martial arts film destined to leave mouths agape.
May be the supreme example of a filmic endeavor succeeding exclusively for one cinematic aspect.
Just a showcase for Jaa's athletic abilities.
Skittishly directed and haphazardly written, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior is a bundle of old action movie chestnuts brought briefly to life only by Jaa's presence.
While many martial arts movies rely on wires or computer graphics to pump up the action, this one is all natural.
Ong-Bak takes [martial arts movie] elements and synthesizes them into something more than... the typical martial arts movie.
I haven't been this thrilled by a new star since I saw my first Jackie Chan movie.
Tony Jaa burst onto the scene with this high octane Muay Thai fighter which really turned my head, a long time fan of good old JCVD I knew of kickboxing and Muay Thai but this film really displayed it properly.Its a silly film lets be honest, like all fighter action films the plot is childishly basic and revolves
January 15, 2012Super Reviewer
A young country man travels to Bangkok to recover the stolen stone head of Ong-Bak, the Buddha statue of his village. Though he is an incredibly skilled Muay Thai fighter, his master asks him not to use his dangerous skills, in an effort to keep him from accidentally killing someone and being forced to live the rest of
August 23, 2011Super Reviewer
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