Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior

Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior
Directed by	Prachya Pinkaew
Produced by	Somsak Techaratanaprasert Prachya Pinkaew
Written by	Prachya Pinkaew Panna Rittikrai Suphachai Sittiaumponpan
Starring	Tony Jaa Petchtai Wongkamlao Pumwaree Yodkamol
Music by	Atomix Clubbing Studio
Cinematography	Nattawut Kittikhun
Editing by	Thanat Sunsin, Thanapat Taweesuk
Distributed by	Sahamongkol Film International
Release date(s)	January 21, 2003 (2003-01-21)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	Thailand
Language	Thai English
Budget	฿150 Million ($US 5 million)

Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (Thai: องค์บาก [oŋbaːk]), also known in the United States as Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior 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 directed a sequel to Ong-Bak, Ong-Bak 2.

Plot

In Ban Nong Pradu, a rural village in northeastern Thailand, villagers covered in mud climb a tree. Ting, the village's best athlete, grabs the flag at the top and descends, deftly avoiding the other climbers. A few days before a local celebration, a group arrive from Bangkok and ask the caretaker to sell a statue to them. They are refused.

Ting is appointed by the local monk. Though extremely skilled in muay Thai, as he demonstrates for Mao ("Uncle Drunk" in Thai), he has vowed he will not use it for personal gain. It is a poor village - The village's most prized possession is an ancient Buddha image, named Ong-Bak. During the night, Ting's Uncle stumbles into the temple. He witnesses and yells at intruders but is knocked out with a piece of wood. He awakes to find the statue's head missing. The villagers are worried. Ting promises to recover it. The villagers help pay for his trip to Bangkok, where he is to meet his scumbag cousin Humlae and get help in tracking down the thieves.

In the city, Humlae has dyed his hair blond and calls himself George. He and his friend, Muay Lek, are street-bike racing hustlers who have fallen in with a bad crowd of yaba dealers. They find that they speak the same Isaan dialect.

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 - Ting PADIU PIU after one high knee smash waylays the old champ.

Ting (Tony Jaa) is ready for another showdown.

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. It is discovered that Ong-Bak was actually stolen by one of his henchmen, Don.

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. Ting helps George escape in exchange for his assistance in helping to 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 flexible Japanese fighter. His final opponent is Mad Dog, another farang, who favors the use of such objects as chairs and tables to fight with. The fight takes them up to Komtuan's private booth. Komtuan hands Mad Dog a knife, but Ting quickly disarms him and then throws Mad Dog 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. They also throw 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 Don. On the bed, Ngek, following her sister's advice, says she wants to quit drugs. Don, in his anger violently suffocates her and stuffs her mouth with drugs. Muay Lek shows up at Don's apartment with George and Ting to find her struggling sister overdosed and near death. George and Ting take off and chase the boyfriend in tuk-tuks, with several of Don's men 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 is a Burmese boxer and has been treating himself with drugs, making him full of rage and impervious to pain. Ting painfully loses the fight to meet Komtuan's demand for him to throw the fight in exchange for Ong-Bak's head. The following day, George, Ting and Muay Lek are kidnapped by Komtuan's henchmen. After Komtuan leaves and orders the henchmen to kill the three, Ting attacks the men with the assistance of George.

Ting and George follow the gangsters into a cave in a mountain, 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. The bodyguard is defeated and seemingly killed by Ting. Komtuan then shoots Ting and attempts to crush Ong-Bak's head with a sledgehammer. George covers Ong-Bak's head with his body, taking the beatings from the sledgehammer to save Ong-Bak's head. At that moment, the giant Buddha head falls over, crushing Komtuan to death while George almost rolls away from its path, but he is crushed underneath. Although crushed from the head, Ting and Muay hear his last wish, 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 (as Mum Jokmok in ending credits)
• Pumwaree Yodkamol as Muay Lek
• Chattapong Pantana-Angkul as Saming
• Suchao Pongwilai as Komtuan
• Wannakit Sirioput as Don
• Chumphorn Thepphithak as Uncle Mao
• Rungrawee Barijindakul as Ngek
• Cheathavuth Watcharakhun as Peng
• Dan Chupong as Bodyguard (as Chupong Changprung)
• Panna Rittikrai as Nong Pradu Villager (uncredited)

Club fighters:

• David Ismalone as Mad Dog
• Hans Eric as Pearl Harbour
• Paul Gaius as Lee
• Nick Kara as Big Bear
• Nudhapol Asavabhakin as Toshiro

Production

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. Jaa, trained in Muay Thai since childhood, 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 of 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 Speilberg [sic], let do it together." This refers to the director'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: "Hi, 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 pants 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, and the final showdown between Ting and Komtuan's bodyguard was shortened. 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 and most of the Western world.

For the United Kingdom release, the soundtrack was scored yet again, this time with an orchestral score, but the film was left uncut with the subplot of Ngek.

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 alternative ending offered on the Thai, Australian, and UK DVD releases has George surviving. He is seen at the end bandaged up, limping, with his arm broken, supported by his parents. Prachya Pinkaew stated in an interview that although there was debate, they ultimately decided it would be appropriate for him to make a meaningful sacrifice for the village.

Alternate titles

• In Thailand, Germany and in France, it was simply called Ong-Bak. This name was also preserved in Premier Asia's UK release.
• For the release in Singapore, Australia and other territories, as well as film festivals, the movie was released as Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior.
• In the United States, Canada and other areas, 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 as Ong-Bak: Born to Fight.
• In India the title was Enter the New Dragon in reference to Bruce Lee.
• In Mexico the title was Ong-Bak: El Nuevo Dragón, which translates as Ong-Bak: The New Dragon, in reference to Bruce Lee.
• The peoples 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 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 is also an Australian-issued DVD which is 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 US total of $4,563,167.

Critical reception

According to some critics, Ong-Bak is an unabashed "Hey, look at what I can do!" action movie^[2][3] starring the main character's martial arts abilities.^[4] Its onrush of chase scenes, hand-to-hand combat and acrobatics,^[5] sometimes shown multiple times from different angles,^[4] drew notice for its quality, inventive moves^[5] and lack of CGI and wire-fu.^[6] The film currently holds a 85% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Prequels

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 the film would be a prequel to the original. The film was eventually released in December 2008, with Jaa debuting as director.

A second prequel, Ong Bak 3, will follow where the second film left off. This means that Ong Bak takes place chronologically after Ong Bak 2 and Ong Bak 3.

References

Notes

1. ^ 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.
2. ^ "The slender story line of good vs. evil is an excuse for many terrific fight scenes." Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior review, Film-Forward.com
3. ^ "Anyone looking for story or character should check out now. -- the only reason to see it is for the action. In that arena, on a scale from 1 to 10, it's a 20." George Wu, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior review, Culturevulture.net
4. ^ ^{a b} "You're pinned back in your chair, worried that Tony Jaa, a human hurricane of fists and flying feet, will jump out and kick you in the face." Phil Villarreal, Jaa's fists and feet take flight in 'Warrior'. Arizona Daily Star
5. ^ ^{a b} "Certainly, they create a few moves that have never been done before. ...the appeal here is the action, and once they get past all the narrative setups, the stunts are relentless." Andrew Sun, Ong-Bak review, The Hollywood Reporter
6. ^ "Counteracting recent exposure to the numbing effects of computer-generated and wire-supported tricks... ...the artifice-free antidote to such F/X enervation..." Lisa Schwarzbaum, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior review, Entertainment Weekly

Bibliography

• 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"^{[dead link]}, Firecracker Media.

External links

• Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior at the Internet Movie Database
• Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior at AllRovi
• Ong-Bak at the Thai Film Database
• Ong-Bak review at cityonfire.com