Tony Jaa’s back with one heck of a finale fight scene – but will this film finally put him back on the martial arts map?
By now you’ll no doubt have heard some of the problems surrounding the production of Ong Bak: The Beginning (retitled for it’s UK release from Ong Bak 2 to make some sense of having no discernible connection to the original movie). The talk of Jaa’s meltdown during a gruelling schedule, which resulted him walking off the set and going what is referred to in the press release as ‘native’ – which they liken to Francis Ford Coppola’s Heart Of Darkness type experience on Apocalypse Now.
Now before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s not make too many comparisons to one of the great modern movie masterpieces of all time – but like Apocalypse little of the chaos during the shoot shows on screen. Little, but it’s not untouched…
Orphaned as child when the treacherous Lord Rajasena (Saranyoo Wongkrajang, 13 Game Of Death) kills his noble family in order to gain control of the territory, Tien is adopted by a band of mercenaries lead by Chernang (Sorapong Chatree, Beautiful Boxer). There he learns different martial art styles from each of the bandits, from swordplay to kung fu, boxing, Muay Thai and even magic tricks.
The young boy has promise, and the potential to become a great leader, but as Tien grows into a man (cue predictable fade to Tony Jaa) one thing he can’t leave behind is his desire to revenge his parents. Tien sets himself on a course to kill Rajasena, leaving behind his bandit friends and his adoptive father figure Chernang’s offer to take his place to infiltrate the enemy. But his goal of revenge will have unexpected repercussions, and a terrible revelation about his real father’s murderer…
Ong Bak: The Beginning sets a far darker tone than its predecessors. The often merciless violence with which Jaa is seen to dispatch his opponents was rarely hinted at previously, even in his more brutal moments. Somehow this seems a bit incongruous with the naïve innocent Jaa has portrayed in the past, though he performance is generally strong (no doubt helped by a little wildness around the eyes…)
It’s a surprisingly glossy affair, with a saturated colour that often seems almost hand-tinted – perhaps it was to cover up differences in shooting times and continuity, but hell, I rather like it! Tien’s early days with the bandits turning into manhood are told well, and flashbacks fill out the real origins of the boy, though actually repeating a good few minutes is pretty unnecessary!
No doubt influenced by the seemingly undented popularity of historical dramas from Red Cliff to The Warlords, the period setting at least distances it from Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong (aka The Warrior King). (Let’s start the Bruce Lee comparisons right here: Lee is said to have been being wooed for a Shaw Brothers wuxia period piece around the time he completed Enter The Dragon.)
Unsurprisingly it has little to do with those films beyond its lead star. Indeed, considering the explicit use of Muay Thai in the original, that style very much takes a back seat while Jaa shows off his prowess in other styles. It’s a kung fu fans treat, and Jaa is said to have even developed a new style fusing Thai dancing and martial arts called ‘Natayuth’ (though there’s little evidence of that on screen).
There’s plenty of references to found, from Lee (with nunchakus) and a wholesale homage to Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master. (Which seems a bit rich, considering Jaa turned down Rush Hour 3 to complete this movie.) There’s even a cameo from Petchtai Wongkamlao as Men, the comedy relief in Jaa’s previous films (and now general real life equivelent of Ja Ja Binks – Ahem, no pun intended). And then there’s that 25 minute finale. Wow – a non-stop fight between Jaa and some 20 (30? 40? Who’s counting?) opponents, each using different styles and weapons. Leaving you as breathless as Jaa’s character, wondering just how many adversaries he has to face…
But there’s a vital ingredient missing from Ong Bak: The Beginning that the original had in spades. A friend of mine summed it up best when he said, ‘wasn’t the original quite fun?’ Well, this revenger’s tragedy sure ain’t that! There’s a point early on where Jaa is shown jumping through a herd of stampeding elephants from one to another, in one shot he almost falls, so obviously for real, you almost think we could be back to those amazingly hazardous REAL stunts that were so much a part of the original. For a moment I thought elephants were the new tuk tuk’s, if you will, but sadly it was not to be.
What made the original so popular beyond kung fu film fans was the incredible stunt work, sadly for Jaa it had little to do with his martial art prowess. This lacks the originals charm, or the self-conscious silliness Ong Bak director Prachya Pinkaew’s follow-up Chocolate. (Just imagine if Jackie Chan had had a big Western promotion machine behind the original Police Story?)
Where the production difficulties show come at the end. Writer and fight choreographer Panna Rittikrai took over from Jaa as director to finish the film – adding a mysterious ‘crow ghost’ character played by Dan Chupong who is the only combatant to get the better of Tien – but there wasn’t enough time or money to complete it with a satisfying ending, instead it comes to an abrupt and inconclusive end.
Thankfully a sequel is slated for release in Thailand at the end of the year, without which Ong Bak: The Beginning seems a fatalist and rather grim tale. This will allegedly not only bring Tien’s tale to a conclusion, but (Jaa has claimed) also tie into both the original Ong-Bak and Tom Yum Goong. Let’s hope so, as a stand-alone film this is a tantalizing but frustratingly incomplete experience. Rather like missing the very last episode of your favourite TV programme…
Ong Bak: The Beginning will be released in cinemas around the UK by Revolver Entertainment on 16 October 2009.
DVD details
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (UK)
Good master of sound and audio, joined by a reasonable range of bonus material for the UK release. This includes some pretty fascinating behind-the-scenes footage and some press interviews with cast and crew, with star Tony Jaa and producer Panna Rittikrai particularly enlightening on what they were trying to do with the film.
No footage, or even trailer, for Ong Bak 3 though – perhaps they're still working out what the UK title should be? (I'm guessing Ong Bak: The Middle is not an option?)
