In the original Ong Bak, Muay Thai legend Tony Jaa seemed to throw knees and elbows to every criminal that came his way, but perhaps he got a few too many blows to the head during the process. In Ong Bak 3, a prequel to the original film, Jaa performs run-of-the-mill action sequences amid a dragging storyline that suffers from poor writing and incoherent subtitles. Where the original film flourished with Jaa’s martial arts wizardry among the urban sprawl of Bangkok, bouncing off cars and elaborately placed rings of barbed wire, Jaa sticks mostly to bo staff and sword techniques. The result is an agonizing 99 minutes—a huge disappointment in this aging martial arts series.
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2011.
If you wanna see a good alternative, I recommend “Chocolate” and “Raging Phoenix” with JeeJa Yanin. She’s a Thai actress who REALLY kicks ass in these films.
And you’re right, Ong Bak and The Protector were solid, but Ong Bak 2 and 3 were kinda lame.