I finally got around to watching Ong Bak (I missed it at the cinema) yesterday and it’s everything they claimed it to be. Tony Ja (as they’re crediting him now, real name Panom Yeerum) certainly has what it takes to inherit the martial arts mantle from Jet Li and Jackie Chan, having the former’s fighting prowess and the latter’s agility. He practices Muay Thai, the Thai martial art, which seems to involve a lot of use of knees and elbows.
The film, once it gets going, is frenetic. He wipes out all-comers, in all shapes and sizes, using whatever he needs. The chase sequence where he runs from a large gang stands out for it’s amazing sequences of Ja/Yeerum diving through hoops of barbed-wire, leaping over and sliding under cars and, a one point, using people as stepping stones.
Now all they need to do is teach him English and stick him in some Hollywood productions to take his star status from Asia-wide to Worldwide.
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