It is no secret – in fact, it is openly admitted and understood that the world of martial arts cinema rests almost entirely on the shoulders of martial artists. It is one of the few genres which still valiantly defends the archetypal concept of the hero, and for that, I am personally grateful. The very martial artists, whose names now circulate in your homes like professional athletes and supermodels, have become the veritable warriors entrusted with protecting this heroic ideal, using their status as international superstars to actively proliferate the genre. If this shameless use of hyperbole has already caught your attention, then you will certainly be interested to know what new talent is rising to carry the torch into the next generation: His name is Tony Jaa, his movie is “Ong Bak” (Monkol Film Company), and he is absolutely incredible.
If one were to judge in terms of narrative creativity or character development, “Ong Bak” breaks no new grounds. If anything, it shows evidence of a reversion back to the basic archetype of the rural peasant hero. Tony Jaa plays the modest and pious Ting, the strongest man in his village who has been taught the sacred Thai style of martial arts called Muay Thai. When modern Bangkok gangsters steal the head of the Ong Bak, a holy statue of their local deity, Ting volunteers to venture into the hedonistic cesspool of sex, violence and corruption to retrieve it.
This introduction, of course, all happens within the first 10 minutes of the film. What follows is a series of well-assembled vignettes in which Jaa has to fight his way through or elude a great number of increasingly ferocious villains. How he does this, as you might have imagined, becomes the primary focus of the film, undoubtedly leaving viewers to wonder how a supposed human was physically able to accomplish all of the things you see without the aid of wires or stunt doubles. But in a recent Hatchet interview, Jaa said, “It is possible to do the things you see in the movie….(the stunts) are real and people can do them.”
Be it sprinting at remarkable speeds through a crowded market while jumping over cars and through a barbed wire hoop, or viciously beating opponent after opponent in the ring with the Muay Thai fighting style, Jaa proves that his undeniable skills rival artists of the past.
In response to repeated comparisons made between himself and past martial arts stars, appropriately Jaa said he derived different “lessons” from different artists, “from Bruce Lee: his speed, from Jackie Chan: his resourcefulness and from Jet Li: his gracefulness.” This amalgamation becomes very apparent in “Ong Bak” as Jaa seamlessly adapts to his surroundings to utilize the attributes of all three of his idols.
For those wondering whether Jaa could beat any of his idols in a fight, he respectfully replied, “(They) are like my masters, I would probably not fight (them) because they are heroes in my heart.”
In the end, “Ong Bak” serves as a brilliant introduction for Jaa, a man who has the potential to become one of the world’s next big martial arts superstars. From what can be seen even at the beginning of his career, Jaa is destined to sit with his predecessors as royalty of the genre.
“There was only one Bruce Lee, there is only one Jackie Chan, there is only one Jet Li, and there is only one Tony Jaa,” he said.
“Ong Bak” opens Friday in Washington, D.C.
