A
two for one Far East Special today for the readers (a 'capsule
reviews' version of Far East Specials in a sense). Curiously enough,
Between the Seats has never seen the original Ong Bak film,
although cursory research revealed that the second and third films in
the trilogy have next to nothing to do with the original. In fact,
they consist of a two-part prequel which occurs about 600 years
before Ong Bak, the story of which was set in present day.
Ong
Bak 2: The Beginning (Tony Jaa, Panna Rittikrai)
The
film opens on a dreary rainy night. A soldier is rushing through the
jungles on horseback, carrying a child with him. Evil men chasing are
them! The poor soldier is eventually trapped and killed, but not
before he tosses the child, still alive, into the thick bushes. The
boy, Tien, is found by slave owners who kidnap the lad and transport
him into town for the purpose of violent sport to amuse the public.
Thankfully, a band of trained thieves arrives on time to spoil the
event, taking Tien with them in the process, who spends the remainder
of his childhood, teenage years and early adulthood (by this time
played by Tony Jaa) training in the many forms of martial arts. The
band's biggest enemy is a ruthless regional governor, Lord Rajesena
(Sarynyu Wongkrachang), whom they are in a constant struggle with.
Soon however, Tien will have to reconcile his present with his early
child years, which is revealed through a series of flashbacks.
There
are many reasons to love Ong Bak 2,
chief among them the quality of the stunt and fight work, which is
arguably second to none in the contemporary landscape of martial arts
cinema, including Donnie Yen's films, as great as those ones are. The
strength, precision, fluidity and intensity which Tony Jaa brings to
his films and Ong Bak 2
in particular is nothing short of praiseworthy. True to the nature of
such movies, much of the stunts, punches and kicks look as if they
genuinely hurt given how the camera never cuts away to cheapen the
visceral effect of each contest. Directors Rittikrai and Jaa are in
truth not asked to do too much with the camera other than to make
sure that it is always in the right spot at the right time to capture
the full glory of a blow. Tony Jaa is a martial arts superman.
Jaa's
mere presence is near mesmerizing, especially in the moments prior to
a fight. Some fighters simply have a menace about them, and there is
little question that when Jaa stares down an opponent , as the viewer
anticipates the brilliance that is to follow momentarily, the other
fellow had better watch himself. A story driven aspect which makes
Jaa's work all the more impressive and enthralling is how the band of
thieves he has joined includes individuals who specialize in specific
forms of combat, which of course means that Tony Jaa himself 'must'
be great at each and every one of those disciplines. There is a
sequence when the character of Tien enters his final trials in order
to prove his worth to the clan leaders, thus forcing him to skirmish
with the each master of his respective art form. The sequence does
not last long and everyone watching fully knows whether or not Tien
will succeed his exam, but the pleasure of watching a single
character perform so many incredible physical feats is grand enough
to wait through some of the film's predictability. As the story
enters its final stages, the action picks up with jaw dropping
intensity, with Tony Jaa, his opponents and basically everyone
involved in making those scenes a reality putting on one of the
greatest shows ever.
Where
the movies stumbles is in its story, which feels half hazard at
times, is the overall tone. Ong Bak 2
is a gritty movie, with several sections being quite dark, moody,
even bitter. It has an attitude and is unafraid to show it, which it
sets it apart from some of Jaa's previous films, like The
Protector, which were juggled
action and comedy much more consistently. It would be ludicrous to
argue that Ong Bak 2
lives and dies by its story. Its priorities are clearly set
elsewhere, but what little script exist does just enough to carry
Tien's journey, while the action does the rest.
Ong
Bak 3 (Tony Jaa and Panna
Rittikrai)
The
third and final chapter in the Ong Bak trilogy
finishes the story which began in its immediate predecessor, which
ended abruptly on a cliffhanger. Tien is now in the clutches of his
mortal enemy, Lord Rajesena, the former's band now scattered and
mostly disintegrated. Rajesena has Tien goes through a series of
horrific, physically taxing punishments. It is only when a decree
from a mysterious ally forces the evil Lord to let Tien out of his
custody that the hero is able to stay alive. It tuns that that an old
flame, Pim (Primorata Dejudom) has managed to save him from certain
death. Now, battered and more than just bruised, Tien goes through a
long, trying process of physical, mental and spiritual healing,
devoting himself to the teachings of Buddha before one final
confrontation with Rajesena and a new force of evil, the Crow Ghost
(Dan Chupong).
There
are a few significant reasons not to love Ong Bak 3, but
the most egregious is the simplest: it is, for far too much of its
running time, slow and boring. The boredom is the ironic result of
the Jaa and Rittikrai's efforts to make a real, complete film, one
that aims for emotional and possibly intellectual depth. First and
foremost, an Ong Bak
film is not the venue for such a thing, but even if somebody
absolutely wanted to perform such an exercise (and that is their
prerogative), these two directors are perhaps not the best suited to
venture into such narrative territory. They make action movies, that
is what they are good at, not having a protagonist spend nearly 40
minutes whimpering and then meditating. Perhaps it was more than 40,
perhaps it was less, the point is that the middle portion of the film
which has Tien re-invent himself is embarrassingly out of place to
the point where one would be forgiven for forgetting that they are
even watching a Tony Jaa film.
To
add to the boredom is the film's sudden decision to, out of the blue,
to give Lord Rajesena more screen time with a subplot about him being
haunted by memories of the previous lord's curse. It turns out
Rejesena poisoned the fellow and just before passing into the next
world, his last words put a frightful curse on the villain. He now
experiences atrocious headaches and terrifying nightmares (brought to
screen via paltry computer generated imagery). This subplot serves
strictly no purpose. How does this help 'develop' the character of
Rajesena? Why is it in this movie at all? This angle is made all the
more ridiculous by the fact that a new, more powerful antagonist
makes his presence known, that being the Crow Ghost, who, spoiler
warning, kills off
Rejesena about halfway into the movie! Huh?
At
the very least, the action is quite good. For some reason, perhaps
because the decorative visuals are cheaply enhanced by computer
imagery, they fail to impress as much as they did on the second film.
That in no way means they are poor. A lot of what Jaa does in the
final battle is pretty neat, such as using a small troop of elephants
to combat a series of soldiers on top of, underneath and around the
giant beasts. The problem is that the movie takes so much time
getting their... A disappointing final entry, to say the least.
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