Review of Ong Bak 3 (2010) by Greg W — 19 Oct 2012

The previous two Tony Jaa films I saw, The Protector and the original Ong Bak (The Thai Warrior), were both exciting, jaw-dropping exercises in martial arts, physical strength, flexibility, and stunt ingenuity. Ong Bak 3 contains some of those elements, but never close to the same extent, instead relying more on ridiculously overwrought drama.

Having missed Ong Bak 2, the story begins confusingly with numerous flashbacks. There are only two noteworthy fights for the first hour, which would be fine if there was a story to tell. Instead, during that time all that happens is Jaa gets thrashed within an inch of his life, the bad guy has nightmares of a curse inflicted upon him by the king he poisoned to take his throne, and then Jaa is rescued and brought slowly back to health. And I do mean slooooowly, the healing ceremony alone lasts for several tedious minutes. Tony Jaa is not a great actor and doesn't possess the screen charisma of Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee, and here he exhibits a messianic complex by repeatedly posing in exaggerated stances for the camera while accompanied by majestic orchestra swells (and with shaggy Jesus hair and beard oddly enough, one would certainly not guess Christianity as his religious affiliation). The effect is so self-important as to be laughable. Once again, there is a single funny joke allowed, but the rest is buried beneath a level of self-seriousness that his other films managed to handle.

The good points naturally include the few fight sequences, which as a sidenote are quite bloody. Often seen in slow motion, there is no doubt he and his stunt crew took some very hard knocks. Snapping spear shafts never looked so cool and you'll probably never see a mass fight sequence with elephants involved in the choreography anywhere else. A second bad guy called 'The Crow' has a great look and was actually a more interesting figure than the hero which is often another ominous sign. With the body's clock limiting the amount of abuse it can withstand, maybe Jaa is looking in another direction with the shift in balance between drama and action here. If that's the case, I will rapidly lose interest in his future projects if they are similar in design to Ong Bak 3.