Just as Japan is now the place to go for quality horror films that are genuinely frightening, so it seems Thailand is the place to look for action movies that are genuinely thrilling. ONG BAK, we can only hope, will be the first in a new wave of spellbinding Thai movies which go that one step further that Hollywood films never seem to reach. It's a poorly-plotted movie, with a routine storyline and a pretty mundane script; the characters are at best two-dimensional. So why the five star rating? Well, to speak plainly, ONG BAK kicks backside. In fact, it kicks major backside. After the initial set-up (a slow thirty minutes),action scene after action scene is piled on, perfectly choreographed sequences that will have any male viewer whooping and cheering. Tony Jaa, it seems, is the new Bruce Lee, and his physical prowess in this film is amazing. He's complimented by a pretty but vacuous female accomplice, and 'George', played by a top Thai comedian on hand for the comic relief.

Much has been made of the "no wires, no CGI, no stuntmen" tag line. It works. Jaa performs everything you see him do on screen, whether that be jumping through barbed wire or being set on fire. He really does take the brutal hits and punches aimed his way, and by the same gesture, he delivers all the moves we see him perform too. Certainly the film bears resemblance to the Bruce Lee flicks of old, whilst some of the plot seems to come from Van Damme's A.W.O.L. No matter. All you need to know that the action here is fast-paced, as realistic as it gets, and absolutely violent.

The set-pieces are too numerous to mention, and by the time the film hits the final run, it's just carnage after carnage. There are guys getting kicked off motorbikes, scenes of Jaa running on top of people's heads, jumping over and under moving cars and much more. Various fights in rings and arenas see him battling a variety of foes, some good, some not so good. My favourites are the 'object' guy, a hulking Westerner who uses anything that comes to hand in his fight: bottles, tables, even a live wire; then there's the injection guy, a really evil-looking sod who pumps himself full of painkillers (or steroids, not sure which, it doesn't matter) to give our hero a good pummelling.

The direction is spot-on, with use of repeats and slow-motion just where they look best, and the fights are something we've never seen before. Unstaged, fluid and offering 100% realism; that's the order of the day, and what action! The ending is the best, set in a cave, as we see Jaa battling numerous opponents. Things get really nasty with a sadistic dead-eye villain who uses a rusty saw on our hero before breaking a few arms. It's brutal, but not as brutal as Jaa's rematch with the injection guy. There's an elbow-on-head crushing with a spurting blood cloud that even beats Sonna Chiba's STREET FIGHTER for sheer crowd-pleasing viciousness. Enough has been said in this review; all that's left is for me to recommend any true martial arts fan to go out and buy this movie straight away. It'll take pride of place on your shelf, I promise.

Ong-Bak is a sacred Buddha statute. Don is a dealer from Bangkok who steals the head. Ting (Tony Jaa) volunteers to bring back the idol for the desperate village. In the city, he finds George who keeps denying to be Humlae the son of a villager. George steals all of Ting's money from the villagers to bet on fights. Ting accidentally gets into an underground fight and takes down the champion. When George gets in trouble with thugs, he and Muay Lek are beaten up and are rescued by Ting. When they go back to the fight club, Ting is forced to fight against three consecutive opponents. In the end, he wins all the fights, wins the affections of the crowd, and finds Don who works for the evil Komtuan.

There is a chase in the street about 30 minutes in. It is amazing. It is fun. It is hilarious. There are a lot of good hard fights. The story really serves to highlight the action and there is a lot of it. One thing is certain. Tony Jaa is an amazing acrobatic fighter.

Don't bother start looking for a plot here ... and if you've tried it, just stop right now. This movie is not about the plot! It's all about the action! And it delivers! If you let yourself step into that world of improved Muy Thai (I hope I spelled it right, it's an art form that Tony Jaa and some other guys re-invented, I don't know all the influences they used/put into, but it sure looks damn good on screen!),then you will be blown away! This movie is in other words "off the hook", it's great. If it were only for the action it'd get a 10/10. Still as it is and with the knowledge that at least Tony Jaa didn't use any ropes/wires or other tricks to help him out, do his tricks, you've got to be impressed. Of course some of his enemies (stunt doubles) have used wires (as is said in the extras of the excellent UK double Disc Set of this movie).

Tony Jaa might not be a great actor, but he is the new action phenomenon! He's only made two movies so it's too soon to call him other things or even to say that he has a rightful claim to challenge Jet Li/J.Chan/Bruce Lee/Donnie Yen/Sammo Hung/... for the martial arts throne ... at least yet! :o)