Incredible fighting movie, but the rest stinks.

Being a great fan of martial arts movie, I recently watched two martial arts movies from countries other than China and Japan, which where most of the films of that genre come from. The first was "Arahan", a spectacular Matrix-style movie that pays homage to everything from Bruce Lee (the main kids hairstyle) and Kill Bill (the main heroines outfit) to the Karate Kid (bumbling loser to respectable fighter under a sensei) and Spider Man (in character development), from South Korean and the more grounded "Ong-Bak" from Thailand.

Ong-Bak has a very simple story that would not be out of place in one of those Jean Claude Van Damme movies of the mid-80's. A fighter who plans to become a monk is sent to Bangkok to recover the head of the village Buddha before an important Buddhist ceremony. He is asked to seek out a fellow villager who has become a low level street thug and also teams up with a girl who seems to be in high school or college.

The main character is not a person, but the acrobatics and Muay Thai boxing that make up a large chunk of the movie. As an actor, Tony Jaa is very weak. He is not hardened, he has a soft voice and he is as wooden as he walks. However, for the role of a mere monk, I guess he was well cast. What he does well is jump and fight. Watching American Muay Thai fighting movies (mostly B- movies) it would seem that type of kickboxing is slow and boring, but Jaa brings life into his sweeping kicks and elbows to the head. I was actually at the edge of my seat during his fight in the circle. I'll never say that Muay Thai is ever dull again.

However, the fighting is not supported by strong characterizations. You feel nothing for Jaa or his quest, mainly because it becomes secondary to him kicking some butte. His fellow villager actually gains more sympathy (at the end of the movie) as does the female lead, who's is the most annoying young sidekick I have seen in a long time (displacing Shia LeBeauf in his annoying turns in "I Robot" and "Constantine"). She has a grating high pitched voice and you want her to constantly go away and groan when she always re-appears on screen.

The direction is good and the director captures the action well. However, the movie is more of a throwback to the older Jackie Chan flicks of the 1980's. Jaa seems to have taken to the critics labeling Chan the Chinese "Buster Keaton" because he does his own version of running down back alleys from the baddies, avoiding fragile items, leaping over obviously placed obstacles and using everything that is around him as a weapon (but mostly his feet).

So compared to "Arahan" and it's high flying special effects, chemistry between the leads and very funny humor interjecting with manga type mysticism, Ong-Bak is a disappointment because the only thing it has is Jaa's awesome kicks and punches. However, when you realize that there were no stunt men, no wires and no CGI, his martial arts are something to behold. It's too bad that the movie and acting sucked and the directing was just average....Rating: C-