Ong Barg - One Muay Thai Warrior, One Slick Con Man, extreme Old Style Muay Thai action fighting

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Muay Thai Film!!!!
Review: Wow,this movie ranks up there with Jet Li's Fist of Legend, Jackie's Drunken Master 2, and Donnie Yen's Tiger Cage 2.You know what I'm talkin about if you've seen any of them.If not I'll try to explain the greatness of this film.Three words for this film: Shocking,Brutal,and Amazing.This film took 4-5 years to make and the main actor Tony Ja Panom Yeerum is no joke.He is huge in Thailand, and I consider him the next Jackie Chan in terms of stunts.This movie is filled with amazing acrobatics and just insane fighting.For this role, he studied not only contemporary Muay Thai, but an older system of Thai boxing called Mae Mai.Tony is so physically over the top with jumping capability,I doubt anyone is as agile on camera these days.For one,not only can Tony do a tornado kick well,but he does two in one jump.Story of the film?Tony plays Ting who lives in a poor religious Thailand village.Merchants working for a criminal boss are looking to buy out ancient Ong Baks (head of Buddha statues) from one of the villagers,but to no avail.The boss uses these artifacts for selling purposes and gets them any way he can.The merchants,scared of returning with nothing,decide to steal the Ong Bak of the village,and Ting goes on his quest to return it to the village.Not much of a plot,which is why many will say this doesn't compare to the works of Drunken Master and others.However,this film does something rarely done in action films of the past and present.Over 90% of the attacks here are genuine.Elbows,knees,low kicks,roundhouses,spin kicks,and weapons all connect.Only attacks to the face were faked.Folks,this film is brutally violent and you're going to cringe a lot during the many fight scenes.The sound effects are not of the typical "wood break" sounds of Kung Fu flicks, but more like actual attacks on the human body,and you'll start to understand why this film took so long to complete due to the many injuries suffered.The acrobatics will immediately remind you of Jackie in his younger days.Crazy jumps,flips,and stunts are all over this film.One thing that'll stay in your mind after watching is its realism.Every action scene in this movie is perfected and just jawdropping.For any martial arts fan,this movie is a must see and must own.Remember,this is a Muay Thai Boxing film,not a Kung Fu film.Fight exchanges will not be as fluid and thick as Hong Kong fighters,but the style is very unique and shocking.I cant say this is the best Muay Thai film I've ever seen considering I haven't seen any others,but this a landmark film that all others will be compared to.Simply awesome.In terms of the DVD,there is an abundance on Ebay and they're good quality,but make sure to get the one with english subs.The original release was only a Thai language version, so do your research.However,the best DVD version will be hands down from the Hong Kong Legends(HKL) disrtibutors that will be released early 2005 overseas.You'll need a regionless DVD player to play the Region 2 programmed DVD,but HKL remasters martial art films to the best in terms of audio and visual, and provide tons of extras.All I can say is get this movie,and invite all your martial art buddies for this awesome movie.For more martial art recommendations, check out my other reviews.Thanks for your time.