Ong Bak

I probably shouldn't admit it, but I went to see Ong Bak this afternoon. As I recall, Roger Ebert says in his review that about seven minutes of the movie are devoted to the plot. He may have overestimated. But who cares? The plot is only an excuse to allow Tony Jaa to show his stuff, and show it he does. He's pretty amazing as he climbs trees, jumps over cars, slides under trucks, runs across a crowd of bad guys by stepping on their heads and shoulders, and demonstrates his Muay Thai martial arts prowess. Muay Thai? For all I know there's no such thing. But who cares? Jaa whacks one bad guy after another, which is pretty much what the five of us in the theater were there to see. I think I was the oldest of the five by at least 45 years, except of course in mental age. The acting's corny and the situations are corny. But, let's face it: who can resist a movie in which the chief bad guy says, "Dispose of them, and meet me at the cave." Not me.