Ong Bak 3 is self-indulgent, boring and non-spectacular. There is a clear difference between the tired feel of this movie and the extraordinarily brilliant Ong Bak and Ong Bak 2.
Whilst the first two films had fantastic fight sequences, featuring brilliant stunts and awe-inspiring moves that showcase Tony Jaa's immense talent, this movie has none of these magic ingredients.
The movie is slow moving...not a great thing for an action movie. The first hour is dedicated to Tony Jaa's character (Tien) returning from the dead and healing himself. There are never ending sequences of him meditating in waterfalls and dancing on top of mountains and ancient monuments. These scenes go on and on and are extremely self indulgent and cheesy. His mentor / guiding guru is filled with laughably cheesy sayings reminiscent of a B-grade movie..."when you see the shadow of your past, remember that the light is never too far away". What a load of rubbish! Tony Jaa is famous for not using CGI effects or flying harnesses. All the action is real in his movie, including this one. Very unique these days. However some of the set pieces in this movie are ludicrously low budget. In some scenes Tony knocks villains through stone walls that are clearly made from Polystyrene, swords that are blatantly not real and in some scenes it is clear that his punches / kicks do not connect with his opponents. Amateur stuff.
Whilst Tony is clearly an incredible martial artist and lovers of this genre will still enjoy this film, he seems to have forgotten all the reasons why his first two films were so enjoyable....no-nonsense scripts, spectacular fight sequences and unbelievable stunts.
We need less schmaltz and more action Tony! This film is not recommended.
Whilst the first two films had fantastic fight sequences, featuring brilliant stunts and awe-inspiring moves that showcase Tony Jaa's immense talent, this movie has none of these magic ingredients.
The movie is slow moving...not a great thing for an action movie. The first hour is dedicated to Tony Jaa's character (Tien) returning from the dead and healing himself. There are never ending sequences of him meditating in waterfalls and dancing on top of mountains and ancient monuments. These scenes go on and on and are extremely self indulgent and cheesy. His mentor / guiding guru is filled with laughably cheesy sayings reminiscent of a B-grade movie..."when you see the shadow of your past, remember that the light is never too far away". What a load of rubbish! Tony Jaa is famous for not using CGI effects or flying harnesses. All the action is real in his movie, including this one. Very unique these days. However some of the set pieces in this movie are ludicrously low budget. In some scenes Tony knocks villains through stone walls that are clearly made from Polystyrene, swords that are blatantly not real and in some scenes it is clear that his punches / kicks do not connect with his opponents. Amateur stuff.
Whilst Tony is clearly an incredible martial artist and lovers of this genre will still enjoy this film, he seems to have forgotten all the reasons why his first two films were so enjoyable....no-nonsense scripts, spectacular fight sequences and unbelievable stunts.
We need less schmaltz and more action Tony! This film is not recommended.