SYNOPSIS:
Tien
has lost his fighting skills and his beloved step-father at
the Garuda's Wing cliff from the raid led by Jom Rachan. Tien
is brought back to life with the help from Pim as well as
Mhen and the Kana Khone villagers. Deep into the meditation
taught by Phra Bua, Tien finally is able to achieve 'Nathayut'.
His talents are put to the test again when his rivals including
the Golden-Armored King's Guard, the mysterious killers in
black and Bhuti Sangkha return for the final massive showdown.
MOVIE REVIEW:
By now, you could have heard of Tony Jaa’s
much publicized production problems with Sahamongkol Film
during the making of Ong Bak 2 and his mysterious disappearance
from the set for two months which resulted in a huge delay.
Nevertheless, after much hooha, the prequel (a predecessor
to the original 2003’s Ong Bak) was finally released
in December 2008. Ong Bak 2 which was co-directed by Jaa and
his mentor, Panna Rittikrai was a lavish affair in terms of
production design, cast and the various forms of martial arts
presented.
With Ong Bak 2, Jaa has set the bar higher
for the audience and himself. Finally it seems, the ex-stuntman
has cemented his footing as an action superstar. Unfortunately,
the concluding sequel Ong Bak 3 was nothing but a limp attempt
by Sahamongkol Film to cash on the success of Jaa.
Not exactly to the point of unwatchable,
Ong Bak 3 is a serviceable revenge flick on the whole, it
gets you blatantly from one point to another without much
emotion invested and the stiff acting doesn’t help much
either. Continuing from the ending of Ong Bak 2 with Tien
being captured and tortured, Ong Bak 3 devotes much of its
running time to Tien being enlightened by a Buddhist monk
who saved him from the brink of death. The other half of the
movie introduces audience to the mysterious Crow Ghost whom
got a cameo in part 2 and the evil Lord Rajasena who is suffering
from terrible bad dreams.
International audience who are impressed
by Tony Jaa’s original Ong Bak, Tom-Yum-Goong or even
part 2 might be slightly disappointed with Ong Bak 3. Part
3 fails to live up to one’s expectations notably the
characters development and the action sequences. The latter
lacks a memorable fight despite the promise by Sahamongkol
Film to feature more action between Dan Chupong (Crow Ghost)
and Jaa. Dan Chupong is a capable action star (Born To Fight,
Dynamite Warrior) himself but owing to the supernatural origin
of his character and a half-baked narrative, Crow Ghost in
the end is merely a scary caricature opposite Tien. Viewers
who are not accustomed to Buddhism beliefs and the likes of
philosophy will find the scripting hard to swallow and with
just a 90 minutes running time, some of the story arc are
unbearingly slow and cheesy.
Comedian
Petchtai Wongkamlao or as we called him the Ng Meng Tat
of Thailand appears as the village’s madman providing
some light humour to ease the tension and even finds time
to 'advise' the gloomy Tien.
Apparently,
Jaa might not be in the best state of mind towards the end
of production which explains the lack of grandeur and the
creative efforts in action choreographing seen in part 2.
Despite that, Ong Bak 3 still deserved a one-time viewing
for the sake of concluding the mayhem concocted in the first
prequel.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual presented is solid and clear though there’s
some intended grittiness while the audio is especially loud
and robust during the action sequences.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
Posted on 30 August 2010
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