Move over Jackie Chan and Jet Li, there is new star in town and his name is Tony Jaa! Not only does his last name sound like a battle cry, he must also be the first big martial arts actor to come from Thailand. In this hit movie that took Asia by storm, Jaa is the undisputed champion and probably one of the most spectacular fighters ever to appear on film. He has the acrobatic skills of an Olympic gymnast, the moves of a break-dancer and the toughness of 20 Mexican boxers. With a fighter this great you don’t really need a story to make a good movie. And so it doesn’t have one. Well, practically doesn’t.

As often, the story in these movies is paper-thin; usually it is about vengeance over a murdered brother or to defend some other matter of honour. Here the whole plot revolves around a Buddha’s head that has been stolen from a small Thai village. The people send out their bravest muay thai fighter (Phanom Yeerum a.k.a. Tony Jaa) to retrieve the relic in Bangkok. Once there, the poor guy hasn’t even got the time to let the culture shock sink in as he immediately starts pounding away. Luckily, the thugs that line up to be smashed come in an endless supply. He hooks up with the obligatory sidekicks and the slugfest goes on and on and finishes with the best fighting sequence ever. Period.

And who cares about a story if you have several of the coolest fights ever shot and some of the craziest moves and kicks that make you glad they show them several times in slow-motion. What makes this feast of fists of fury even more great is that it is all real: no CGI, no fancy wire-works or harnesses, this guy seems to defy gravity on his own! Jaa shares a great point in common with Jackie Chan where it comes to acrobatics (and I want to take nothing away from the ‘old’ master) but he combines it with a believable hard-hitting toughness since his style is that of traditional muay thai kick-boxing. He makes ample use of his elbows and knees to crush ribs and break heads and you can see such power in his blows, that you wonder how they could find enough stuntmen willing to be pummelled like they were punching bags. His jumps are also quite remarkable and if the long or high jump were allowed with a two-foot launch, this guy could attack world records.

The Matrix may have been cool (and it was) but it was also laden with the latest wire-trickery and the best digital effects. Seeing this guy at work leaves you gasping for breath and cringing with every devastating blow he strikes. Effectively, the only wire-work I could discover was in the wacky chasing scene, where they used cables to hoist up some tuktuk’s (small three-wheeled taxi’s) during an explosion. Soon Hollywood will pick up on this sensational guy (not counting his anonymous stunt role in Mortal Combat 2) and I really hope he will be able to keep the realism and toughness in his play, because watering down this young man’s performance would sure be a waste. The best news is that Jaa is working on a new movie called Tom Yum Goong (title may change for international release) where he promises even more dangerous and spectacular moves than Ong Bak. More whup-ass, I just cannot wait.

Be sure to check out this movie’s website (French) with trailers and a very cool making-off film. Here you can see Jaa training his incredible moves.

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