Blu-ray Movie Reviews

When the head of his village's sacred Buddha statue is stolen, simple country boy Ting (Tony Jaa) is sent to Bangkok to retrieve it. Raised by a monk who has trained him in Muay Thai, Ting has vowed to never use his lethal martial arts skills. But once he arrives in the big city, Ting is forced to fight. It's non-stop action as Ting infiltrates Bangkok's seedy underworld and takes on a series of lowlifes and criminals in his quest to obtain the sacred head.

The last few years have brought some outstanding new talent to the martial arts world with some crews delivering jaw dropping stunts and action choreography. Tony Jaa is definitely one of them with incredible acrobatics and fighting skills. Ong-Bak was his debut and a hit in his homeland of Thailand. The film is very low budget but manages to capture a lot of the incredible capabilities of this action star. Hopefully he’ll get his chance at bigger and better films going forward.

Those looking for a solid Blu-ray presentation may be in for some disappointment here. The image doesn’t even stand up against middle of the line DVD transfers. This is no doubt due to the rather low budget production and film stock, but it’s still pretty awful to look at. Detail is really soft and the image is really grainy. Colors have a muted look and spit and polish is nowhere to be found. The DTS soundtrack tries its best but the dynamic range and presence of this track is just not there. The mix is a bit front heavy and sounds middling at best. If you have the DVD already, I can’t see any reason to consider this Blu-ray release.

Extras include a look at Muay Thai moves and its thrilling new star Tony Jaa. You also get a music video.

While Jaa delivers the goods in the stunt and fighting department, this Blu-ray is a dud. The video is awful and I just can’t see any reason not to just stick with a DVD presentation for a few bucks less.