“Ong-Bak” is a delightful martial arts flick starring Tony Jaa, Thailand’s answer to Jackie Chan (“Police Story”). While it isn’t a terrific film, this is a fun and ambitious action film that features lots of exciting stunts so action movie purists are going to have a good time.

In “Ong-Bak”, the head of a sacred statue is stolen from a village and martial artist Ting (Jaa) is sent to Bangkok to retrieve it. There he teams up with his cousin, who has seemingly abandoned the quiet and spiritual lifestyle of the countryside. The two of them help to uncover a criminal operation where many sacred artefacts from across the country are being stolen.

Tony Jaa can kick and punch like the best of martial arts superstars and he is also able to pull off some very impressive stunts. However, the film is able to make him likeable as he never wants to fight but is always forced into defending himself and those around him. My only complaint is that he doesn’t have a lot of personality here and maybe that’s more the script’s fault than him. Some of the other characters are okay but I didn’t like the main villain who speaks with a electrolarynx.

“Ong-Bak” starts a little slow but after the first act, things really start to pick up speed with lots of terrific action sequences. The filmmakers are smart enough to include a mixture of hand-to-hand combat, daring stunts and car chasing so it’s very clear that the people behind “Ong-Bak” are very familiar with Jackie Chan’s films. Before the film’s release in Europe and America, Steven Seagal (“Under Siege”) saw “Ong-Bak” and allegedly wanted to release it under his production company with additional scenes featuring him as Jaa’s mentor… thankfully that didn’t happen. If you consider yourself a martial arts movie fan then you simply have to check out “Ong-Bak”.