MOVIE REVIEW

Tony Jaa, the newest Asian martial arts star, makes this film worth the price of admission.

By Kenneth Turan, Times Staff Writer

The name is Tony Jaa, but don't worry about remembering it. You'll be hearing it a lot from now on.

Jaa, the star of "Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior," is the newest Asian martial arts star, and he is definitely worth the price of admission. With moves so graceful and gravity-defying the film can't resist showing them twice, he's the rare action hero who's not only mentioned in the same breath as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan but also deserves the comparison.

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Unlike those luminaries, Jaa is from Thailand and his specialty is Thai boxing, or muay Thai, a discipline that apparently marries the elegance of tai chi with the gritty aspects of traditional martial arts. Jaa's work does not depend on Hong Kong-style special effects. An early Chan ad line, "No fear, no stuntman, no equal," fits him just as snugly.

It's a tribute to Jaa's skills that "Ong-Bak" made it to this country at all, because it has many of the characteristics of a generic action film made exclusively for local consumption. No one ever went to one of these Asian martial epics searching for insights into the human condition, and "Ong-Bak," written by Suphachai Sithiamphan and directed by Prachya Pinkaew, is no different.

The slightly misleading title notwithstanding, Ong-Bak turns out to be the name not of any warrior but of a statue of the Buddha that a tiny rural Thai village counts on for continued peace and prosperity.

Wouldn't you know it, a nasty city dweller named Don (Wannakit Siriput) has the temerity to sneak into the village and lop off Ong-Bak's head in an attempt to curry favor with his even-more-evil boss Khom Tuan (Sukhaaw Phongwilal), a disabled mobster with a yen for antiquities.

Volunteering to venture into Bangkok and get Ong-Bak back (so to speak) is the redoubtable Ting (Jaa), a moral young man who has just promised the monk who taught him that he'd never use his potentially lethal muay Thai skills. Fortunately, he finds reasons to break his word, or else the picture would have ended right there.

In Bangkok, Ting connects with a corrupt fellow villager who has gone Western to the extent of calling himself George (Petchthai Wongkamlao). However, Ting turns out to be as sturdy morally as he is physically, and soon enough George has a change of heart and joins him in trying to recover the severed head before the suddenly drought-stricken village dries up and blows away.

Like the early works of many martial arts stars, "Ong-Bak" is an uncomplicated, unpretentious little movie that alternates gee-whiz sentimentality with the kind of cartoonish violence that allows the hero to recover in 10 seconds flat from a beating that would stagger an elephant.

When that hero is played by Jaa, however, there is no taking your eyes off his high-octane fighting abilities. Though he specializes in a flying elbow to the head and can be seen breaking a motorcycle helmet between his knees, Jaa's Ting is impressive even working out without an opponent.

Though Ting raises local spirits by beating up a number of European bad guys, including a bruiser inexplicably named Big Bear, his fighting moments are not "Ong-Bak's" most memorable scenes.

Against expectation, the highlight turns out to be a sequence in which our hero does no more than run through the markets and back streets of Bangkok, using his remarkable physicality to leap over tables, glide between giant panes of glass and run across the shoulders of a mob of bad guys.

It's a display of phenomenal dex-terity and nimble grace that's a joy to watch. That, friends, is entertainment.

'Ong-Bak: TheThai Warrior'

MPAA rating: R for sequences of strong violence, language, some drug use and sexuality.

Tony Jaa...Ting

Petchthai Wongkamlao...George

Pumwaree Yodkamol...Muay Lek

Rungwaree Borrijindakul...Ngek

Chetwut Wacharakun...Peng

Shamongkolfilm International presents a Baa-Ewe production, released by Magnolia Pictures. Director Prachya Pinkaew. Executive producer Somsak Techaratanaprasert. Screenplay by Suphachai Sithiamphan. Director of photography Natawut Kittikun. Editor Thanat Sunsin. Music Atomix Clubbing. Production designer Akhadaet Kaewchote. In Thai and English with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes. In selected theaters.