Scott Bush

Sometime last year I saw Ong-bak: The Thai Warrior and was severely impressed. The buzz was about this “unknown” guy from the Thai countryside, Tony Jaa, who was the real deal martial artist: no wires, fancy camerawork, or special effects necessary. (If you haven’t seen it, check it out soon.) Jaa’s moves are based on muay thai boxing, though (like Jet Li) he can easily switch styles.
This is even more apparent in Jaa’s latest movie, The Protector, which was released on DVD last Tuesday. I checked it out last night and wow. Wow. WOW. Simply put, Tony Jaa is this generation’s Bruce Lee. Jet Li and, to a smaller extent, Jackie Chan, are contenders but Jaa has an edge on them I think. My friends and I kept pausing the movie to exclaim “damn, did you see that?!” after each sequence. This is no JC Van Damme quality crap. Jaa drops knees, elbows, headbutts and devastating punches with nary a cut to be seen. In fact, my favorite sequence was a four-minute long fight scene up a large circular staircase. It was filmed with a steadycam and had to be the longest continuous fight scene in a long time, if not ever. Kudos!

The Protector’s storyline is weak, but who cares? It feels rushed, but who cares? It has sterotypical badguys whose motives are only briefly mentioned, but who cares? It is chockerblock full of intense, bone-shattering (and I do mean bone-shattering) action.

Jaa’s attitude (or at least what comes through on the DVD’s interviews) is remarkabley calm and humble. Keep your eye on Jaa—Ong-bak 2 is scheduled for a 2008 release.