No prizes will be awarded to anyone who guesses that Ting beats all assailants and recovers the artifact. What you might not anticipate is how viscerally exciting director Prachya Pinkaew makes the action scenes.
[Tony] Jaa has an impressive physique, a steel snap to his delivery, and a gymnastic prowess to his style, and director Prachya Pinkaew puts it all on display in an endearingly naïve martial arts adventure.
Jaa's moves are impressive, but the choreography ranges from bland to ridiculous (as when one dirty fighter resorts to using major appliances as weapons).
Cinema Crazed
April 29, 2009
Knocked my socks off, and I was cursing myself for not seeing it sooner.
I think you have to hang a plot and some suspense around this. It was just so dopey and so endless and so repetitive. The guy's got talent, but thumbs down for this movie.
Film and Felt
September 26, 2009
May be the supreme example of a filmic endeavor succeeding exclusively for one cinematic aspect.
The artifice-free antidote to such F/X enervation -- a jaw-dropper of a star-making display from lithe fighter-artist Tony Jaa, framed by a plot as bare-bones as a backroom boxing ring.
