In my review of Elegy I said it was a very adult film. The opposite can be said of Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003)---it is very simplistic, with a childish plot, and lots of fight scenes.
The plot is straight forward...an artifact is stolen from a Thai village, the Ong-Bak, and the village suffers bad fortune because their god is gone. Young village good guy and Muay Thai martial artist vows to return the god to the village and goes off to Bangkok to get it back. There, though he does not want to fight, he is thrust into situations where he just has to, so he can get the Ong-Bak back to the village.
And boy, does Tony Jaa fight well. His martial artistry from Thailand is a different style than is normally seen, and his stunts are amazing. The car chase was unique too, utilizing dozens of the 3-wheeled taxis of Bangkok speeding (well, as fast as those can go) down the thoroughfares and bridges of the city, ending in mangled heaps (they are so fragile looking you wonder how they don't all end up mangled).
Jaa is good. And while the movie may not be among the best of its genre, it is fun and entertaining, particularly Jaa. I do not think every movie needs to be serious and adult to be good, and Ong-Bak proves that movies can just be fun.
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