Ong Bak: Muy Thai Warrior

I can't decide which sentence to use for my opening salvo, so please just imagine that you're reading the following two lines simultaneously:

Oh my God.

ONG BAK: MUY THAI WARRIOR is better than ENTER THE DRAGON.

To paraphrase Roger Ebert, this film is 107 minutes long. Seven of those minutes are devoted to the plot, which exists to give our hero, Tony Jaa, a maguffin to pursue through the mean streets of Bangkok. The other 100 minutes contain extraordinary fights, the best footchase ever committed to film, and even a tuk-tuk race. Tony Jaa is a revelation, drawing comparisons to Jackie Chan for the pure creativity and exuberance of his stunt work, and this movie had me exclaiming "Oh my God!", "How is that possible?", and "Did you see that?" more often than a sailor on Phu Ket shore leave.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not questioning ENTER THE DRAGON's quality, importance to film history, or contributions to the screenwriter's hall of fame, Mr. Han-Man. I'm saying that ONG BAK has more action per reel, doesn't bother with the cheesy James Bond storyline, and features stunts so tightly choreographed and executed that Bruce Lee himself would approve.

Tony Jaa is the real deal - no wonder both Chan and Jet Li want to work with him. I can't wait to see what he does next.

Carlito's Way: Rise to Power

CARLITO'S WAY: RISE TO POWER is a perfectly mediocre crime picture about a young tough who's working his way up to the big time. It's unique in that it's a prequel to the excellent CARLITO'S WAY, which saddles the newer picture's star with the burden of both creating his own character and doing a rough Al Pacino impression throughout. The guy does a fine job, but I've been more entertained by the five minutes of MY COUSIN VINNY playing in the background than I was throughout the whole thing.

The Great Raid

Poor James Franco. The guy hasn't had a hit in some time, and he must be running out of studio goodwill by now. THE GREAT RAID hasn't helped.

THE GREAT RAID is actually two movies: a Franco - starring "mission" picture a la THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN and a Joseph Fiennes - starring "POW" picture about the tribulations of the guys stuck in WWII's infamous Cabanuatan POW camp. The former is pretty good, while the latter had me looking at my watch. Fortunately, the movie shifted back and forth betweeen the two often enough that I knew the good part would always be coming back.

Had THE GREAT RAID been about only the Great Raid, it could have been a bang-up picture and, perhaps, Franco may have gotten a hit. As it is, the thing's too unfocused and it easily drops into the "forgettable" pile.