Muay Thai, “Thai Boxing”, is the national sport of Thailand. It is a martial art with roots originating from military use dating back to around the 13th century during the time of the Sukhothai Kingdom.
“Ong Bak” is known for its realistic and intense portrayal of Muay Thai. The film’s action sequences are choreographed by experts in the martial art, and the lead actor, Tony Jaa, is a trained Muay Thai practitioner. While movies often exaggerate fight scenes for cinematic effect, “Ong Bak” is generally praised for its authentic representation of Muay Thai techniques and fighting style.
The film was praised by the variety of martial arts showcased, including muay boran and krabi krabong, Japanese kenjutsu and ninjutsu, Indian Kalaripayattu, Malay silat, as well as various Chinese martial arts.
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Tony Jaa Techniques In Real Fights – Ong Bak Fight Club
Tony Jaa performed all his stunts without the use of stunt doubles or CGI, making the fight scenes exhilarating and realistic. Ong-Bak introduced international audiences to a traditional form of muay Thai (or Muay Boran, an ancient muay Thai style), a kickboxing style that is known for violent strikes with fists, feet, shins, elbows, and knees.
Director Prachya Pinkaew and action star Tony Jaa made this possible when they combined forces to make Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior. A film with no other goal than to show off the cinematic real potential of Muay Thai boxing to the world.
Tony Jaa was still very young when he made this film and whatever dramatic performance he has to deliver feels awkward and stilted.
On the other hand, the man has charisma to spare and pulls of the Muay Thai moves with such speed, power and efficiency that all the rest is quickly forgotten.
It would kick-start a series of Thai action films that were eagerly exported to action fans all over the world and would become renowned for their incredible stunt work and impressive martial arts scenes.
Tony Jaa also is trained in a few arts such as Krabi Kabong.
Krabi-Krabong Thai martial art from Thailand. It is closely related to other Southeast Asian fighting styles such as Pencak Silat Indonesia, Burmese banshay and Cambodian kbach kun boran. The royal bodyguard corps of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) were said to be highly trained in krabi-krabong. Unarmed krabi-krabong (muay boran) makes use of kicks, pressure point strikes, joint locks, holds, and throws.
Tony Jaa in the film Ong Bak using also Muay Boran. It is the root of Muay Thai. Boran has deadly techniques and is not a combat sport. The elbows to the top of the head are a great example. Certainly there are Muay Thai techniques, as Muay Thai was born from Boran.
Muay boran was originally developed for self-defense and also taught to the Thai military for use in warfare. Muay Boran originally is a martial art system which has deadly techniques, grappling techniques and ground fighting techniques apart from its stand up techniques.
This differs from modern-day Muay Thai, which consists only of stand up and is only a ring sport. Matches between practitioners of the art then began to be held. These soon became an integral part of Thai culture with fights being held at festivals and fighters from the different areas of Thailand testing their styles against each other. Fighters began to wrap their hands and forearms in hemp rope which not only protected their fists from injury but also made their strikes…
