Ong Bak 3 picks up where Ong Bak 2 left off. Tien is captured and almost beaten to death before he is saved and brought back to the Kana Khone villagers. There he is taught meditation and how to deal with his Karma, but very soon his arch-rival returns, challenging Tien for a final duel.
No surprise here—Ong Bak 3 arrives on Blu- ray with a 1080p/AVC encoded transfer that’s nearly identical in style and quality to the one that graced Ong Bak 2. And that’s mostly a good thing. Like its predecessor, Ong Bak 3 features extremely stylized visuals, with heavily pushed contrast, selectively saturated and desaturated colors, and an intentionally oversharpened quality, all which come together for an image that’s highly artificial-looking, but also occasionally very striking. Textures, for instance, are often insanely refined, rendering elephant hide, jungle foliage, the actors’ weather-beaten faces, and their intricate period costumes in
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what seems to be almost palpable bas-relief. Likewise, the film’s color palette is dense and vibrant. While black levels sometimes skewer towards a deep bluish hue, they’re inky enough and give a basis for the picture’s satisfying contrast and presence. As with the previous film, there are a few small issues from the source that, while noticeable, never rise to the level of distraction, including some moiré-like shimmer on fine patterns in gold armor and negligible banding during certain CGI-heavy sequences.
Similarly, the film’s Thai DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track offers the same kind of aural experience as its predecessor—one dominated by fight scene sound effects and a cheese-tastic score. There’s plenty of rear channel engagement throughout, from clanging swords and whipping chains to ambient noises like chirping crickets and falling rain. That said, some of the scenes in Tien’s village seem to have a slightly hollow quality—we hear certain sounds, but the mix is not nearly as lively as it could be.
All the effects are crisp and clean—sometimes too much so, as it’s obvious they’ve been foleyed in after the fact—and the music, while grating at times, at least has a broad dynamic range. Dialogue, for what its worth—not much— floats easily on top of the mix. On the likely occasion that you find yourself completely bored with the proceedings, turn on the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English dub, which is good for a few fleeting laughs. English, English SDH, and Spanish subtitles are available in easy-to-read white lettering.