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Regarded as run-down grindhouse fare before realizing its presumed destiny as UHF television’s cure for insomnia, the martial-arts film has enjoyed an unexpected renaissance after being newly legitimized by art-house icons Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Zhang Yimou (Hero and House of Flying Daggers). Prachya Pinkaew, director of this Thai box-office sensation, must miss the good old days. Billed by some as "the next Bruce Lee," former stunt double Panom Yeerum (renamed a more Lee-like Tony Jaa for Western audiences) wanders the Earth as humble "country boy" Ting, a latter-day Caine and master of muay thai. When his village’s sacred MacGuffin is stolen by former resident Don (Wannakit Sirioput) and the village elders tell him that "Don is a bastard!" (that’s the English translation, at any rate), Ting sets off for nearby Bangkok to retrieve it. This is all the plot that Pinkaew requires to contrive Fight Club–style sequences, fruit-cart-smashing chase scenes, and misogynistic levels of female abuse. Still, if you long for non-digitized action, Tony Jaa could be your next Jackie Chan — without the personality. IN Thai with English subtitles. (105 minutes)
BY BRETT MICHEL
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