DVD: Ong Bak: The Beginning, For retail & rental (Sony)

As a fan of Ong Bak, I found this in-name-only prequel particularly disappointing. Tony Jaa, the indestructible star of both films, is also the director this time round, and he's taken the franchise a long way from the original's knockabout urban mayhem.

In its place is a grandiose, self-mythologising epic set 600 years ago, deep in the jungles of Thailand. The action takes fourth place to the dreary flashbacks, expensive period costumes and the slow-motion shots of rain falling.