Ong Bak 2

Set in 15th Century Thailand, the subtitled "Ong Bak: 2" brings little that is new to the martial-arts genre - but a barrel load of impressive fight scenes and an authentic look make it worthwhile viewing for the aficionado. It's the oldie about a young boy who is trained to become a righteous warrior, standing up for the innocent and the helpless against a cruelly oppressive regime.

As noted, there isn't much in the way of storytelling, dialogue and characterization to distinguish "Ong Bak: 2" from the countless other films in this category, but the battle scenes are impressively staged and mounted, with a brutality that, while it makes them hard to watch at times, seems an accurate reflection of the era in which it's set. Moreover, directors Panna Rittikrai and Tony Jaa (who plays the lead role) never feel the need to prettify the setting, offering up a screen full of snaggle-toothed, matted-locked extras to go along with all the muck and mud.

Tien, ace martial arts fighter and tamer of elephants, takes on a half-a-dozen opponents at a time, slicing-and-dicing and karate-chopping them into the dust, only to have them rise again to face a second, third, even fourth humiliating go-round at his punishing hands. It's 100% absurd and just about everything a die-hard martial arts fan could wish for from such a film.

This followup to the hit Ong Bak has nothing to do with the original Ong Bak, and it seems like the producers were simply trying to cash in on the name, but boy- why did they have to? This movie stands upto itself on its own. Tight editing, lots of superb fight sequences, lots of innovative battle techniques, minimal storyline meaning minimal time wasted on anything but the raw action that we are there to see; all makes it a great movie impossible to miss. You get glued to your seat and wont even blink. Somebody wrote he was bored, which I tried hard to understand- but couldn't. Man, action movies don't get bigger or better than this. Its like Gladiator meets Apocalypto meets Rambo, only better. Raw gut wrenching intensity makes it a pleasure to watch. Don't miss this.

The movie is wonderful, to the point and did not mess-up up with too much story and dialogs.

The movie shows tony ja's wish to cover the major martial art skills such as Chinese kung fu, Japanese Samurai, Ninja, Muay Thai, Drunken kungfu etc.,

The fight sequences are brilliant, rough and the art of Drunken fighting is shown perfectly as you will see the real essence unlike that of older movies which have portrayed it as a funny martial art. tony ja's love for elephants is obvious(Thailand's national animal).

overall 9/10 (-1 if there is no sequel) one can obviously see that even though the movie is tony ja's first direction it is very maturely taken and it's sure that it makes you feel like there should be some more at the end but The movie is unfinished as tony and the producers had some unknown clashes behind the scenes.

Yet the movie is full of brilliant fights and you will surely be satisfied while expecting for a sequel.

In 1431, the Kingdom of Ayutthayan conquers the territory of Sukhothai expanding their lands to East. The noble Lord Siha Decho is betrayed by his Captain Rajasena and is murdered together with his wife. However their son Tien is saved by one loyal soldier and left alone in the woods. Later he is captured by slave traders but he is rescued by Chernang, the leader of a group of thieves from Garuda Wing. He learns martial arts and arms and becomes a leader of the thieves, but he leaves the gang seeking revenge against Rajasena.

"Ong Bak 2" is a good epic, with a non-original storyline but a magnificent choreography of fights and art direction. The plot is predictable but very entertaining, supported by the ability of Tony Jaa in martial arts, and the conclusion seems to be the beginning of an unnecessary sequel. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Ong-Bak 2"

Tony Jaa is back in his first directorial effort (co-directing to be more specific) and the man delivers everything you would expect from a solid martial arts flick, and then some more.

The spiritual sequel to Ong Bak is quite an ambitious film, showing a wide diversity of fighting styles, using ancient thai history as the background. Jaa has certainly done his homework, because the movie has a strong old school HK vibe, but with a crude and gritty look. The plot is pretty much your standard martial arts/shaw bros 101 premise: hero takes revenge of his fallen comrades/family and so on, he begins as a weak victim to transform into a kick-ass machine. Nothing that any respectable MA movie aficionado haven't seen before, but the movie does it right and believable enough to engage the viewer. Not a complex story, but the motivations of the characters are convincing enough to move things on.

The fight sequences are effective, never repetitive and quite intense. I mean, if you can't enjoy a movie that has everything from crocodile fights to ninjas, samurais, elephants, people fighting like crows and leopards, a guy that throws daggers and another guy that uses explosives then you might want to report back to mother ship, because the goods of this planet are just too much for you. The abrupt ending, while anti-climatic, doesn't kill the mood of the film.

Far better from what anyone could expect, no idea why this go trashed by some people. Is no classic but it's a perfectly decent time waster. Which is more from what it can be say about other movies stuffing multiplexes these days.