Writer: Syahida Kamarudin

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Watch this if you liked: “Ong Bak”, “Tom Yum Goong”

Tony Jaa is in a class of his own. That class might be a very confusing, plot-lacking class with absolutely no character development and lack of continuity, but it is a class of its own all the same.

Watching "Ong Bak 2" is like experiencing lots of movies at one go. Sometimes you feel like you're watching "Apocalypto" with all that blood and violence. There is also that sense of "Gladiator", and you can't help thinking like that when the lead is wearing some kind of gladiator footwear. There is also that Jackie Chan's "Drunken Master" vibe, and weirdly enough "Ali Baba Bujang Lapok" - what with the group of bandits that ranges from an Arabian Night dude, a Japanese samurai to a Boxer Association type of gangster from a Wong Fei Hung movie.

Seeing as it is lacking in plot, the movie opens and ends with an action scene and yet you don't even care why is everything the way it is. It appears that Tony Jaa wants to tell you that he can beat up any African guy using their own combat style, and slash a samurai using his own sword, while doing kickass wushu fighting and mounting an elephant the extreme way, to the extent that all other elephants bow down to him in respect. Oh, and don't forget, fighting lots of hashashins in the process.

Yes, this movie is all about Tony Jaa. So you can just forget about feeling sorry for the other characters, like Chernang the bandit king (who looks like M. Nasir) who has the most interesting character anyway. The ending leaves you hanging and you might be confused whether it IS how it supposed to end or if there will be another "Ong Bak", like "Ong Bak 2.1" or "Ong Bak 3 - Sequel to the Sequel with No Relation at All to the Original".

This reviewer rates the movie three stars and here's the justification. One star for the cool non-stop action ranging from the battle of the crocodile to the massacre of the hashashins. One star for making one feel that it is safe to play around elephant tusks. And the last star for Tony Jaa - for entertaining us with a mindless movie, that you will be keen on forgiving just because... well, just because.

Cinema Online, 20 January 2009