Jaa-love.

The new Thai-actioner Ong Bak 2 has as much in common with the original Ong Bak as The Aviator has with Gangs of New York.... in short, beyond sharing a single cast member, nothing. This supposed “prequel” takes Thai ass-kicker Tony Jaa back 1000 years where we witness his childhood martial arts training unfolding amongst a sort of Sherwood Forest band of outlaws, led by Robinratana Hoodsanitwoogthul. Like a good old-fashioned porno, the "plot" halfheartedly attempts to hang some sort of story on the gonzo action sequences that follow... ultimately pointless, but necessary I guess.

The action comes on hard during the second half and the film ends abruptly after a furious 25 minute one-man-army fight sequence that includes elephants, an unexplained bird-person and dozens of opponents dressed in black with wicker baskets on their heads being dispatched in various bone-crunching ways. I keep coming back to the porno analogy because the plot of Ong Bak 2 is nearly identical to both of the Best-of-Gay-Bukakke films Tom recently lent me.... a little guy surrounded by a whole bunch of bigger guys pointing their weapons at him. While not quite as ferocious as the original, Ong Bak 2 delivers a healthy dose of martial arts thrashings and ends in a way that makes you think you need to flip over the disk to watch the rest of it. You'll have to wait a bit though because that's called Ong Bak 3 and it isn't releasing until later this year. I'm guessing it'll be set 1000 years in the future and, taken together, the trilogy will dovetail into a kind of Thai “Fountain”.

Sporgey.