[While Tony Jaa's Ong Bak 2 finally made it through its tortuous production process and arrived in Thai theaters to a hugely positive response - a response that has already led to a third Ong Bak film being confirmed - there are some dissenting voices out there. One of the unconvinced is regular Twitch reader - now regular contributor - James Marsh, who originally contributed the review below nearly a year ago.]
Thailand, 1431. Lord Rajsena is running amok in northern Thailand in a bid to take over the whole kingdom. His fearsome army rampages through the jungles killing everyone in its path, including Lord Sidhadeco, a well-respected General, and his wife. Traumatised by seeing his parents slaughtered, young Tien flees, but is captured and forced to wrestle a crocodile by vicious slave traders. The wise and sympathetic Chernang, seeing a flicker of promise under the matted hair of the young lad, helps him escape and takes Tien under his wing. Years pass and Tien (Tony Jaa) is trained in all manner of weird and wonderful martial art techniques, as well as how to run across the backs of stampeding elephants, make them sit and roll over and other cool stuff. He is even taught how to kill, which according to Chernang, is the final step to becoming a great leader. Once Tien has proved his physical and mental prowess, Chernang hands over leadership of the clan, and Tien embarks on his mission to track down Lord Rajsena and beat the crap out of him, and lots of other people too.
The production of Ong Bak 2 has been fraught with drama and controversy. After Tony Jaa fell out with Prachya Pinkaew, architect of Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong, the films that brought the star to the attention of the martial arts world, he took on the directorial reins of this supposed prequel himself. There were stories of financiers pulling out, the film going well over budget and the whole production grinding to a halt for two months after Jaa went AWOL - apparently retreating to meditate after the stress got too much for him. But the finished product has finally made it to cinema screens, breaking box office records on its release in Thailand. However, the truth be told, Ong Bak 2 is a complete train wreck of a film. Jaa's character stalks through the mud and rain like a deranged psychotic Mowgli, tearing a path through an endless stream of gurning, hysterical adversaries with little sense of motivation beyond blind rage.
Told through a series of flashbacks, the first hour of the film is baffling and rather nonsensical, before finally settling down to become little more than a string of bone-crunching showdowns. Now, martial arts films, more than most other genres, can get by on the flimsiest of storylines and be all the better for it, but until the final reel, Ong Bak 2 threatens to alienate and bewilder its audience, many of whom want to see little more than a few decent punch-ups.
Beyond the casting of its lead character, the film has nothing whatsoever to do with the original Ong-Bak, and is in fact set 600 years previous to the events of that film. In truth it does feature a plethora of fighting styles and numerous opportunities for Jaa to show them off, but the film lacks an assured directorial hand to confidently stage the arrogant, crowd-stopping set-pieces that made Jaa's previous efforts so spectacular. Acclaimed action-director Panna Rittikrai, who choreographed those earlier outings, is credited as co-director alongside Jaa, but his artistry is lost amid the mud and blood, the choppy camera work and saturated visuals, making Ong Bak 2 feel like Rambo without guns.
It is not giving anything away to state that the film is open-ended, hinting at a possible sequel as much as it betrays a panicked editing process without the full co-operation of its star/director. Sadly, however, the film fails to inspire any sense of excitement in its audience, nor curiosity to know what will happen next. In fact, the only real question left in the balance is whether Tony Jaa will ever be allowed to direct another film again - and for the greater good of all involved, especially Jaa himself, one can only hope the answer is a resounding no.
Review by James Marsh
More from Ong Bak 2:
- Reviews: SXSW Review: Tony Jaa's ONG BAK 2
Yet another cheapo Thai disc pick-up that I can FF my way through until we get to the action then. Not surprised at all really even if I silently hoped for something more. So long as the skillz are on show I suppose...
Amen to that BtoFu, can't really say more than that.
Sounds like about what I was expecting.
I found the tone of Tom Yum Goong to be rather unsettling (re: excessive bone-breaking violence and injuries) vs the more traditional Ong Bak... unfortunately Ong Bak 2 seems to trade skill for violence in the video clips I've seen so it's not looking up for me so far.
If it weren't for Prachya's CHOCOLATE I'd say that Thai action has finally hit the skids.
For the record, Tony's roots are kung fu, not muay thai. He picked up muay thai late in life on the recommendation of Panna Rittikrai, who thought it would help him play to a local crowd. As far as Tony's concerned, the kung fu in this IS him returning to his roots.
I saw the movie 2 weeks ago, and enjoyed the hell out of it. I didn't like Tom Yum Goong but I did like the original ong bak. The story is cheasy in an 80ies way, think Conan style nonsense, but I had fun with it. Is it an intelligent movie ? no, but is that what you expect?
the action scenes are quite brutal, but also inventive and featuring many different styles executed beautifully. If it holds up on the little screen I don't know, But digitally projected with deafening sound, it's one hell of a ride.
shitty ending though.
I'm still watching this, and most of you too.
I'd have to agree that Donnie is on an entirely different level. He is one of my top Asian film stars and his later films shows that he can really bring the pain. I'm really looking forward to seeing his latest biopic "Ip Man". I also have nothing but mad respect for Yuen Wo Ping and Lau Kar Leung and their choreographing skills. I'll also watch anything with Wu Jing in it.
yeah, thats what I've been hearing too Marshy. its definitely gonna be a must-watch. Not as high on Legendary Assassin though. Like Ong Bak 2, its directed by the action star. I think its a bit too much work for them to do that. They should leave the directing to the directors for now. Concentrate on the acting. Wu Jing is pretty nice but he always get stuck in mostly b-movies for some reason. all his fatal movies just scream b-movie. The only real quality film he has been in recently is Sha Po Lang. Hopefully, he will get some better roles soon. Marsh, do you know if Tony choreographed the action for Ong Bak 2? You really didnt like it? It looked pretty good from the trailer. Would love to hear your review of Ip Man after you see it. =)
cpa314 Panna Rittikrai an Tony Jaa choreographed the action together.
Yea marshy i want you to review Ip Man
marshy, is it really true that tony jaa's box office record-breaking film is
his worst action film ever!? was it relly that hard to follow, the character's in the film doesn't explain at all what is happening? and the action is really that bad? if it is true then that sucks. were would u rate it on a scale 1-10, and be honest i mean look at all the positives as well as the negatives and pick a number.
ok this is aztek's cousin, i don't feel like registering my own account so here's my take on the film and heres what i know from the filmmakers of ob2...
I've actually seen the film and was disappointed cause of not only did the film not relate to the first ong bak in any degree but also of the way the storyline and the action was set up. the action is good but different. Different on the number of fights, this film had the least amount of action out of the 3 tj films the last 20 minutes is were most the action was at, the mixture of martial arts was cool but it could have been shot a little more better but it doesnt entirely take away from all the action , and the ending got me buggin like huh? thats it? the film was 90 minutes long, kinda short. I have to admit james marsh, u made alot of good points but to be more fair this film is actually the set up for ong bak 3 so if u don't get the entire storyline you'll supposely get it from ob3, tony and his company are doing the kill bill thing where the movie is split into two and tony's boss actually cleared up some of the disconnect with this film, the film was only 80% done when tony returned and they had to make their schedule release date so the final product was pushed out at the last minute. Therefore they cut out some of the footage from ob2 and will emerge it with all of OB3. In ong bak 3 tony said their will be triple the action and the storyline will be more clear and better and the film is expected to be released by the end of 2009 so because of that, even though we had to wait three years for another action epic from him and it felt like a letdown, i'll give him the benefit of the doubt, especially since tony won't be directing ob3 and go back to being directed. ALL IM SAYING JAMES IS KEEP IN MIND THAT OB2 IS THE BEGINNING OF OB3, I KNOW ITS ODD AND THREE YEARs OVERDUE BUT WE'LL SEE IF OB3 MAKES UP FOR OB2 IF ANYONE FELT DISAPPOINTED.
@ Todd; thanks for setting me straight. I had no idea he was originally a practitioner of KF. I truly hope that he positively represents the KF scene.
And like Che said, I will still rush out to see this at the first opportunity to see the results for myself.
I expected Shakespeare.
Saw Ip Man last night and good news, it really is hugely entertaining. It is successful in large part for the same reasons that OB2 didn't work for me - the fights are well choreographed, well filmed and are relevant to the action. Ip Man has a lot of fighting in it, particularly in the first half, which I found surprising, but every throwdown has a motive and is important to the plot, unlike OB2 where Tony Jaa seems to fight simply whoever is closest to him or put in front of him. Ip Man has a great balance between telling a historical story with good characterisation and drama (although I'm pretty sure the accuracy of the story is questionable) as well as moments of well judged humour and most importantly, lots of damn good fighting. Donnie Yen is certainly improving as a performer too, I'm still not totally convinced that he can carry anything other than an action movie, but he has certainly worked hard to be where he is today and is definitely improving. Wilson Yip too is showing growing maturity as a director - the film shows great confidence and finesse, as SPL did, but without the need to show off with flashy visuals. Ip Man has a grace to it that can only be achieved with experience.
I'm not going to hail it as the greatest martial arts movie ever, in the same way that - in response to an earlier post - OB2 is NOT the worst film ever, but rather just a badly executed one. Ip Man is, however, better than Red Cliff, Painted Skin, Legendary Assassin and Run Papa Run, and much better than Dragon Tiger Gate and Flash Point. I'll stop short of saying it is better than SPL, but it is quite simply the best Hong Kong film of the year.
Flashpoint IMO wasnt that bad. As a movie, it wasnt good. The story was blah but the fight scenes redeem it. Donnie + Collin Chou was Awesome
wow didnt know that, pretty interesting but if u look at mosto f what jaa did before ong bak it really looks like shit and i think thats cuz the thai industry probly doesnt have a lot of money but hopefully things will change sometime soon since he has become more popular.
Jaa's early stuff isn't really indicative of the Thai industry as a whole ... the company he did those for (and that Panna was involved with at the time) specialized in nothing but ultra low budget action films that didn't play anywhere except for the outer provinces of Thailand, really. People in the urban centers wouldn't have really had the chance to see them on the big screen at all. There's a lot of much more polished stuff out there from the same period.
just saw this, what a dissapointment! i really only liked the action scene in the middle. like the review said, the film was a total mess. CGI blood and CGI fire, and somebody really screwed the colors in post-production. i hope they don't let tony near a camera again.
what film are you guys watching coz it must not be ong bak 2 the story was fine
the first time i seen it i did not even have subs and i could understand it??
the fights where great you all are just pissed coz he did not flip around like his other films it was great work wtf!!!??? the acting was good the fights where hard core as they could be and the movie was just bad ass!!!! if you have not seen this trust me its worth it one of the best MA films i ever seen
and i have been watching them from the time i was a kid ***** 5 stars for fighting story only gets *** 3 coz you had to read it but other then that it was about what you would get from any other MA film and there was no CGI blood or fire??? not a drop...
The film wasnt that bad. I really dont understand all these negative reviews. I just recently finished watching it, and yes it did have some flaws in it, but i wasnt expecting a great storyline, i was in it for the action.
Awesome fight scenes is what keeps this film together, this must have been hell to make, and even though it was his first time directing, the film still was came out better then most first timers.
Looks like there will be another film to follow, and it will only be better then this.
I just finished watching the full movie last night and really I was impressed. Maybe because I like movies with a darker element, but either way this movie did bring that grittier aspect into a martial arts movie, something that is quite different from the standard and I enjoyed that. Storyline, well it wasn't expected to be great, but it did show a good contrast of the conflict in the character. Nothing to really build suspense and anticipation, it was pretty obvious where things were going, but again nobody is expecting otherwise.
The fight scenes were good enough to rival many other martial artists and were well choreographed, really I don't get the negative feedback. Yes the movie was made a little differently from the standard but surely stepping out of the box and trying some new things isn't that bad a crime.
Following the flashbacks, there could have been a little better editing done at this stage, to help transition the audience into the change in time, I did find myself going 'oh we're having another flashback now' every once in a while but once I'd gotten used to the way it seemed to jump into them I didn't have that much difficulty with it and I don't get that it was hard to follow.
All in all I'm quite impressed for a first time director to put out something as good as this and I'm excited to see the next movie. Sorry for those that didn't get out of this what I did, it's too bad I guess really it's about the personal tastes of what each of want to see in a movie. For me I like a little gloom and I like to see a new direction taken, even if it's not perfect it's good to see someone willing to try something other than get the standard movie template and fill in the blanks.
Personally i think this film is the best yet we have seen from tony jaa. Everything about the film is amazing. How can anyone say they dont understand the story??? There are two familys striving for power and the throne, one family gets murdered which happens to be teean's. Teean (tony jaa) is left alone in the forest. Hes then found by a group of savage criminals who kidnap people and force them into slavery. Teean's then rescued by a group of pirates and the leader takes a liking to him. The leader of the pirates decides to train teean in a variety of martial arts at his home school. When he is fully trained teean wants to avenge the death of his parents by killing the people who murdered them. One of the killers happens to be the leader of the Kru Krut pirates ( neither Teean or the leader knew about each other as they had never seen each other before )! There you have it, the entire plot!!!! * This films great, action is great, acting is great, the filming of the film is great!!!* I suggest you watch it if you have'nt already........
James Marsh,...you don't even think to mention how bloody awesome the actual action is in this film! You don't even mention it, that is ridiculous. I'll go as far as to say this is the most spectacular action I've seen in any period martial art film- the fights are absolutely brutal, very very creative, and the array of mad medieval jungle weaponry is incredible...which takes it to a level way beyond what Jaa has done before. Yes the story could have been better, but it is certainly understandable, I don't see any problems with the direction of the film. You don't really need to fast forward much at all, this is mostly action all the way. The action is expertly directed, it looks and feels like real fights, those poor bad guys really take some pounding. And there is some great characters here too, its like medieval Thai versions of all the bad guys from James Bond or something shove up. The period setting is very efective and visually interesting, the interaction with the Elephants is very well handled, the fight with the crocodile is badass.... I wonder what makes you write such a biased, one-sided opinion on a film, are you trying to compete with the snooty guy from The Guardian who could only see crap in Inglourious Basterds or what?
Is it cut?
Comparing me to Peter Bradshaw??? You cut me deep, fhoom - that was a low blow. I read his Inglourious Basterds review the other week and wanted to slap him - but then that's my default response to his reviews, generally.
Re: Ong Bak 2 - I found it a chore to watch and the overly-stylised filming of the fight scenes was no payoff at all.
Look James March, your piece was certainly not the worst I've seen, but it genuinely pissed me off that you just wrote it off like that, it just does not seem honest to me. Why the fuck does people like Bradshaw write about films anyway? Just to tickle his ego?
And I don't even buy that the action was too stylized for your taste, it was much more realistic and real, as in punches visibly connecting, than Crouching Tiger, Hero, or any of those famous flying fantasy fights . Arguably more real than many "realistic"action movies. Also, the film was beautifully shot, it looked a lot more professional than Jaa's previous. Not to find any redeeming element at all, to only slag it, that's writing with an agenda.
Think you are taking this review too personally. No one forced you to read it and James is entitled to his own opinion.
I do think the review was a little light on talking about the fight sequences though (which were on the whole pretty good), but I share James' disappointment. This film was not as good or coherent as it should have been, and that is probably down to Jaa in the director's chair. Hopefully he won't be directing his next film because he is an amazing artist with the right vehicle.
In terms of recent "realistic" martial arts films, I found Ip Man and Banlieue 13 - Ultimatum to be more enjoyable films. Thank god we all have our own opinions, right?
well its a fine line, isn't it, freedom to express your own and not to impose it on others...wanna get into a metaphysical argument on how to write bout films? Jah, me own opinion is that to write/preach the cinematic gospel, it should be a mix of your opinion and general matter of facts.