Ong-bak 2
Tags: cult, revenge, boring, violence, flashback

Plot synopsis:
The film begins in 1431 feudal Siam. It is a time of political upheaval, treachery and danger. The opening scene explains how during the reign of Boromarajatiraj II of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the Ayutthaya royal court became more powerful than the Sukhothai kingdom and expanded to the east. The Ayutthaya army besieged the Kingdom of Gods for several months. The king sent his son, Prince Indraracha to rule the kingdom.
At the new kingdom, Lord Sihadecho is a provincial ruler, and a gallant and noble warrior of a formally great dynasty. His son, Tien, a spirited and unyielding youth, aspires to be just like his father, but is forced to undergo dance lessons instead much to his disdain. Meanwhile, the treacherous and power-craving Lord Rajasena, a former city administrator of the capital city, plots to seize total control of all Asia and has amassed the greatest army in Asia. Rajasena sends out vicious assassins to murder Lord Sihadecho's family and his loyal soldiers. The only survivor from this massacre is Tien, who manages to escape with deep vengeance in his heart.
Tien is captured by a group of savage slave traders, who throw him into a pit with a giant crocodile when he proves uncontrollable. Tien is saved by Chernang (Sorapong Chatree), leader of the renowned "Pha Beek Khrut" (Garuda Wing Cliff) guerilla group, who attack the slave traders. Chernang throws a knife to Tien, proclaiming "your life depends on you, young boy," with which Tien kills the crocodile. Intrigued by his physical prowess and attitude, Chernang takes Tien to a soothsayer, who says the boy has a great destiny, that "spirits will fear him" and that he will become the greatest warrior who will ever live, and as such Chernang takes in Tien as his adoptive son and raises him like himself as a guerilla and a bandit. Tien gets his wish to train as a warrior and more besides, growing up to excel in the arts of war, including man-to-man fighting, incantation, and subterfuge. Tien is instructed in a variety of traditional Asian fighting styles, including muay boran and krabi krabong, Japanese kenjutsu and ninjutsu, Malay silat, and various Chinese martial arts. He also learns the use of weapons such as the ninjatō, katana, jian, dao, talwar, nunchaku, rope dart, and three-section staff.
Now a young man and with all these martial arts heavily instilled, becoming the greatest warrior to ever live, Tien (Tony Jaa) is eager to quench the vengeance in his heart by killing the slave traders, which he does. He then goes on to kill Lord Rajasena by posing as a dancer during a celebration. Returning to the Pha Beek Khrut, Tien is mystified to find their village deserted. Suddenly, he finds himself confronted by wave after wave of masked assassins, the same ones hired by Lord Rajasena to destroy his original home. As the fight progresses Tien is too enraged to notice that the masked villains are none other than his Pha Beek Khrut comrades though their individual combat styles are glaringly recognizable. As Tien tries to defeat the masked assassins he climbs on an elephant but then Bhuti Sangkha a.k.a. The Crow Ghost (Dan Chupong uncredited) appears and kicks Tien off of the elephant. Bhuti's nature is unknown and he has a small role in the film. Then he takes the elephant away. At last confronting their leader, Tien finds they have been surrounded by Rajasena's army, which is led by the tyrant, himself. Lord Rajasena reveals he had survived thanks to an armored tunic concealed beneath his state robes. Chernang unmasks and admits to his part in killing Lord Sihadecho, as he was in league with Rajasena. Chernang explains that he must carry out Rajasena's orders, or his family (the Pha Beek Khrut) will be killed. As Tien reluctantly fights Chernang, Chernang pins him to the ground, once again calls Tien his son and asks him to take his life in payment for killing his father. Chernang then forces Tien's blade to snap and slash across his throat, taking his life.
The film ends on a cliffhanger with Tien, after defeating dozens of Rajasena's warriors, being finally overwhelmed by hundreds more. Rajasena orders Tien to be taken away to be slowly tortured to death. It is unclear whether Tien survives, and if he does, how it is so. An extremely ambiguous and vague voice-over explains that Tien "may find a way to cheat death again", and shows him with a fully-grown beard (which he does not have in the film) standing in front of a scarred golden Buddha statue, perhaps indicating reincarnation.

Review: 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..
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.
There's no doubt I've been a fan of movies starring Tony Jaa with the likes of Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong being showcases for the Muay Thai brand of martial arts, and I fondly remember those hard hitting action sequences that left me gaping, as well as the numerous replays just to drum it through to you that it's all Jaa and it's all as incredible as can be.
One only wishes that it does get made sooner rather than later, and without the production woes that plagued this one.So Ong Bak 2 is actually half a movie, and given that it's a totally new story to begin with, I thought it would make better sense in retitling it, rather than to have a misnomer that it's a sequel.
I remembered having read somewhere that there's supposed to be some fusion of dance and martial arts, which didn't transpire in this film as far as I can tell (the dance/action sequence here doesn't make the cut), so it might be left for the next movie instead.Compared to the other Tony Jaa movies, you can see that the production values here have been ramped up tremendously.Techniques have also matured, and gone are the repetitive playbacks.
But that doesn't mean you're going to lose out, because like any self-respecting martial arts film, the camera stays still when it should be and at a sane distance away to capture all the action comfortably, and the editing doesn't cut in and mess up the sequence.
As for the revered elephant, you know it's never far behind, and there's one thrilling battle atop the large mammal, with Dan(ce) Chupong no less, albeit hidden behind a mask.Ong Bak 2 picked up very slowly, and spent significant time developing the back story of Jaa's Tien.
So at this moment, we can still enjoy what Tony Jaa has prepared for action fans worldwide  a showcase that he's not just all about Muay Thai, but a bona fide action hero who's the real deal, crafting a myriad of incredible fight sequences that would still leave your mouth gaping wide open..
When all is said and done, this film genuinely captures Thai culture from start to finish, with no pandering to foreign influence outside of some martial arts styles.And that, my dear friends, is the crux of why "Ong Bak 2" so very easily surpasses its predecessor.
This is not to say that the script of "Ong Bak 2" is far better than Jaa's previous movies, because the conclusion is in desperate need for a direct sequel that wraps up the fates of the surviving antagonists as well as the lead protagonist.
This movie doesn't even need action to sustain interest, and if that's not a glaring sign that Tony Jaa has already surpassed Bruce Lee as a cinematic entertainer, then nothing is.It is somewhat surprising to read some of the negative reviews that bash the storyline to bits without resorting to any specific observations whatsoever.
I just finished watching Ong Bak 2 and I have only one thing to say - if you liked Ong Bak (or at least thought it was decent enough for your time), well, you're going to LOVE this one.Totally different story told in a beautiful way (no unanswered questions this time) filled with some of the greatest fights I've ever seen (and I'm a profound martial arts fan).
Here it feels like those working with him have just given up totally and have allowed him to do little other than fight – he barely has a line in the film and any "plot/character development" stuff is done by the child playing his character while Jaa himself looks into a fire in a "remembering" pose.
At the moment Ong Bak 2 just looks like they are happy to film him fighting and leave it at that, which I think is a real shame because this only makes for great action – not a great film.
Although he did a good job directing the film in some regards, this is probably a mistake because he cannot do anything about his own failings as a performer.Ong Bak 2 is a technically brilliant martial arts film with plenty for the weapons fan to love.
The first Ong Bak was good because a) North American audiences hadn't really been exposed to Thai martial arts and the movie showcased the more violent aspects in a very acrobatic way.b) they kept the story really simple: get the head of the statue back, no matter what.
What we end up with what you might expect if a brickmason decided he was an architect and made everything including the furniture out of bricks.I was briefly part of a startup which would have been able to extract things like the movements of the Thai martial arts in this film and compare them to the few Hong Kong- produced fight moves.
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning is not a continuation of the first film, neither is it a prequel in the true sense; the story takes place several hundred years ago, and tells of Tien (played as an adult by Tony Jaa), the son of a murdered lord, who becomes a powerful warrior after a clan of outlaws adopt him and teach him their combat skills.This period setting allows for a far more epic feel than the first film, but the broader scope of the plot ultimately means less minutes devoted to pure, bone crunching action, a fact that has understandably disappointed those hoping for another relentless, adrenaline fuelled, juggernaut of a martial arts movie.
Add the fact that Jaa's impressive Muay Thai skills are often overlooked in favour of weapons based action, and it's not surprising that this film hasn't been as overwhelmingly well received as its predecessor.On a more positive note, the film looks absolutely fantastic, with beautiful cinematography, sumptuous costumes, and some truly outlandish characters, and when the action does kick into top gear, it is utterly breath-taking, especially during the flawlessly executed, bone-crunching final battle between Tien and a host of enemy warriors, where we finally get to see the star delivering his trademark punishing blows with knee and elbow.In short, Ong Bak 2 is a very enjoyable slice of solid action entertainment—not quite as jaw-dropping as part one, but then what is?7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb..
The bonus in this movie is that, unlike the first Jaa movies, it features a lot of weapon-play and incorporates other martial arts, as well as the usual Muay Thai elbows and knees.Occasionally slightly hard to follow, but never entirely confusing, I would argue that, contrary to popular opinion, this movie actually has a decent plot.
It is an interesting form of dance, I suppose but I tend to just fast forward to the point where the real action begins again.Having said that I find Ong Bak 2 worth watching because it is one of the most arrestingly beautiful films I have seen in a long time.
That aside,'Ong Bak 2:The Beginning' is a high octane Martial Arts epic,starring Tony Jaa (the South East Asia answer to Bruce Lee...and perhaps a splash of Jet Li,for good measure).
I am a huge fan of Jaa's films ong bak and warrior king, as some thing of a fan of martial arts films i was pleased with originality that these brought such as the repeated scenes from other angles as with ong bak.I had heard that this movie had ground to a halt due to production problems so when I got the chance to see it i was pleased.A fractured start opens this but this is explained during further acts in the film.
Unfortunately during his hiatus Jaa or the film producers seem to have watched some of the seminal martial art movies such as jackie chans drunken master and snake in the eagles shadow and some of jet li's original work.
The hand to hand scenes are however superb.The final 20 minutes or so are high quality and I would recommend any fan to watch for this reason alone but on a whole I expected better.It would be nice to see Tony Jaa in a buddy movie with a more main stream action star, (I would like to say Jet Li), to see what the result would be but I get the unfortunate feeling that it won't happen..
The acrobatics that made the first two big Jaa movies (Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong) so fabulous take a back seat to more varied fighting.On the whole, I was entertained (even without dialogue), and I'll probably watch it again.
I'd hate to fight this guy, especially if he is in a bad mood.I didn't care for the mysticism, which only served to distract from the story; but I accept it is likely a cultural thing and try to look past it.ONG Bak 2 is an action packed emotionally thrilling film that forces viewers to relate to the characters.
The characters are OK but tony jaa gives the best entertainment there is a martial art based story but its still not good as the script or the setting just didn't work.
Ong Bak 1 was good but for me it just seemed western, maybe that is how Thailand is today but Ong Bak 2 and 3 has shown me a lot.I think Tony Jaa should take on real Thai fairy tales and folk stories like Ramayan.
And the story takes place way before the first Ong Bak. It reminded me of that crappy live action "The Jungle Book" movie than a legit straightforward martial arts flick.
Still a long way to go for Tony Jaa. The attempt on an epic piece of martial art movie ends up as an epic piece of trash, the only thing matters is a few fight scene that you can eventually watch on youtube.IMO Jaa tries to make a shortcut to his ambition on becoming the same caliber as Jackie Chan, to write and direct his own movie.
Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong didn't have much of story but at least they were so simple they make no real damage to the whole movie.I wish I'd just go for the DVD; at least I can skip those annoying parts, which is quite a lot, and go straight to the fight scenes, which is getting sour to my taste because brutality just can't maintain its charm..
The original "Ong Bak" and Tony Jaa's next movie "The Protector aka Tom Yum Goong" are two of my favorite martial arts movies of all time.
"Ong Bak 2" is Jaa's attempt to make a classic martial arts movie but it really falls short of that goal.
I like Jaa's intentions here of showing off different martial arts styles but I kept waiting for those jaw dropping fight scenes that I've been accustomed to seeing from him and sadly they are nowhere to be found.
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.
Even Ong Bak: Tom Yum Gung featured the same style of humour which balances the intense fight scenes.Tony Jaa utters about 2 sentences in the entire film whilst trying to showcase his skill of weaponry in the style which is put to shame by better films made by the Shaw Brothers.
Action, action, action - isn't that all we really want from action/martial arts flicks?As proved time and time again by poor, non-existent or just plain ridiculous story lines, we like to get motivated a little by a plot and characters, so that the action is so much the sweeter when it comes about.Ong Bak 2 (a misnomer, perhaps?) certainly doesn't fall into the above category which has spoiled so many other titles, however, by the time it finishes, you'll probably be left wondering, "Isn't something missing?" And you'd be right - at least an extra hour of film!Without risking ruining the viewing for anyone, by the time the characters and the story have fully developed, the film suddenly ends.
Yeah, it could be argued that it was supposed to have, or that it was shoddily paving the way for a sequel, but for me, it felt like the closing of the second act of a martial arts epic, and by it just switching to the credits, I felt rightfully cheated.Tony Jaa's a spectacle to watch as ever, the story's there, just not played out properly (unless some moron truly did truncate filming or cut the film in half) and the sets and action are all superb...
I heard that tony Jaa is a good actor with high martial arts skills and I had seen tom yum goong (the protector), although protector was not a bad movie but this one was really poor.
After all, that was entirely the plot of each film, pushed out to 90 minutes by the breathtaking physical feats and awesome fighting abilities of one Tony Jaa.So I guess this is welcome to "Who stole my Buddha head 2?" Nope, this is a prequel my friends, and it has nothing to do with Ong Bak whatsoever!
1", this is simply too long and repetitive.The last fight is good but also suffers through repetition, and the likelihood is that you simply start waiting for this thing to end.As with all Tony Jaa movies you only watch them for the fights and stunts, so to summarise.* Ong Bak had better fights, stunts and action.* The Protector had wayyy better fights.Final Rating – 5.5 / 10.
Tony Jaa might be the best athlete and martial artist in fight scenes today, he just makes sh*tty films in between those fights.If you liked this review (or even if you didn't) check out oneguyrambling.com.
My husband and I saw this movie for sale at a local store, picked it up because the cover art looked promising...I have to tell you though, after about 1/2 hour of terribly dubbed dialogue, we had to turn it off.The cinematography was great, the martial arts were fantastic and the story line was pretty good.I don't know who they got to do the voice-overs, but in the end it would have been better to have just left it in the native language with subtitles only.Please, please...
What left me scratching my head was that the movie is presented as a sequel (prequel?) to Ong Bak, well at least in title, but the story has ZERO to do with the first film other than it stars Tony Jaa. Was this a dream sequence of the guy in Ong Bak I, perhaps he went back in time?
Hugely disappointing outing from Tony Jaa. I am a huge fan of Tony Jaa, and I think Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong are two of the best martial arts movies ever made.While the production values of Thai films in general are very low by western standards, his films generally stand out for their stunts, fights, and sheer audacity.In this movie, however, Jaa's fights are few (2?
2.5 counting that atrocity that was the dance scene and the skills test) and the quality was horrible.I admit, it is very difficult to match the fights from Ong Bak 1, although Tom Yum Goong did try it by adding different styles and levels of fighters, along with the incredible stairway sequence that was filmed in one take.This movie, on the other hand, simply appeared to run out of money and imagination, preferring to spend a lot of camera time on close-ups of really ugly people screaming.
From the costumes (which are rich in detail and lend yet further visual depth to an already beautiful film) to performances that ring true throughout to some of the high-flying, death-defying martial arts for which Jaa is known, ONG BAK 2 is the kind of movie- satisfying on every level- that lovers of the genre always hope for but seldom get.
(But this is a martial arts movie, so a good story can be viewed by some as being inconsequential to the fights.) The film has many phenomenal action set-pieces that really make expert use of Jaa's penchant for crushing/breaking bones, acrobatic stunt-work, and mastery of many different fighting styles.