Watch It: Ong Bak 2

If you ever watch martial arts movies and find yourself thinking: Self, this moving is missing two crucial elements:

1. Vampires,
2. Magic tricks. Not magic. Not mythical paranormal shit. But actual look-at-my-handkerchief-on-no-it's-a-BUNNY magic tricks,

then Ong Bak 2 is the movie for you. Not the original Onk Bak which featured superior fighting scenes but alas, suffered from a dearth of vampires and magic tricks. But Onk Bak 2 which is technically a prequel. Try to keep up.


Onk Bak 2 features muay thai sensation Tony Jaa at his brutal best. He's been boning up on acting lessons and embracing grittier and bloodier action sequences. Be warned. If horror movie gore make you squeamish, then you won't fare any better here.

When Tony Jaa gets cut, he doesn't even need to self cauterize the wound with a fire-steamed blade a la Rambo. He just rubs some dirt on it and gets on with his ass kicking.

Not that the movie doesn't have it flaws. If you're going to set an imperial palace scene with a huge fire pit, then you better make sure your hero knocks someone into said pit. There's such a thing as viewer expectation.

Otherwise, Tony Jaa delivers what his fans expect. A training montage. A comedic group fight scene. Specatular leaps and jumps. Themes of betrayal and revenge.

So go forth and enjoy!