Rating of
2/4
"Ong Bak 2" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/16/12
The young son of a general assassinated during a coup is taken in by a band of warrior thieves and learns the way of martial arts to seek his revenge. The original Ong Bak was a frenetic martial arts fest with little plot to back it up but shored up by the impressive athletic skill of its star Tony Jaa, and this sequel doesn't stray too far from that formula. The medieval setting means that some equally impressive swordplay can be thrown into the mix and both the opening and final action sequences are very impressive indeed. Unfortunately the only filling to this flurry of limbs and blades is the usual "you killed my mum and dad and have taken a fancy to my bird" flashback and the plot and characterisation goes literally no further than that. It's a very pretty film having some attractive costume design, beautiful locations and pleasing cinematography and I'm sure that it looks superb for the trailers; but that's all it is. A 90 minute long trailer. Add the fact that the "ending" is basically a two line voice over featuring the most feeble and tenuous link to the original film I have EVER witnessed in a sequel it's only entertaining on the most superficial of levels.
