First off, I have to say that I really liked “Ong Bak”. It was a good film that really showed off what young Tony Jaa could do, and it was evident from the fact that it got an American theatrical release that some form of sequel would come out sooner or later – and here it is in the form of “Tom Yum Goong”, also known as “The Protector”.

I was sorely disappointed with the film for a number of reasons. First off, the story to me seems quite ridiculous. If you see it, you’ll understand why I say this. Second, some of the fight scenes are just as ridiculous, at least in terms of how many there are and who Tony Jaa has to fight (oh my, “extreme”!). And yes, he does break like 40-something bones in one scene, which is absolutely hilarious. There are some great fights though, but it’s mostly quantity over quality.

Oh yes, and actually there is a bit of CGI in the film (as opposed to what the previous reviewer posted), but it’s used in one of the worst ways possible. Oh yeah, and it looks crappy too, especially considering it’s the year 2006.

All in all, this is a mediocre film, and disappointing if you’re a real fan of martial arts films or Asian cinema in general. It’s apparent that they just wanted to show off Tony Jaa’s skills over anything like coherent plot or good acting. Hopefully his next movie will be better.

If you like action movies or martial arts – this movie and Ong Bak are for you. I have consumed a LOT of kung fu movies, old samuarai movies (kurosawa), tons of anime, and Tony Jaa just leaves me speechless. His physical abilities both in terms of acrobatics and ridiculous fight scenes are astounding. His movies have a naive, sweet element to them (aside from all the bone-breaking) that is a cultural treat as well.

I cannot recommend this enough, discovering Tony Jaa was one of my top 5 things about 2005.

In this particular film, which also features beautiful scenery and cool elephants, includes a scene where Tony’s character fights a guy doing Capoeria. It doesn’t really make sense for the story but it put in because the fighting style looks cool, I’ve never seen a Capoeria fight in a movie before.

Disclaimer: It’s real violent, there’s no CGI.

P.s. I occasionally laud Tony with praises on my blog.