Tweekums Set in fifteenth century Thailand, this film opens with a man and a boy fleeing along a forest track on horseback; the boy gets off and escapes and the man is killed. The boy, Tien, isn't out of trouble though; he is captured by slavers then, after attacking a captor, he is forced to fight for his life… against a crocodile! He is saved by Chernang; the leader of a bandit group known as the 'Garuda Wing Cliff'. Tien is invited to join the group and trains to be a fighter.In a series of flashbacks we learn about his past; he was the son of a local lord who had been trained to dance rather than fight, much to his chagrin. His family is then killed by power hungry lord leaving Tien the sole survivor. We then see that this happened just before the opening scene. Returning to the older Tien, he has finished his training and is now determined to get his revenge on those who killed his family.I haven't seen the original 'Ong Bak' but from what I've read this has nothing to do with that apart from sharing a title and main star. The plot is fairly simple; it is clearly there to provide an excuse for lots of martial arts scenes… and these are pretty spectacular. Tony Jaa does a great job as Tien in these scenes; the action is impressively choreographed in a really physical way; yes he does defeat countless attackers but it does at least look as if the fighting takes a toll on him. There is surprisingly little dialogue; just enough to tell us what is happening although I suspect one could turn off the subtitles and still follow what is happening! The ending is a spectacular fight that finishes in a way that is clearly setting things up for a sequel. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to anybody wanting lots of great martial arts action without needing a deep plot.

dushyant chaturvedi I had the premonition of disaster when I saw Tony Jaa's name in the list of scriptwriters and then my heart sank when he was also listed as one of the directors. Some random kingdom is expanding and killing people in Thailand, 600 odd years back. Jaa's family is massacred and he is adopted by a pirate gang who give him the mandatory weapons training so that he can go and f**k everybody's ass some day. This is as unintentionally hilarious as they come. The costumes, the set pieces, the acting, the story all fall into the category of "so bad that they are good". There are flashback scenes which show the family members of Jaa being knocked off. They are howlarious and you cannot stop laughing. There is the omnipresent gratuitous violence against women. In between Jaa also becomes a sort of Robinhood against human trafficking. Ong Bak was entertaining as it had the right dose of humor and action along with a straight story line. Here, there is only a "dark" tale of revenge which is so ineptly directed that it will cure the sleeping disorder of even the most hardened insomniacs. This is what is called Brand Dilution in marketing jargon. Ong Bak was a respectable product. They came up with this just to earn a few quick bucks. The ironical part is that they failed even in that. 1 out of 5 for this.

Roland E. Zwick 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. It's 100% absurd and just about everything a die-hard martial arts fan could wish for from such a film.

ms_dragoon I'm not sure why people are rating this movie so high. This is one of the worst movies ever film. I am a big fan of Tony Jaa and the original Ong Bak, but this does not make Ong Bak 2 a good movie.There is no storyline. I mean, Is the main character, Tien, supposed to be getting revenge, finding a lost love, or trying to master martial arts? And there is no actual ending to the movie. The movie abruptly stops at a cliffhanger with some bad narration, setting an opening for a second part continuation.It appears all the budget to this over-budget film went to the badly choreographed fight scenes.The movie attempts to portray that after being raised by thieves, Tien, masters every known Martial Arts from swordplay, to Muay Thai, to a number Chinese Martial Arts styles, but this just ends up with some unrealistic fight scenes.Tony Jaa is amazing Muay Thai fighter, but when it comes to imitating Chinese art forms, there is a lot left to be desired. Most of the Chinese Martial Arts moves are stiff and often somehow transition into a Muay Thai stance or blow. Stick to Muay Thai, Tony Jaa, you are much better at that.I would have to say there are some nice weapons play, but they are often dragged on too long and many times mortal wounds are played off as mere flesh wounds.There is also a fight scenes where elephants are used to make some amazing fight scenes, but point of the elephants don't make any sense, when they don't do anything, but stand in place for acrobatics. (The elephant is supposed to be helping Tien, Tony Jaa's character, fight) All in all, this is badly made over-budget movie.