TONY JAA and ONG BAK 2: THE NEW MARTIAL ARTS PHENOMENM

Tony Jaa, if you have not already had the pleasure of seeing his movies, looks like he could be as big as Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee (Enter the Dragon) or Jet Li (Romeo Must Die, Hero) who I understand is set to retire. He had these martial arts stars as heroes long before starting in the movies himself and he looks set to be just as successful as they have been.

Tony is from Thailand and uses Muay Thai which is a form of Thai kickboxing in his movies. His first movie was Ong-Bak:Muay Thai Warrior in 2003 followed by Tom Yum Goong (called Warrior King in the UK, as The Protector in the US) in 2005. These early films looked like they had been shot on a shoestring and employed everyday people on the street as characters, but this is in no way a bad thing as they did have a note of authenticity about them that high budget Hollywood blockbusters lack.

The first movie highlight for me was the fight scenes in the ring near the beginning and in the second movie the fight through the floors of the hotel with Tony kicking-ass all the way -outstanding,

His relationships with elephants seems to be a theme throughout his films and the new movie features an elephant used as a weapon against the bad guys – Wow!!

It says on Tony’s bio that he does his own stunts and does not use body doubles if this is true I am well impressed.

I understand the sequel namely ONG BAK 3 to this current movie is even now in the pipeline so be prepared for even more for bone crunching, chop socky action in this new martial arts idiom from Thailand.

After a long wait we now have the release of the sequel to ONG BAK namely ONG BAK 2 and if the trailer is anything to go by hang on to your seats for a great action movie. http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1463681561/

I find the plots in these sorts of movie not really the most fruitful place to concentration on, as Shakespeare they certainly ain’t. However, if you want outstanding fight scenes, using elephants and elephant body parts as weapons you’ve come to the right place. I see mixed reviews of the new movie but what the heck grab your popcorn and go see it for yourself -remembering to duck of course - and decide for yourself.