Friday, July 17, 2009
Why Ong Is Not Really Bak (Or: The Not-So-Sequel By Tony Jaa)
When I first heard the words "Ong Bak 2", I thought to myself "What, you mean Tom Yum Goong?". But I was taught it was true, a real Sequel! How grand must this be?
I have to admit I don't keep track of Martial Arts movies that much anymore, but Ong Bak 2 came to me as a real surprise. In fact, I only ever heard about it
when it was already released!
So I did all I could to get my hands on this movie, cough, and watched it with expectations that were impossible to fulfill, even by Tony Jaa standards. During the course of the movie, I felt my enthusiasm die away, bit by bit, until after the whole length of it a kind of "so, that was that..."-feeling remained.
The Sequel, as it turned out, is only a sequel by name, a marketing trick. Other than that, nothing even references to Ong Bak. To be precise, I even wonder whether the meaning of "Ong Bak" may be something like "Kick Ass", since that is the only thing the two movies have in common.
It's not a bad movie at all, It's just not Ong Bak. And it is way below Tom Yum Goong, as well. Much more swordplay and Jaa performing too many different styles altogether (It's hard to surpass what he's done in his previous movies) make it hard to see the real badass stuff that we used to get.
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