I love this movie so much

Why so much hype?

A Disappointing Continuation

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Mad kudos to a martial arts film set in muck and mire. The grittiness of this film sets it apart from others. The hero and most of the cast looks like they need a shower throughout the movie, which adds an authentic feel to this film versus fighters wearing fully pressed, spotless wardrobes.Writing is great. The lead character is developed from credits to credits and continues to evolve to the very end of the movie. The villain is a too cliche and over the top for my taste, which caused me to reduce my rating. The fight scenes, especially at the end are phenomenal! OMG! This guy is good. His skill rivals some of the best I've ever seen. Yes. I know it is choreographed, but you still need the skill to pull it off. I'd hate to fight this guy, especially if he is in a bad mood.I didn't care for the mysticism, which only served to distract from the story, but I accept it is likely a cultural thing and try to look past it.ONG Bak 2 is an action packed emotionally thrilling film that forces viewers to relate to the characters. You even feel strongly about the leader (good or bad) of the clan, especially at the end. The tragedy in this movie makes you feel the anguish of the main character. The last fight scene is beyond climatic as the lead characters anguish comes to a head. It is also very powerful as it comes without people running up walls and jumping into trees. Then came the elephant . . .

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.

Aside from beautiful scenery and some cool fight scenes, this was pretty bad. Every stereotype is here: black and white heroes and villains, a paper-thin plot involving avenging a father's death (complete with corny flashbacks), and hilariously bad dubbing. Not only were the voice actors clearly white Americans living in the 21st century, they emphasized the wrong words and sounded like they were reading from a notecard. I could have done a much better job! But if it weren't for this unintentional source of comedy, I would have felt like I wasted my time. See it with you friends while having pizza and beer and are looking for muy-thai and ironic laughs.

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.