Tony Jaa’s Ong Bak 2 recently opened in Thailand to the tune of $2.06 million over the course of a three-day weekend back in early December 2008. In a new review at Variety, Derek Elley opens with the following ‘graph:
Bone-crunching action triumphs over story and, uh, character development in costume chopsocky “Ong Bak 2,” basically a series of fights peppered with flashbacks to provide a semblance of plot. Apart from also starring Thai martial artist du jour Tony Jaa, the pic has no connection at all with 2003 hit “Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior” and, though less varied as a movie, is a slicker piece of work in which the extra coin shows. Film zoomed to No. 1 on local release in early December, but in Western markets, Jaa’s cold, machine-like persona will limit this to hardcore martial arts fans.
Magnolia Pictures released the first film Stateside back in 2005 and Jaa followed that up with the disappointing Protector in 2006, but the fact Protector pulled in $8 million more than Ong Bak proved audiences had already caught on to Jaa’s kick-ass style and I can only hope the sequel to the 2005 flick (2003 if you saw it in Thailand) keeps the ass-kickery on high and adds just enough story to make it worthwhile.
The first official trailer for the film has been released online, yet the film still does not have an American distributer or release date, so this is all you get for now.
