Just watched Tom Yum Goong, the second movie from the team behind Ong Bak. I hope it gets US distribution like Ong Bak, but really I think that Ong Bak was a better movie. It was definitely funnier and had better characters. In this one, Tony Jaa’s really just a dude who likes elephants a lot.
The action sequences were higher budget. Also, there seemed to be a lot more of them. The warehouse fight scene, the capoeira scene and the vaguely Burly Brawl near the end were all pretty jaw dropping. Tony Jaa moves so efficiently and there’s no noticeable wirework to distract from the crazy stuff going on. Also, his environmental work just looks awesome. However, there was less of a sense of whimsy and humor than Ong Bak.
The dialogue was painful. Between the horrible subtitles and the horrible accent of the cop character, I just sort of stopped reading and listening to the lines.
Maybe it’s not fair to compare the two so much, but when you share much of the same cast and stuff, it’s hard to see this movie as a separate entity…