SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

bob the moo As Oscar Wilde (sort of) observed, to lose one elephant may be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose a second looks like carelessness. This is the case for Kham though, when his elephant is stolen and he sets off to track it down, bringing him into the world of fighting, gangs, and international terrorism. Perhaps this sentence is a bit general for a 0plot description, but to be fair it is probably as much as it deserves since the narrative is such a mess. To start talking about plot though is probably the wrong move because very few people would be coming to a Tony Jaa film looking for a great story – really we're looking for great action, and anything else in support of that is a bonus.Problem with this film is that the action is pretty weak throughout. It is not down to a lack of it, it is just that it does lack a reason to care, and it seems too chaotic in terms of what is happening and why it is happening. Surprisingly the film seems to limit the times the (mostly) talented cast can show off their skills in really well choreographed sequences, but the real issue is down to the technical delivery of the action. The use of CGI and greenscreen is as heavy as it is awful; as the credits show, even interior shots are done with complete greenscreen backgrounds, and it is never not obvious. This means that almost every scene feels disconnected from reality and wobbly – and when additional CGI is used it just makes it look worse. The use of music and sound effects is also generally not great; neither have great crafting in their design and they add to the feeling of this being a generally subpar effort. Editing is also a factor in the film feeling messy, with some sequences appearing to jump back to similar footage or be out of sequence.The performances are understandably not great. Jaa continues to be striking when it comes to physical movement, but as a leading man he struggles not to be overshadowed by his own elephant. Wongkhamlao hasn't got much to do here, and aside from a few jokes generally seems to be here because the sequel needed him. RZA is a nice bit of casting in theory, but his performance is (as always) limited and he doesn't make a great villain. As fighters Crump and Phongam are good presences but the film never really gets great sequences from them. At lower levels, performances are otherwise poor – par for the course in some ways.I do not follow martial arts closely enough to say if Jaa's career is really stalling as much as this film would suggest, but for sure this is a poor film. That it is poor in certain areas (plot, performances) is perhaps not a big deal, but the weak action sequences and the heavy use of poor technology is what really kills the film.

jasonmiller19771977 The sequel to the amazing action piece The Protector fails on every level. Tony Ja is slowly killing his career and needs to get back to basics. There is no need to mention plot because that is not why you watch a movie like this. You want action-packed fight scenes that 1 - up its predecessor not fake CGI! It looks bad and is acted even worst.The first movie was simple, put Tony Ja against tough bad guys and get the hell out of his way! You don't need terrible actors trying to play BAD @$#%@* when we no there not like that in real life (RZA). AVOID!!! AVOID!! AVOID!! and go rent The protector if you want to see Tony Ja show what he can really do!

kosmasp Let's get this straight, this is not in the same league as "The Raid" (to name a recent entry) or "Chocolate" (a bit older one and obviously not the one starring Johnny Depp). But it does what it says on the cover. It delivers on the action/stunt part. Now if that is enough for you, you might be able to oversee other flaws this movie has (especially in the story department).So while we have characters returning (Tony Jaa's being one of them, the Elephant one other one), the story is completely forgettable. It doesn't really make much sense, something conspiracy or other. But that should not be important. It may take a while, but when the action kicks in, it does so with a bang (and a "vroom" or two). There are some very high risk stunts here (some outtakes can be seen in the credits after the end of the movie). Ask yourself if that is sufficient and act/watch accordingly

KineticSeoul I gotta admit, when it came to the story it's worse this time. However it's more fast paced and I thought it did a better job of transitioning into the fight sequences was done much better in this. It's not really a boring martial arts flick until the fight scene between Tony Jaa and Marrese Crump round one (which is the based scene in the movie in my opinion). After the 43 minute mark the movie goes downhill. Tony Jaa and the other stunt people uses quite a bit of wire works this time around. And the CGI and the special effects are pretty darn bad. I don't even know why they put it into the trailers with a girl smacking a guy with her hair in a serious fist fight. RZA is in this movie and the reasons he is probably in it, is because he is a fan of "Ong-Bak", martial arts movies, does a bit of martial arts practicing himself and he wanted to play a gangster mobster boss. However his acting is awful and comedic, he can't really do stunt or fight choreography that well. So Tony Jaa has to act weak while fighting him. This is a bland and lame sequel that tries to be cool with the rock music playing in the background. So many elements gets wasted in this movie, like the ranking with the numbers when it comes to the fighters. It really is pointless. Overall, if it didn't lose the entertainment value after the 43 minute mark, probably could have been better than the first one.4/10