Ong Bak II

Okay, so I picked this movie up a while back because even though the first one was cheesy at times, it had some solid action sequences. Ong Bak II though fails where the first succeeded.

* SPOILER ALERT! *

The first movie was characterized mainly by hardcore muay thai hand fighting, but the second movie is basically a weapon's fest. That is hardly a point to complain about, though, I guess. I just prefer the hand fighting so my expectations were a little dashed to pieces. Also, this bothers me because of my past martial arts experience but whereas being an expert of one fighting skill such as muay thai is plausible, Tian's mastery of so many weapons is rather unlikely if not impossible.

The main point of contention for me though is the attempt at a storyline. The first Ong Bak was hardcore fighting sequence after hardcore sequence spread out along a plot string. A highly appropriate approach for a movie that is basically just action. Ong Bak II, however, tried a gradual development by offering key information about the main character in flashbacks, right before they became relevant. This failed because it slowed the escalation of the fighting and made the character seem a little mindless.

*MEGA Spoiler Alert *

The lamest thing though was the explanation for why the main character dies at the end. Karma, what goes around comes around.. and apparently it's all his fault? Seriously, the evil emperor is still alive at the end... and you know, evil emperors are supposed to die. It's the virtue of them being evil. The movie ended by essentially dropping an anvil on your foot.

Oh yeah, he's come so far, trying to kill the man that killed his father and wiped out his clan, and then when he does kill his dad's killer, which was his adopted father, it ends. The emperor announces that Tian should be taken away and slowly tortured before he is killed. Then the omnipotent voice of the narrator comes in to explain how this is the fitting end for Tian because of Karma. Whatever. The emperor should have been sold into slavery to properly meet the Karma his life deserved and that didn't happen. Is consistency so hard to ask for?

不満だ。