Ong Bak 2

 In a cinematic climate plagued by easy explosions and automatic weapons, it’s refreshing to see a martial arts master slash, kick and break more people in two hours than Jack Bauer shoots in 24 episodes of primetime television. Although Ong Bak 2 offers seamless, lyrical fight scenes, it provides little substance to complement them.

The movie makes only a fleeting pretense of being anything but a pure action film. Tien (Tony Jaa) loses his parents at a young age and then spends time at dancing and martial arts schools in ancient Thailand. Jaa, who also co-directs, actually fused tradtional Khon dancing with martial arts to create an entirely new style of fighting called natayuth (literally “dancing fighting”). This explains angry Tien’s strange and beautiful method of fighting, lending many of the battle sequences a poetic onscreen aesthetic that is complemented by expert cinematography and sharp editing. The directors succeed in giving the piece a Buddhist serenity, but when said tranquility is not punctuated by plot twists and suspense, it makes one want to meditate…or take a nap.

Jaa, like his character Tien, has shown a marvelous aptitude for the martial arts. Ultimately, however, the film is a purely visceral, in-theater experience that fails to stick. At the movie’s close, Tien’s soul leaves this world and, as the narrator tells us, perhaps will one day find a new form in which to rest. Thai superstar Jaa will undoubtedly find himself in many more characters’ minds. Maybe next time he won’t forget to bring the story with him.