Directed by Prachya Pinkaew is Tom yum goong 2, a film about a man who is trying to save his kidnapped elephant.
Set in Thailand, is the story of Kham, who once again sets out to rescue his elephant. From having his being elephant stolen, teaming up with good cop Mark to the epic final showdown, this is a film with one eye on western audiences, and loses it way as a result.
Tony Jaa delivers his usual acting and physical performance as Kham, but fails to bring anything new to the movie. Similarly, Petchtai Wongkamlao’s performance is solid but nothing more, with Yanin “Jeeja” Vismitananda and Theerada Kittiseriprasert as nieces Ping-ping and Sue-sue providing a necessary female element. Sadly the villains of the piece, Marrese Crump as No. 2 and Rza as Mr. LC are somewhat and unimposing and fail to ling long in the memory.
With most martial films its best not to think too much about the plot, even with that in mind when a plot is about a man who routinely loses his elephant it does make it hard to roll with the punches. The Hollywood style of editing also undermines, what no doubt, were impressive action pieces. Whereas Jaa’s early films would let a single stationary camera capture a stunt in its entirety, the editing here cuts in and out of the shot taking away from the reality of the stunt. Similarly the fight scenes are undermined with the same editing issue. Towards the end this Hollywood tendency undermines the film further with a choice of sound effect that is quietly dumbfounding. The foray into CGI also feels like a betrayal and is cheaply done and poorly executed.
Not as spectacular as Ong Bak or brutal as The Raid, where Jaa was once the future of martial arts cinema, this film seems to have be stuck in the past.
‘Tom yum goong 2’ is out on DVD around the UK from September 1st.
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