George Lucas once likened the Star Wars movies to silent films, and Tony Jaa apparently used the comment as inspiration. Ong Bak 2 exists solely as unadorned spectacle: a showcase of fight choreography and martial arts prowess with no purpose beyond demonstrating how badly Jaa can kick the crap out of people. If that's your thing, it can't be beat. For the rest of us, it may actually feel a little boring.

The plot, such as it is, may as well have been written with finger paint. It doesn't so much have holes as giant patches where it screams "don't look at me!" lest its entire structure collapse upon itself. In Thailand's dusty past, a young boy is abducted by slavers and thrown to the crocodiles after witnessing his parents' death. He fights the reptiles fiercely, which prompts a bandit (Sorapong Chatree) to rescue and train him in the ways of ultimate bad-assery.

That much is clear. If you want to know anything else, I'm afraid I'll be of no help. The boy grows into Jaa, of course, and launches a bloody campaign of revenge against... well, then we're into "don't look at me!" territory again. They're bad guys. And they're attached to a king of some sort, who is also bad. Plus there's bad juju from some kind of bad bird demon and a bunch of not-bad elephants who really love Jaa. Don't bother trying to link it to the original Ong Bak; there's really no point (though God knows the films tries, in one of the most head-scratching finales in recent years). The general incomprehensibility is further hampered by poor subtitles and a stoic tone which suggests it's taking itself much too seriously. A little Jackie Chan absurdity would have brightened the proceedings -- or at least helped us laugh at the jumbled narrative more easily.

On the other hand, no one goes to a movie like this for brilliant dialogue or finely-honed structure. Jaa (who also serves as co-director along with Panna Rittikrai) clearly has a high opinion of himself, but he also knows what he does best. And Ong Bak 2 wastes no time getting there. Setpiece after setpiece comes roaring at us, hinging solely on the star's brilliant martial arts prowess and expertly choreographed to take maximum advantage of the surrounding terrain. Jaa dispatches his opponents with knives, swords, chains, and bare fists. Enemies descend from every conceivable direction, only to be beaten like rented mules and sent on their way just in time for a new gang of punching bags to arrive.

The repetition eventually grows numb, but credit Jaa for keeping it going for as long as he does. The climax entails a fight around a living elephant, whose trust levels with the performers create a truly indelible spectacle. The remainder of the action applies similar creativity, mixing things up sufficiently to keep genre fans engaged and blithely ignoring every other concern. That loses its luster in the moments leading up to the finale -- you start to feel like one of those bodies Jaa has so cavalierly dispatched -- but until then, its inspired brutality more than compensates for the baffling attempts at what (for lack of a better term) we'll call a story.

Of course, it all depends on your expectations. Even kung fu fans need a little more than punches to keep them going, and by most definitions of good filmmaking, Ong Bak 2 fails miserably. But when taken on its own terms, it often constitutes dazzling entertainment.



Someone fights dirty...