Ong-Bak 2 (2008)

[ironfistedmonk]

Sweet, looking forward to it now. I don't see what it has to do with the original Ong Bak tho?

[greenfan]

It's a sequel in name only. I like the period feel of the film....feels kinda 'old school'

[Tosh]

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Oh I'm all over this, Jaa is the mother F'n MAN! I haven't seen anyone handle a 3 section staff with that much skill since Pops! When is this released?

[thehangman]

I think its around august/sep time in thailand so prob along time to wait for western audiences

[Monk Sante]

Tony Jaa and Donnie Yen are two of the best martial artists on film today, I would love for these guys to face off against one another on screen.

Tony would have to slow down in order to give Donnie a chance to look good on screen. Tony would steal the show by a long shot. Never Happen.

[daisho2004]

This movie looks Killer I just wish it would've had a different name. Since it has nothing to do with the 1st. Movie what so ever. But I cannot wait to see this movie.

[gorhama]

Just watched the promo and holy crap...I just creamed in my pants!!!

Jaa is looking like a hell of a director. Also it looks like some of our complaints have been heard and Jaa will have plenty of fighters of his skill level. The choregraphy looks very promising.

I also like the period setting, along with the different weapons and fighting styles.....damn I can't wait!!

[Monk Sante]

I hope Jaa continues to make films overseas for the true fans of this genre.

Please Tony don't go Hollywood on us!

[daisho2004]

Monk Sante: I have to agree with you there it seems when Asian Actors cross over to Hollywood there movies lose a lot of the magic, they had when filming overseas. DAMN HOLLYWOOD!!!!!!!!

[Mark Pollard]

Hollywood may not know what to do with Asian martial arts stars but they do open the door to more investment for future projects. Look what Jet Li has done since coming to Hollywood, Asian-produced films like FEARLESS and THE WARLORDS. Let Jaa do a couple mediocre Hollywood action films so he can take the subsequent fame and fortune back to Thailand and make even more magic happen.

[Yakuza954]

I don't know, I think I rather have Jaa make more smaller budget movies than spend any time in Hollywood. Besides, the most appealing thing about Jaa's movies right now is the gritty action and hard-hitting stunts, and you don't need 20 million dollar budgets for that. Most of the best martial arts movies of all time were made with budgets 1/20th the size of that.

Fearless and Warlords would have been made regardless of Hollywood -- there's just a general trend for big-budget historical epics in China right now (with Chinese funding) that isn't reliant on Hollywood influence or Jet's heavy wallet book. Jaa isn't that young either and there also always runs the possibility that Jaa will spend too much time in Hollywood and waste away the prime years of his career making films like "The Tuxedo" and "Cradle to the Grave". This is all a moot point however, as we know Jaa will eventually go to Hollywood... the only questions are when he's going and who will be chosen to play his partner in his first buddy-cop movie.

[Mark Pollard]

Fearless and Warlords would have been made regardless of Hollywood

Respectfully, I disagree. It's the international "bankability" of Jet Li that encourages investors to back his movies. He's the highest paid actor in China. He received nearly half the budget of THE WARLORDS for his salary. Backers know they'll get a return on their investment because Jet Li sells tickets internationally like no other Chinese actor, with the possible exception of Jackie Chan.

I do agree that money doesn't automatically make a great martial arts movie but it helps. The best martial arts movies take weeks and months to shoot action sequences and this can be extremely costly. Lau Kar-leung could have never made DIRTY HO or THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN without the backing of Shaw Brothers.

The way I see it, there are no short cuts to perfection and only talented filmmakers and stars with enough backing can produce the best martial arts movies. Bruce Lee is a rare exception because he carried his movies by the sheer force of his screen presence and what was at the time revolutionary screen fighting.

In a perfect world, Jaa would never waste his time in Hollywood and instead get all the backing he needs to do whatever he wants in Thailand. If his films continue to sell well overseas that could happen. But like Jet Li and Jackie Chan, there will come a time when his body will not perform to the expectations of his fans and he'll need to rely more on his popularity to rally support in the form of better scripts and higher production standards. This is where having a rock-solid international presence that working in Hollywood provides comes in handy.

[Tigerstyles]

Tony Jaa and Chris Rock, buddy cop film... great idea! or a Thai cop comes to USA to track drug dealers who are also rappers.. pit fights ensue. he wouldn't even have to fight just lift his leg a little or touch these big huge muscle bound westerners and they will fly 20 feet... all done by Yuen Woo Ping or Yuen Kwai. WOW now thats gonna be magic

[Tigerstyles]

seriously th trailer looks ****in awesome, see the wing chun close combat style, that gave me shivers

[Yakuza954]

But doesn't Jaa already have this international "bankability"? I'd argue that internationally he's already more famous than most Hollywood stars. I'd also say the same was true of Jet and Jackie even before their Hollywood careers started. True, working in Hollywood did help raise their popularity even more--particularly their American popularity--but the U.S. isn't even the main target audience for these movies; most Chinese high budget historical movies have already been relegated to a niche audience with short theater runs and small DVD releases here in the United States. The profits for these movies are also very small in the United States when compared to Asia, where the name-recognition is also very different. That's why Andy Lau can headline many of these movies despite having little bankability outside of Asia and why I feel Warlords would have still been made if Jet Li were instead replaced with [insert random Asian star] to go with Andy Lau and Kaneshiro. In comparison, Tony Jaa already exceeds Andy Lau's popularity greatly and it will only continue to grow even if he stays in Thailand.

In the end, I guess I don't see any positive to Jaa working in the United States. Sure, he may get a 20 million dollar paycheck instead of a 5 million dollar one, and theoretically that would help him get better funding for his movies... However, the profits of his Thai movies only look to get bigger and and the problems with his movies so far haven't been the bad budgets or lack of funding, but the poor scripts with their unoriginal story lines and lackluster directing. Hollywood hasn't really shown its better in this regard either.

[Tosh]

Man that trailer is brutal, it gets better everytime I watch it.

Didn't Jaa already turn down Hollywood for the rush hour 3 film? Saying he wants to stay in Thailand and make Thai movies, this tells me the man is in it for more than to just collect the check (which is more than I can say for Jet and Jackie), lets get back to making Kung Fu movies like the golden age (aka the 70's!), you don't need the hollywood budget, you don't need huge epic battle/war scenes, you don't need shiny golden armour - just a hillside, some talent, and bone crushing KF - This is what I want, I'm tired of all the flying and overwrought drama.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Tosh took the words right out of mu mouth.... Back to basics!

This movie looks ****ing awesome!

[fabhui]

Looks like the fans (US!) might just be getting what we are after!

[Monk Sante]

Man that trailer is brutal, it gets better everytime I watch it.

Didn't Jaa already turn down Hollywood for the rush hour 3 film? Saying he wants to stay in Thailand and make Thai movies, this tells me the man is in it for more than to just collect the check (which is more than I can say for Jet and Jackie), lets get back to making Kung Fu movies like the golden age (aka the 70's!), you don't need the hollywood budget, you don't need huge epic battle/war scenes, you don't need shiny golden armour - just a hillside, some talent, and bone crushing KF - This is what I want, I'm tired of all the flying and overwrought drama.

Well Said.

[daisho2004]

Tosh: as always well stated I'm tied of the Matrix slow motion action scenes, bring back the 70's bone crushing blood squirting effects.

[Guest WuxiaFan]

After what the Weinsteins did to Tom Yum Goong (The Protector--a stupid name, btw), I'm not holding out much hope for ONG BAK 2 to be in it's original form in US theaters. I will go see it anyway, but I know I will have it uncut on DVD before then. The promo reel is unbelievable.

[Chinatown Kid]

Tony would have to slow down in order to give Donnie a chance to look good on screen. Tony would steal the show by a long shot. Never Happen.

Yeah your probably right as Jaa is younger and better overall physically. Donnie still is more versatile as far as techniques/variety imo as he's been around longer and had more experience. Jaa is gifted and does amazing stunts and hard hitting fights but I think it would still be interesting to see Donnie paired up against him, think Yen's MMA techniques against Tony's brutal Muey Thai. The trailer looks great for Ong Bak 2 BTW, can't wait to see it.

[Bravery]

Man that trailer is brutal, it gets better everytime I watch it.

Didn't Jaa already turn down Hollywood for the rush hour 3 film? Saying he wants to stay in Thailand and make Thai movies, this tells me the man is in it for more than to just collect the check (which is more than I can say for Jet and Jackie), lets get back to making Kung Fu movies like the golden age (aka the 70's!), you don't need the hollywood budget, you don't need huge epic battle/war scenes, you don't need shiny golden armour - just a hillside, some talent, and bone crushing KF - This is what I want, I'm tired of all the flying and overwrought drama.

He is just now breaking (some-what) into the western mainstream, and has only been starring in films 4 or 5 years now. It took Jet and Jackie at least a decade before they 'sold out' and came to hollywood. Let's see where Jaa is 20 years from now and what he does. Right now it's easy to say "wonderful Tony for not making any movies in hollywood" when he is just starting out. Besides, the only reason he is even getting those offers are because of what Jet and Chan have done there.

Trust me, when people start looking at Jaa the same as some people had looked at Jet and Chan- like they were only here to put ther bodies on the line for our pleasure- after years of putting his body on the line for everyones enjoyment, which he hasn't done, at least not the level those two have, he will come to hollywood for a break. Then everybody will forget the things he actually stands for and call him a sell out, greedy, out for the money and everything Jet, Chan and others are being called unfairly.

As for the trailer, it looked decent but i'm not blown away. The only movie of his i've actually liked has been Ong-Bak so i am looking forward to this.

[David Rees]

Looks very promising lets hope that the story is an improvement over Tom Yum Goong.

As far as hollywood goes who knows, who could blame him if he was offered mega-bucks to make an American film as long as he doesnt forget his own background and continues to make films in the Far East.

LEARN REAL HUNG GAR KUNG FU ON DVD HERE!

[Tosh]

He is just now breaking (some-what) into the western mainstream, and has only been starring in films 4 or 5 years now. It took Jet and Jackie at least a decade before they 'sold out' and came to hollywood. Let's see where Jaa is 20 years from now and what he does. Right now it's easy to say "wonderful Tony for not making any movies in hollywood" when he is just starting out. Besides, the only reason he is even getting those offers are because of what Jet and Chan have done there.

Trust me, when people start looking at Jaa the same as some people had looked at Jet and Chan- like they were only here to put ther bodies on the line for our pleasure- after years of putting his body on the line for everyones enjoyment, which he hasn't done, at least not the level those two have, he will come to hollywood for a break. Then everybody will forget the things he actually stands for and call him a sell out, greedy, out for the money and everything Jet, Chan and others are being called unfairly.

As for the trailer, it looked decent but i'm not blown away. The only movie of his i've actually liked has been Ong-Bak so i am looking forward to this.

Well lets not get into talking about Jet and Jackie seeing how this is a thread about Ong Bak 2 (we can save that for another thread:D), I have much respect for both of them, and quite frankly I've enjoyed some of the Hollywood output both of them have had over the years on a certain level, it doesn't mean that I can't have issues with career choices as a kung fu fan, like Jet complaining about getting kung fu roles then getting half the budget for a entire film, or Jackie making hollywood movies then saying he knew they were horrible to begin with.

You got to give credit where credit is due for Jaa though, he gave up an opportunity to be on screen with the great Jackie Chan and get payed Hollywood dollar, he stayed in Thailand to make this movie his way, looks pretty good so far.