Ong Bak 2: The Beginning

Film Threat K.J. Doughton

The astonishingly gonzoid fight scenes from Ong Bak 2 might be the best ever filmed.

Slate Grady Hendrix

Oddly enough, it's when the action of Ong Bak 2 stops that this funkadelic freakshow shines. The screen is stuffed with a gallery of grotesques, some of Thailand's best character actors, who spend their time bleeding, bellowing, and slurping up eyeballs.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Jaa, mesmerizing as ever to behold with his pinwheel moves, also (co)directs for the first time.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

What sold the original Ong Bak was the action, not the story, and on an action level, Ong Bak 2 lives up to its title.

Philadelphia Inquirer Tirdad Derakhshani

A must-see for genre fans. Jaa in action is poetry - even in a disappointing film. Let's just hope he regains his senses for Ong Bak 3.

Empire Simon Crook

Jaa’s period ‘beatquel’ is thick on action but thin on plot. Awesome final fight, though.

Time Out New York Joshua Rothkopf

The new film sometimes feels too snazzy in its jittery cinematography, but the stunts make it through the budget upgrade intact.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Jaa's performance as Tien is mostly wordless and humorless.

The New York Times Mike Hale

It’s really all about the fighting, carried out in a variety of Asian styles, including one Mr. Jaa invented for the film. Aficionados may find this thrilling. The rest of us will sink lower in our seats.

Washington Post Jan Stuart

The hatchet-happy editor, ever-attentive to the transient attention span of the film's target audience, barely allows the hero time out from one virtuosic battle before he is flung in the face of a new enemy.

The Hollywood Reporter Daniel Eagan

You are not likely to see a better display of martial arts combat on screen for some time, even if you have to put up with some excruciating contrivances to get to it.

Village Voice Nicolas Rapold

While Jaa clearly hasn't lost any of his stamina in the six years since starring as a different underdog in the original, his first outing as a director is confusing, with distractingly muddy storytelling and wildly varying styles from scene to scene.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Unfortunately, the movie could use a bit of pachyderm memory, given its habit of flashing back to Tien's childhood with exactly the same footage used in previous flashbacks. Instead of the narrative being deepened, it keeps getting shallowed.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Elephants aside, the plot of this Ong Bak is rudimentary at best.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The criterion couldn't be simpler: does a 20-minute martial arts battle featuring Thai superstar Tony Jaa sound like the ideal way to spend your time and money? If not, move on.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

A plot? Tony Jaa don't need no stinking plot.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Less a traditional martial-artistry marathon than it is an exercise in filmic frustration, lovely to look at by small degrees, but a mud-spattered mess of a movie overall.

San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson

Not only a step back in time - to 1431 - but a step back in this martial artist's international film career.