The Protector 2 (Tom Yum Goong 2)

New rumor: Tony Jaa & Jeeja Yanin in 3D. :cool:

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Tony Jaa Returns for 'The Protector 2!'
'Where's My Elephant: The Movie - Part 2... in 3-D!'
By William Bibbiani
Apr 28th, 2011

After ditching his his usual director Prachya Pinkaew (The Protector, Ong Bak) to direct Ong Bak 2 and 3 himself, Thai action superstar Tony Jaa reportedly had a bit of a meltdown and became a monk. Well, that didn't last long: he's going back into production The Protector 2, or rather as it will be called in Thailand, Tom Yung Goon 2. The first film saw Tony Jaa flipping and kneeing his way through Australia in pursuit of his stolen elephant. Somehow it's hard to imagine and American remake of that...

The first film was a little silly but featured a gaggle of classic action sequences, including a stunning fight scene in a Buddhist temple that was both flooded and on fire, as well as a technically dazzling one-take fight sequence that followed Jaa up several stories of a building, kicking everyone's ass along the way. Take a look. It's a doozy.


No word yet on what the plot will be, but we imagine it's probably elephant-based. It's also going to be in 3-D, which... we will try not to ***** about, despite really, really wanting to. In better news, the film will team Jaa with "Jeeja" Yanin Vismitananda, who previously starred in another breakout Thai action film, Chocolate. ThailandBlogs had the story.

Crave Online will be back with more Protector 2 news, provided we can find our elephant.

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Our thread on the original: Tom Yum Goong aka The Protector

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Originally Posted by GeneChing

New rumor: Tony Jaa & Jeeja Yanin in 3D. :cool:



Our thread on the original: Tom Yum Goong aka The Protector

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that should be very cool, if they have a decent script. Jeeja Yanin is awesome and it would be cool to see them together.
Maybe they can do a Thai remake of Eck vs Sever....

It took Jackie, Jet, Donnie & Sammo years to abandon 'no wires, no CGI'. Of course, CGI didn't exist back in the day, and it could be said that modern wire work was their invention, but nevertheles.... kids today. :rolleyes:

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TOM YUM GOONG 2 Marks The End Of The No Wire, No CGI Era For Tony Jaa
Todd Brown, Founder and Editor

Get ready for something different, Tony Jaa fans. Having built his early notoriety at least partially on the promise of no wires and no CGI enhancement in the action and stunt sequences of his previous films Jaa and director Prachya Pinkaew are utilizing both for the upcoming Tom Yum Goong 2.

Though a rarity in the work of action choreographer Panna Rittikrai, he has shown a willingness to dip into both areas when the action calls for it. Mercury Man and Dynamite Warrior both made extensive use of both wire and CGI work, for example, and even the much more raw Born To Fight includes one notable CGI gag. This is a first for Jaa, however, one necessitated by some of the 3D gags in the upcoming film.

With a tentative May release date set for Thailand there will not likely be a trailer for the film until the spring but watch for it here on Twitch as soon as it appears.

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Originally Posted by TenTigers

that should be very cool, if they have a decent script. Jeeja Yanin is awesome and it would be cool to see them together.
Maybe they can do a Thai remake of Eck vs Sever....

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decent script? im sorry have you seen a tony jaa movie? they dont have scripts...worse storylines ever.

Some one ****es of Jaa.

Jaa takes revenge with lots of kick ass fights.





Actually, this could be said about 95% of the fight flick genre.

New Tony Jaa trailer: TOM YUM GOONG 2 aka THE PROTECTOR 2 trailer 1080p HD

See? That didn't really need a good script. Just lots of ultravi and explosions. ;)

ทีเซอร์ #2 ต้มยำกุ้ง 2-3D (Official Teaser #2 TYG2 - TomYumGoong2)

um...I mean Jija. :rolleyes:

จีจ้า ใน ต้มยำกุ้ง2 (3D) / Jija in TYG2

Follow the link.

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Video: Martial arts movie 'Tom Yum Goong 2' RZA trailer
By Can Tran
Sep 20, 2013 - 9 hours ago in Entertainment

A new trailer for the upcoming "Tom Yum Goong 2" shows that North American hip-hop artist & Wu-Tang Clan member RZA will be having a feature role.
The second trailer has been released for the upcoming Thai martial arts movie, starring Tony Jaa, called “Tom Yum Goong 2” aka “The Protector 2.” If you have watched the first movie, “Tom Yum Goong,” you may get the gist of "Tom Yum Goong 2." This trailer has more action than the previous trailer. "Tom Yum Goong 2" is due to hit theaters across Thailand this October 23. It is unknown when Tom Yum Goong will be getting an international let alone a North American release. Like in the first movie, Jaa's character Kham has to go elephant rescuing again.
In this trailer, it is revealed that Wu-Tang member RZA will have a feature role as part of the cast. He will be playing one of the main villains in the film. So far, Jaa's career is going to be busy. Asides from this movie, he will be working on a few North American films. One example would be the seventh installment of the “Fast and the Furious” movie series franchise. While this is a Thai film, "Tom Yum Goong 2"'s cast shows that this is an international collaboration.

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What is it with Jaa?

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Hot spice and Sour Grapes
PARINYAPORN PAJEE
THE NATION September 26, 2013 1:00 am

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/new/...?1382390616001
Why director Prachya Pinkaew doesn't expect the ongoing spat between star and studio boss to affect the box office takings of "Tom Yum Goong 2"

IT WAS PLANNED as a project of reconciliation, a B500 million sequel to ""Tom Yum Goong" that by bringing together high-kicking action star Thatchakorn "Jaa" Yeerum, his mentor Panna Ritthikrai and director Prachya Pinkaew, would show the world that the three had successfully mended the cracks in their relationship.

And indeed "Tom Yum Goong 2 3D" was very nearly a successful sealant, except that once the movie was in the bag, its star fell out with Sahamongkol Films' boss Somsak Techaratanaprasert over contract matters.

With both sides having their lawyers handle the conflict, it didn't come as much of a surprise that neither Jaa nor Somsak turned out for last week's press conference.

And so the press addressed their questions as to how the dispute would affect the film to Panna and Prachya.

The latter seemed surprised at the concern, saying that he couldn't see why a behind-the-scenes conflict would influence movie fans.

"I still went to see Jackie Chan's films after the scandal about him broke and it didn't stop my enjoyment of his movies. The movie is entertainment and for filmgoers, that should put it beyond any conflict," he says.

However, Prachya is keeping his fingers crossed that the action superstar will turn up for the movie premiere next month, though he admits that's still up in the air, as Jaa is preparing to head to Hollywood to shoot "Fast and Furious 7".

"I obviously hope he will come if for no other reason than he has put so much work into the project. He's the protagonist so he will earn a great deal of credit from the movie," the director says.

A sequel that picks up more or less where the first movie left off, "TYG2" centres on Kham (Jaa) who is furious when his elephant Khon is abducted for the second time. Kham, though, is suspected of being involved in the murder of elephant camp owner Sia Suchart so he's forced to search for Khon while staying under the radar of the police. Sia Suchart's twin nieces (Yanin "Jeeja" Vismistananda and Teerada Kittisiriprasert) are out to avenge their uncle and Kham finds himself fighting them as well as talented killers Twenty (Ratha Pho-ngam) and Number 2 (Marrese Crump).

Phetthai "Mum Jokmok" Wong-|khamlao) also reprises his Sgt Mark role and the film sees him assigned by Interpol to travel to Thailand to crack open a terrorist scheme.

The pachyderm almost didn't make it into the movie as cast and crew, all painfully aware of how the catchphrase "Where is my elephant?" became a joke, attempted to avoid repeating the plot. Screenwriter Ekasit Thairaat whose previous works include Chookiat Sakveerakul's critically acclaimed thriller "13 Game Sayong", disagreed and Khon's bacon was saved.

"There's an element of animal protection in 'Tom Yum Goong', which is borne out by "The Protector" title that was selected for its North American release. Filmgoers liked the idea of an elephant protector and so it became the story," says Prachya.

The director says he is quite satisfied with the script and that his biggest challenges came with choreographing the fight scenes.

He cast American hip-hop artist RZA, martial arts actor Marrese Crump, who worked as action coordinator on "GI Joe" and spiced up the macho action with female fighters Jeeja, new action heroine Teerada and Ratha, who is better known for her sexy roles in movies like "Jan Dara".

While Prachya admits that viewers probably won't get the same kind of goose bumps from the fighting scenes as in "Ong Bak" or "TYG", there is still plenty to keep them in their seats. Creating thrilling action scenes, he says, is difficult.

"Martial arts choreography requires a motive and viewers need to feel its toughness and strength. So obviously, the more realistic we are the better. But being realistic is also more dangerous. We were fortunate this time that the team and the actors stayed safe throughout the shoot," says Prachya.

The director is full of praise for Jaa's performance, saying that his acting has improved, his work in the fighting scenes is exhilarating and he helped to keep the entire project running smoothly. And while he isn't expecting audience numbers to drop because of the row between his star and the studio, he admits that the setback is generally bad for Thai action films.

"We had such a bright future when we released 'Ong Bak' and 'TYG'. That good feeling came back when we were making 'TYG2' but now the problem is pulling us back again. It's a shame as we have potential but we can do nothing as the problem revolves around Jaa. So it's almost inevitable that a country like Indonesia will win the battle for action film supremacy," Prachya says.

And indeed Indonesian action flicks have come under the spotlight in recent years with hits like "The Raid Redemption" and martial arts actor Joe Taslim landing a role in "Fast and Furious 6".

And while 2009's "Marantau" was very much influenced by "Ong Bak", Indonesia's subsequent releases, including "The Raid Redemption", have proved there are able to develop action flicks in their own way, Prachya points out.

HIGH KICKS

- "Tom Yum Goong 2 3D" goes on general release on October 23.

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I heard some early buzz which matched SID's early reviews: good fights, poor plot. As if martial arts film fans really care that much about plot... :rolleyes:

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Get some Tom Yum Goong 2 action
by seto kit yan

http://www.thestar.com.my/~/media/Im...&h=413&crop=1&
Back for more: In Tom Yum Goong 2, which stars Thai action stars Tony Jaa (left) and Jeeja Yanin, director Prachya Pinkaew upped the action quotient.

Lots of mind-boggling action in the Thai flick.

Touted as Thailand’s first 3D action movie, Tom Yum Goong 2 took two whole years to make and has since become the biggest budget Thai movie ever made – twice as much as the original actioner Tom Yum Goong (2005).

The storyline for this hard-hitting sequel centres on its protagonist Kham, the last in the long line of guards for the King of Thailand’s war elephants, who returns to his village to live in peace after a harrowing quest to retrieve the elephants. But for a martial arts expert like Kham, played by 37-year-old Thai action maestro Tony Jaa, peace is wishful thinking.

Making the sequel into a 3D movie was also a personal preference for Prachya Pinkaew (who also directed Tom Yun Goong) who professed a liking for 3D action. “The movie is an action film, so this is a good opportunity to do it. Action films and 3D go well together, I think,” he said in an e-mail interview.

Tom Yum Goong 2 is also much hyped as it is the first time two top action stars from Thailand – Jeeja Yanin and Jaa – work in a film together.

“I believe a lot of people are looking forward to the fight scenes between Tony Jaa and Jeeja. In this movie, Jeeja plays Ping-Ping, the daughter of a powerful Chinese businessman involved in the elephant industry. She has studied in China and has a twin sister named Sue-Sue. Ping-Ping is an acupuncturist, whose expertise is bare-handed boxing mixed with acupuncture needles,” said Prachya.

In a separate e-mail interview, the 29-year-old Jeeja shared that Tom Yum Goong 2 features more than just Muay Thai.

“The martial arts in this movie will have more universal elements, more variety. And Ping-Ping’s weapon will be needles, which is totally different than in any other movie. The needles are used for acupuncture treatment for her little sister’s epilepsy, as well as flying poison needles, like a secret weapon. Her little sister also has her own weapons, such as a whip and a poison needle ring,” said Jeeja.

One of the challenges for Jeeja was synchronising with her co-star in the fight sequences. “There are many varieties of action scenes in this movie, from two-on-two fighting to group fights. Like in the twins’ action scenes, we needed to find our rhythm. We had to run, jump, and move together.”

As for the plot for the sequel, Prachya revealed that the story picks up where the first movie left off. “Ekkasit Thairat, the screenwriter of 13: Game Of Death, wrote the screenplay for this movie. We have established that the main character Kham is the successor of the King’s guard. The sequel begins after he saved the elephant.”

In Tom Yum Goong, there was a breathtaking four-minute-long take of a fight scene with stuntmen atop a four-storey building. To create a new sensation for the sequel, Prachya filmed another non-stop action sequence. “The fighting scene is between Tony Jaa and the motorcycle gang, which lasts for 14.50 minutes. It took us eight months to film this scene.

“Unlike the previous movie, we didn’t shoot any scenes abroad. We used Bangkok as the backdrop as we wanted to present a side of Bangkok that a lot of people have never seen before.

“Sometimes it’s very difficult, like shooting from a helicopter. Helicopter shoots may be normal for other countries, but it’s very difficult in Thailand. Not only that, we filmed the action scene with 300 moving motorbikes.”

>>Tom Yum Goong 2 will be kicking its way into cinemas nationwide on Thursday. Grab a copy of The Star today to find out how you can win tickets to watch the movie.

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23 October 2013| last updated at 08:02PM
SHOWBIZ: Spicier sequel
By Loong Wai Ting |  loongwaiting@nst.com.my

Thai martial arts star Tony Jaa ups the ante in Tom Yum Goong 2, writes Loong Wai Ting

ONE of Thailand’s most bankable martial arts stars, Tony Jaa, returns to the silver screen two years after his hit-and-miss action flick Ong Bak 3.

Jaa’s success began in 2003 when the first Ong Bak took audiences on a thrilling made-in-Asia martial arts movie, featuring realistic fight choreography which made Jaa a global phenomenon.

But a fall-out with long-time collaborator and director Prachya Pinkaew led to some “career misalignment” on Jaa’s part, with reports that the action star had a meltdown and disappeared for two months while filming Ong Bak 2 (released in 2008).

When Ong Bak 3 failed to crack the whip at the Thai box office, it was Jaa’s 2005 film Tom Yum Goong (released as The Protector in some countries) that managed to secure a promising lead at the local box office.

Its sequel, released tomorrow, hopes to re-live the same phenomenal success that Jaa achieved.In a recent e-mail interview, Jaa attributes the overwhelming success of Tom Yum Goong to Ong Bak — the movie that opened many doors for him.

“Ong Bak gave me an opportunity to become well-known all around the world, not just in Asia. It changed my life completely. It came as a huge surprise for me as well. When I travelled in Asia, Europe and America, fans approached me and asked ‘chang gu yu nhai (where is my elephant?)’ — a line made famous in Tom Yum Goong. For me, Tom Yum Goong isn’t just a popular dish in Thailand but also a platform (movie) which showcases Thai culture to the world,” he says.

Jaa, who first started out as a stuntman for stunt choreographer Panna Rittikrai, has always dreamt of becoming an action star.

“When I was a kid, I was very fond of watching action movies. I used to ride my bicycle 10km across the field just to see an action film in town. The blood of a fighter, it’s all in my soul. When I saw an action film, I wanted to do and be the same. I wanted to accomplish the same thing as the actors. I always thought to myself that if others could do it, so could I. I’ve become an inspiration for many youngsters who share the same ambition that I had when I was younger — wanting to showcase my ability, and dream,” he says.

Jaa tells more below:

You reprise your role as Kham in the sequel to Tom Yum Goong. Is he still the same guy?
I still play Kham, the elephant protector. My character possesses special martial arts skills since he comes from a family lineage of being special guards to the King of Thailand, and once protected the war elephants. In the sequel, the audience will get to see another side of the story, this time through Kham’s perspective. We also get to see Kham maturing as a person as he experiences pain, lost, violence and a burning desire to win over his rivals.

Tom Yum Goong was a huge success because of its uniqueness. Will we be seeing the same thing in the sequel?
If you recall, there were several scenes in the first movie that are still fresh in the audiences’ mind, especially the four-minute fight scene where I had to run up four floors of a building.In this sequel, we put in more similar scenes. To make things more exciting, we added motorcycles where Kham had to fight off a gang of bikers. It was a non-stop fighting scene lasting up to 16 minutes. There was another one where I jumped off Karnchanapisek Bridge.

The sequel also introduces a few international stars. Can you mention some of them?
There’s RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan. He plays a villain who is extremely intelligent and also a fighter. There is also Marrese Crump, who is a versatile martial arts exponent. Besides that, there is also Yanin ‘Jeeja’ Vismistananda. Comedian Mhom Petchai Wongkaolao also makes a comeback in the movie as officer Mark.

Tom Yum Goong 2 is also available in 3D.
It is very tough. Besides the action, we also needed to place each camera differently for better effect. Those who have worked with me know that I only need 10 minutes to rest in-between takes. But for this, I needed more time to prepare. We couldn’t make mistakes, otherwise all the scenes would turn blurry. The effects, the angles and the way the actors stand must be accurate.

Tell us about the fight scene between you and Marrese Crump.
Marrese’s character is a skilled assassin. He is very aggressive and wants to fight off Kham. Marrese and I agreed that we wouldn’t be using the style that was used in the first movie. We shared ideas on martial arts: How to attack and how to defend. Maresse came up with his own moves.

We heard you were injured on the set.
There were some injuries from action scenes because we worked with metals and objects coming at you at a high speed, which we could neither predict nor control. There was a scene where I had to push away a speeding bike and I injured my legs in the process. The villain who rode the bike was slashed on the neck by a sheet of metal. It was a terrifying experience.

Tom Yum Goong 2 opens Oct 24. The movie is distributed by RAM Entertainment.

http://w1.nst.com.my/polopoly_fs/1.3..._454/image.jpg
The motorcycle chase scene which leads to Jaa (front) jumping off Karnchanapisek Bridge.

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Who will get that first forum review here?

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Not spicy enough
Wise Kwai
The Nation October 25, 2013 1:00 am

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/new/...904-01_big.jpg
Despite 3D and non-stop action, Tony Jaa's latest 'Tom-Yum-Goong 2' lacks sizzle
WITH AN OVERLY complicated plot, "Tom-Yum-Goong 2", the much-anticipated new action flick from martial-arts star Thatchakorn "Tony Jaa" Yeerum, has turned out to be a rather bland concoction.

This is despite it being in 3D and pretty much non-stop action that crams in other martial-arts stars, including Yanin "Jeeja" Vismistananda and America's Marrese Crump, plus hip-hop musician RZA and Thai singer-actress Rhatha "Yaya Ying" Pho-ngam.

It fares better than Jaa's previous feature, "Ong-Bak 3", but is not as strong as his major studio breakout, 2003's "Ong-Bak" and 2005's "Tom-Yum-Goong".

Even more disappointing, it might possibly be the last Thai film Jaa makes. "Tom-Yum-Goong 2" comes out amidst a feud between Jaa and his studio, Sahamongkol Film International, and its powerful boss, Somsak "Sia Jiang" Techaratanaprasert. He is upset that Jaa is now working in Hollywood, making a "Fast and Furious" sequel and teaching Vin Diesel muay thai.

The first "Tom-Yum-Goong" took Jaa to Australia as he chased gangsters who'd stolen his baby elephant. The relatively simple plot was an aim to broaden Jaa's international appeal, setting up fights for him around Sydney landmarks.

"Tom-Yum-Goong 2" stays in Thailand and again has Jaa's character Kham losing his elephant Khon. But it keeps the international flavour, with such foreign fighters as Crump and RZA, plus David Ismalone ("Mad Dog" from "Ong-Bak") and Kazu Patrick Tang ("Raging Phoenix").

The set-up for the plot is laboured, showing a snooze-worthy montage of news headlines about a war in fictional far-away lands. For some reason, Thailand is chosen as the location for the signing of a peace treaty.

And somehow, this will involve Kham's elephant being stolen by the foreigner criminal mastermind portrayed by RZA. He leads a small army of martial-arts warriors, each with a number tattoo to indicate how good they are. Among them are the lethally brutal No 2 (Crump) and the fierce Twenty (Rhatha), whose tattoo is spelled out across her cleavage.

Thankfully, it only takes 15 minutes or so for Kham to start running around, searching for his elephant, which was initially taken by the crooked owner of an elephant camp. But then that guy turns up dead, and Kham is standing over his body when the man's nieces show up - Jeeja and another actress, Teerada Kittisiriprasert. They are supposed to be twins, but apart from their pixie-bob hairstyles and clothing, they look nothing alike. Still, it's pretty confusing trying to follow the "Chocolate" star Jeeja as she throws down against Jaa for the first time.

Arriving with the twins is a motorcycle gang. They chase Kham up a flight of stairs and onto a building's roof. This is the best fight sequence of the movie, with the noisy bikes ****zing all around as Kham ducks and dodges them all with acrobatic ease. One smashes through a skylight and the camera angle quickly shifts above it to catch the bike and glass shards spiralling out of the screen in 3D.

More nifty camera work comes from a point-of-view shot of Kham jumping from the roof to a balcony on another building.

Kham eventually commandeers one of the bikes and leads the hundreds motorcycling miscreants on a chase through alleys and down an elevated motorway. He also takes a crazy ride on top of a drift-racing car.

And too soon, with an oil tanker explosion, it's all over.

The action spills into a shipyard where Kham and the Pixie Sisters get the hurt put on them by the imposing No 2.

While Kham is pursued by RZA's gang of toughs, and is eventually captured and branded as No 1, he's also a fugitive from a squad of Interpol officers who include Kham's old friend from Sydney, Sergeant Mark (Petchthai "Mum Jokmok" Wongkamlao). He helps buy Kham some time to track down the elephant.

From the first encounter with Crump, the fights all tend to blur together, taking place in such locations as dark warehouses and subway tunnels. For the most part, they are framed too tightly and move too fast to make any sense of.

One fun bit has Jaa and Crump fighting on an electrified railway line. In a move that defies the laws of physics, they both dip their feet in water and stand on the rails. As their fists swing they make the same sounds as lightsabres from "Star Wars".

Director Prachya Pinkaew and Jaa's mentoring martial-arts guru Panna Rittikrai clearly had a ball coming up with all kinds of ways to have fists, feet, heads, elbows, weapons and elephant trunks zoom out of the screen in 3D. But despite their efforts, the fights in "Tom-Yum-Goong 2" lack the sizzle and originality of their earlier efforts in "Ong-Bak" and "Tom-Yum-Goong".

On the plus side is Jaa, whose dour onscreen demeanour seems to have softened with marriage, fatherhood and maturity. Compared to his earlier films, he appears more at ease and natural. Perhaps Hollywood is where he'll create his happiest memories.

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This seems to concur with some of the comments I'm hearing on this so far, but we're waiting on some forum reviews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbrFY8XKsr4

TGY2 not only reunites Jaa, his cute elephant, and Dirty Balls, it adds Jeeja as a Kiss-of-the-Dragon acupuncture-needle-tossing kogel, up-and-comer Marrese Crump, and RZA. It's total Baa-Ram-Ewe. Good stunts. Good fights. Absurd plot, irritatingly so. Tony's elephant gets stolen again by an assassin cult who hold it hostage to for him to make a hit. He gets framed for Jeeja's dad's assassination, and there's a few more subplots, but those don't really matter as you'll be refreshing your drink and slathering more cheeseball on your crackers for those.

- The action starts fast and furious, then slacks off a little, then there's a lot of climactic fights and way to many kill-the-villain-so-he-rises-agains (what I call the Jason syndrome).

- Undercutting some really good stunts and fights is the copious uses of CGI. It cheapens a lot of it. At least when Jackie resorts to CGI, you can clearly see what is real and what is CGI. In TYG2, that isn't as clear, mostly because the camerawork is too muddled. It's not crackhead camerawork. It's just not very good so some of the action is lost.

- Lots of wirework and parkour-esque stuff. Wirework parkour defeats the purpose.

- The soundtrack was distractingly bad - from wannabe-Giorgio-Moroder to Guitar-hero - RZA really needs to redo the soundtrack.

- Jeeja was a little under-used. Marrese is a good foil for Jaa.

- RZA is great because he has this distinctive laugh. I have heard it in person many times. Now I realize that it was actually his evil villain laugh.

- Did you know that if you kickbox on the electric-third-rail of a rapid transit system with wet shoes, you can make lightsaber sounds with your legs and throw lightning bolts from your feet?

- There's a Thai fightin hottie (named 'TWENTY' which is branded in her cleavage) who wears only wide red ribbons in her first duel.

- No swordfights, but there's a long scooter-fu chase with machetes, which comes out of nowhere and is an early centerpiece of the film.

- It has NG. Could you say "I wanna be Jackie Chan" any louder?

http://www.comicvine.com/tigers-beau...er/4005-46788/

No theaters are listed this early in the game, but here's the link to the dedicated Magnet site where they will likely post theater info later.


Nice connect, Zenshiite. Now that costume makes a little more sense. Thanks!
http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/...aughter009.jpg

I found this sequel to be far inferior to the first movie. There are some difficult stunts, but there is also a LOT of CGI and wire work, and it's obvious it was made as a 3D film. The effects are cartoonish. Once again, Kham (Tony Jaa) must come to the rescue of his elephant Khon, now grown up and abducted by another criminal group run by RZA. RZA plays an arms dealer who controls a group of fighters, the best of whom is played by Marrese Crump. Jeeja Yanin plays one of two sisters out to avenge their uncle, who they believe was killed by Kham.

Tony Jaa, while still doing some great stunts, simply does not look as sharp as he did in the past. And Jeeja Yanin has yet to be able to return to the screen fighting form she had achieved in Chocolate and Raging Phoenix. Her character's level is very much below that of Tony's. Certainly, the best scenes in this movie are the fights involving Marrese Crump. His character is a near-invincible bas@ss, and I was starting to wonder if he's supposed to be a cyborg or something.

RZA's character is not only an arms dealer, but he turns out to be the baddest fighter as well. And here is the biggest problem. I truly respect RZA's love for the MA movie genre. But to play the toughest fighting villain in a Tony Jaa movie requires something truly unique and outstanding in the physical skills department, and RZA is clearly not up to the task.

There are the inevitable comparisons to the films of Gareth Evans and Iko Uwais. The films of Evans/Uwais have always been story and character-driven. Merantau was a quiet beginning, and some felt that Iko was a 'Tony Jaa Lite'. But with each successive film (only 3 so far) he and his team have developed into the biggest action movie force out of Asia now.

In comparison, the Thai action films seem to have hit a wall and become stale. Their strength is definitely NOT in their storylines or acting. Tony Jaa's career took off in the West with a well-deserved bang, but The Protector 2 shows that the years he took off haven't done him any favors performance-wise. And until the Thai MA movies can begin to have good, character-driven stories (the best so far being Chocolate), I believe they will continue to fall further behind.

Enter to win KungFuMagazine.com's contest for THE PROTECTOR 2! Contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 09/04/14. Good luck everyone!

See our Protector-2-winners thread.