Triple Threat (2019)

If art for arts sake is a widely accepted philosophy, then action for action's sake must also be a thing. And while I acknowledge that a visual media like cinema can exist without any didactic need to explain itself beyond its own autotelic value, I prefer to have a little story in my action movies. Triple Threat delivers both, with emphasis on 'action' and the 'little' being literal.
A mission to free Thai prisoners from Indonesian captors ends in a massacre and a double-cross, leaving wronged parties on both sides. What follows is a story of payback involving many squibs and some of Southeast Asia's best martial artists, the kind who prove that well-choreographed action can itself be an art form. The dialogue is mostly English language, with some Chinese and Thai. It's occasionally badly dubbed, but it's tolerable.

2½ local assistants out of 5

Ong Bak 3 (2010)

OB 3 continues the story of OB 2 (2008), so it’s a prequel sequel. It goes something like this: Fight / story / Torture / Flashback / Mystical Bullshit / Fight / Dream / Fight / Flashback / Fight / Fight / Fight /  End.
I noticed partway through that even though it’s an incoherent mess as a standalone film, it begins to make sense when paired with the test of endurance that was OB 2. Whereas it was focussed primarily on aggression, OB 3 is focussed more on spiritual rebirth, both of which are traits found in Jaa’s character in the original film (2003). It managed to make OB 2 relevant! Was that the plan all along? It doesn't change the fact that separately both films are unsatisfying, but when viewed as two halves of a whole they at least help prop each other up.

1 sharp elbow out of 5

Warrior King 2 (2013)

aka Tom-Yum-Goong 2 / The Protector 2

Warrior King (2005) had some minor use of green screen but the stunts performed in front of it were dangerously real. The sequel uses the screen often and goes further by adding wire-work. There’s no law that says Tony Jaa can’t use wires, but his insistence that they not be used in previous films was what made him exceptional, like Jackie Chan. Remove the exception and you’re left with a great martial artist in a movie that isn't as far removed from Hollywood action as it ought to be; it’s just sweatier.
It’s worth watching to see Jaa and JeeJa Yanin together, though. More of that, please, but in a better film next time.

2 fiery feet out of 5

Warrior King (2005)

aka Tom-Yum-Goong / The Protector 

Most kids have a bunny or a puppy. Kham has an elephant. His love for his tusked companion sees him travelling from Thailand to Australia, where his mental state and martial arts skills are tested to the max.
The first half is hit and miss, I could've happily lived without the James Bond style boat chase and the bad CGI dream sequence, but the second half is an unforgettably violent and emotional journey that’s exhausting to watch. There’s a single unbroken fight scene lasting almost four minutes that really needs to be seen to be believed.

NOTE: My version (shown above) runs for approx 106 mins (PAL). The International Cut is shorter. Avoid the US Theatrical cut at all costs.

4 bone crunching sounds out of 5

Ong-bak (2003)

OB is a showcase for lithe Tony Jaa to demonstrate his Muay Thai skills to the world, all of which were achieved without the aid of wires.
It paints its characters mostly black or white, making the simple village folk noble and kind and the city folk selfish and Godless, but there’s just enough depth beneath that to make you care about Jaa and his do-or-die quest. The additional subtext about the power of spiritual belief to invigorate and encourage the individual stops the plot from teetering over into the two-dimensional abyss that hovers nearby at all times.
It gets face-palm bad when it mimics other directors (that Besson style tuk-tuk chase was a disaster), but it took the first steps in delivering a unique kind of action cinema to the West, one that we hadn't seen before.

3 different angles out of 5

Ong Bak 2: The Beginning (2008)

For about ninety percent of the running time Tony Jaa breaks arms, legs, faces and throats using his fists, feet, elbows and knees. He’ll get adventurous occasionally and use knives, swords, sticks, flails and an old fashioned rock. OB 2 is less of a film and more of a collection of fight scenes thrown haphazardly together. The script remembers in the last thirty seconds, literally, that it’s supposed to be a prequel to the first film, so it adds a weak connection lest we accuse it of cashing in on a name.

1 wiggy finger out of 5