Tony Jaa still impresses with his action skills. It would not be a stretch to say he is the best action star who can really do the action around right now. If it's watching people who can really move and fly around the screen (or run on top of a herd of moving elephants) that floats your boat, this film is not going to disappoint.
A shell of a story is about the son of a Thai general on the run from a murderous leader after the slaughter of his family. The boy is adopted by a band of "pirates" and grows up to be their second in command as well as an unstoppable martial artist. Of course he's set on revenge.
Beautiful photography, set design and production values make this an entertaining film despite the fact that it's really a set of impressive action scenes strung together. Tony Jaa's character speaks very, very little in the film and most of the other characters are visually interesting but emotionally very sketchy. Occasionally the film veers into strange places, the elephant herd scene and another scene with what seems to be a fanged beast woman. Jaa likes to have his characters roar with animal sounds at times. He also is clearly paying homage to other great martial art films but with all his talents I would really like Jaa to forge his own style instead of constantly imitating the past. This was also a problem with his previous film. The times he sticks with Thai martial arts are some of the best in the film.
With a cliffhanger ending, there seems a sequel in the works. Jaa's direction is assured and the film has a good style but I hope he works on the story for the next one. Recommended.
A shell of a story is about the son of a Thai general on the run from a murderous leader after the slaughter of his family. The boy is adopted by a band of "pirates" and grows up to be their second in command as well as an unstoppable martial artist. Of course he's set on revenge.
Beautiful photography, set design and production values make this an entertaining film despite the fact that it's really a set of impressive action scenes strung together. Tony Jaa's character speaks very, very little in the film and most of the other characters are visually interesting but emotionally very sketchy. Occasionally the film veers into strange places, the elephant herd scene and another scene with what seems to be a fanged beast woman. Jaa likes to have his characters roar with animal sounds at times. He also is clearly paying homage to other great martial art films but with all his talents I would really like Jaa to forge his own style instead of constantly imitating the past. This was also a problem with his previous film. The times he sticks with Thai martial arts are some of the best in the film.
With a cliffhanger ending, there seems a sequel in the works. Jaa's direction is assured and the film has a good style but I hope he works on the story for the next one. Recommended.