Mission Hunter 2

With Tony Jaa tucked away in a Buddhist temple for the foreseeable future (at least until his current acting contract expires, I suspect), fans desperate to see more of the Ong Bak/Warrior King superstar in action will probably turn to his earlier movies to get their kicks. My guess is they'll be more than a little disappointed, especially with Battle Warrior (AKA Mission Hunter 2), an extremely inept low-budget effort in which Jaa appears only for a scant few minutes. despite his picture (a still pinched from Ong Bak!) dominating the DVD cover.

The film's daft plot sees a team of tough mercenaries hired to rescue an explorer who has been captured by evil despot General Jang, who believes that his prisoner knows the whereabouts of a valuable golden stone. After travelling through dense jungle inhabited by the deadly Black Goblin tribe and a fearsome martial arts zombie (played by Panna Rittikrai), the mercenaries come face to face with Jang's elite Panther squad, led by bad-ass Mo Sah (Jaa).

Jaa's brief acrobatic fight against another of Jang's men is easily the highlight of the film, although it pales in comparison with any of the action scenes from his better known films; the remainder of Battle Warrior fails to impress in any way, although the over-dramatic score, which reaches a crescendo early on and never abates, is good for a few unintentional laughs, as is the explosive final battle in which all the good guys fire their weapons with deadly accuracy, whilst Jang's men couldn't hit a barn door at five paces.

5.5/10 To say Battle Warrior is a Tony Jaa film is like saying the movie adaptation of Cats, was a masterpiece. It's just not!

Obviously sold as a lost Tony Jaa film, much like many of Panna Rittkrai's earlier works due to the explosive success of Ong-Bak, the sequel to his 1988 action film, Mission Hunter, is connected by (original) name only and the fact that it has 2 of its stars back in action. One of them of course, is Panna himself, this time playing the leader of the Black Goblin zombies - a role he played in the 1990 film of the same name; Black Goblins. The other is the German giant, Christoph Kuppel, returning in a similar role to before.

The great Tony Jaa plays a small supporting role as a henchman to a jungle General and cartel boss. Looking very young, stick-thin and sporting a look similar to that of Yuen Biao in Eastern Condors, Jaa still gets to show off some incredible moves highlighting to audiences then, a sneak peek of what was to come. But don't be expecting anything like Ong-Bak. Most of the late Panna Rittkrai's films were always set in the jungle villages, giving them all a very similar storyline, look and feel. Although shot in 1996, Battle Warrior proves to be one of the better ones in terms of production value - although still looks like an 80's film compared to what we were getting from Hong Kong at the same time!

That's not to say its terrible. A team of police and mercenaries set out to rescue a kidnapped, scientific explorer from an evil General and drug boss. Its pretty thin on plot, as they all are, and is simply just an excuse for some nice action. Taking on rebel forces, cannibal's and even zombies, the good guys put on a decent show as they deliver some fun martial arts action, gun-fights and stunt-work, mixed in with elements of horror and fantasy. The last 20 minutes is pretty much non-stop...

Overall: One of Panna's tidier and more entertaining productions before global stardom, Battle Warrior offers unintentional comedy with great jungle action and fight scenes!