The Protector 2

I give a 4 only for some serious deadly stunts done by real professional fighters. Other than that the whole movie is a waste of time. I think Tony Jaan has also gained some weight compared to his earlier movies. The roof motor cycle fight was way too lengthy and did not give any thrills. The fight in the warehouse in TYG first part was simply fantastic. There is no comparable fights in this movie. The twin sisters were good with their fights but nothing great to mention in detail about it. Jeeja Yanin was good as usual, but I think she is also completely wasted her talents in this movie. RZA, seriously why? There is only build up and no big effects. Sorry,but was very disappointed.

Disappointed by Tom Yum Goong 2 (The Protector 2).

It is a half-baked movie. The problem I found with this second installment were mostly post-production stuff, e.g. lousy and disjointed music, rough and disjointed cut, bad CGI, bad image composition which make a real stunt looks like a fake stunt.

Yep. If only the movie was left as it was taken without any post- production things (like let the background were green), it might be more enjoyable than this half-finished movie.

The other problem was lack of screen time for Jeeja Yanin. In THE KICK, Jeeja Yanin didn't play the main character yet she stole the screen. Here, she barely exist although she appeared in the final fight.

Once you can get pass through the annoying things, the movie was actually have a better stuff which could make it a way better than Donnie Yen's Special ID.

TYG 2 was actually felt more like the sequel of Ong Bak instead of Tom Yum Goong.

The earlier scene where Tony Jaa taught children three martial art movement based on elephant movement reminded me to the earlier scene of Ong Bak which Tony Jaa exhibit all the movement from Muay Boran. I was excited watching the scene but unfortunately, that idea was developed into action only for .. err.. two fight scenes. The other fight scenes was all-the-stuff-we-have-seen-from-previous-movies.

The bikes-chase-scenes were kind of mixing between Tuk-Tuk chase scene and gambling gang chase scene from Ong Bak. This scene, which should had been great, unfortunately was the most unfortunate scene ruined by those half-finished post-production.

The actor which may gain benefit from this movie was Marrese Crump who played as Fighter #2. I counted there were four fight scenes in which he appeared. The first fight was so and so (He against Tony Jaa, Jeeja Yanin, and another girl). The second one was amazing (he against Tony Jaa). The third one was too fantasy and the CGI were not good. The fourth one, which also the final fight was good although the choreography was so and so.. but it was tense.

If I'm not mistaken, there will be a project, 'FORMLESS', which had him as a star and also collaborate with the same team from Tom Yum Goong 2. I can't wait to watch it but I wish Sahamongkol Film will really take time to finish the post-production as necessary. Releasing this kind of half-baked movie was really a grave mistake.

First off, your eyes will BLEED if you watch this in 3D, and man, I know I am good with 3D. I've been through The Hobbit, Gravity, The Wolverine, and other 3D movies, and I'm fine with all of them and enjoyed them more with 3D.

For the record, I'm a Thai, so I have a chance to see it in cinema in Thailand(of course in 3D). At the time I'm writing, it's the opening week and it's doing great.

Now to the movie.

It's a fun movie that has good action, whatever script, occasionally confusing storyline(but who cares, you come for the action), good acting, and excellent stunts. The action scenes are great for what they're worth, and are fun if you plug out the logic processor in your head.

The only problem I have with it(other than the 3D) is when the story took itself too seriously and the plot starts to get complicated. At one point an action is going on, and the plot is in the same time complicating itself, and I'm like "what the heck is this". My point is, the plot is confusing and complicated when it shouldn't be and might pull you out.

Overall, good action way too much plot.

Rating: 7/10

What has happened to Tony Jaa? I guess Ong Bak and The Protector were lightning in a bottle type moments because his movies are getting worse. This movie is the opposite of what made him popular in the first place. It was him with no wires or CGI, doing amazing stunts and hard-hitting martial arts. This movie not only uses wires, but horrible looking CGI and scenes obviously shot in front of a green screen. Not only does the CGI look bad in this movie but Jaa's fighting abilities seem to have taken a hit too. He looks slower and even a little sloppy at times. JeeJa Yanin is completely wasted in this movie too. Why even put her in the movie just to get beat up most of the time? And the RZA? He took an already bad movie and plunged it to the bottom of the barrel. He's a terrible actor and shouldn't be anywhere near a fight scene. I keep waiting for the magic of Jaa's first two movies to reappear but sadly I don't think that day will ever come.

Story: Ridiculous, boring, tons of plot holes - but who cares, it's got Tony Jaa AND JeeJa Yanin in it, right?

Martial arts choreography: Tony Jaa, half of the time, is running away from something and not fighting back. They could have shown off his great athletic skills but compared to the chase scene in Ong Back it's a joke what they do here. Also the variety of moves is rather small and unimaginative and the only thing that sets it apart from other martial arts movies is that it's Muay Thai. Enter JeeJa Yanin who has shown in her previous movies that she is a force to be reckoned with. In this movie I felt like they didn't really know what to do with her and she has to be saved by Tony's character quite often. They didn't really give her enough room to shine. Here and there you see a hint of what she's capable of but it stays more of a hint. And what's up with all the jumping against walls? I've never seen any other movie where they do kicks and jumps pushing of a wall as often as in this one. a) It gets boring after a while. b) Half the time the person doing it gets thrown or kicked (so you could call it a fail).

As a fan of martial arts I gave it a 5/10 which in my case means it's OK, I didn't fall asleep. I didn't watch it for the story. If you like a movie to also have somewhat interesting story that makes some sense it's more of a 4/10.