Magnet Releasing | Release Date: May 2, 2014
4.7
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5
lordslayerJun 28, 2014
Thai martial-arts maestro Tony Jaa’s newest film overloads on terrible F/X that rob the film of the actor’s usual brute-force balleticism.

Ong Bak and The Protector were AMAZING. This movie is the opposite of what made him popular in the
Thai martial-arts maestro Tony Jaa’s newest film overloads on terrible F/X that rob the film of the actor’s usual brute-force balleticism.

Ong Bak and The Protector were AMAZING. This movie is the opposite of what made him popular in the first place. 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.
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4
quincytheodoreJan 22, 2015
Tony Jaa is undeniably one of the best action stars we have today. His stunt is mercilessly violent, delivering each devastating blow with pinpoint accuracy. The main reason The Protector 2 is such a letdown is because the film lacks theTony Jaa is undeniably one of the best action stars we have today. His stunt is mercilessly violent, delivering each devastating blow with pinpoint accuracy. The main reason The Protector 2 is such a letdown is because the film lacks the usual crisp stunts, then replaces them with a lot of CG and poorly made 3D effect. The plot is abysmal, not that most of his work offer complex story anyway, but with less than stellar action, it’s harder to overlook the faults in narrative.

Story follows Kham (Tony Jaa) as he tries to rescue his elephant buddy once again, but this time he's involved in illegal fighting ring, a murder investigation and a conspiracy to throw nations into war. There is so much going on without any decent explanation. People are literally popping out of nowhere, it has no start up or careful development of any kind. This is almost like a flash mob, but instead of dancing they just fight randomly.

Many sequences are dubious, there is barely any transition between a scene and the next one. Kham might run in rooftops, climbing buildings, and then suddenly fighting thugs in a warehouse of some sort. It's simply not coherent enough to establish foundation for solid storyline. Characters are strictly shallow, an unfortunate misuse of RZA and Yanin "Jeeja" Vismitananda (Chocolate). With them in the cast, the characterization could have had more range, but director Prachya Pinkaew didn't capitalize the actors efficiently.

Fight scenes are sadly watered down with CGI. Some wire stunts are acceptable, but there is considerably more special effect in play. Granted, CGI will ensure less injury since they deal with dangerous hardwares, but this is not the direction Tony Jaa movie should go as his main selling point is the brutal unadulterated fist of face contact. Instead the movie goes to unimpressive 3D effect of throwing projectile into the screen, it is the farthest thing from improvement. Some acts are even borderline unintentionally funny.

Nevertheless, the fight is still top-notch and better than most action films, however that alone will not be enough to overcome its many horrible flaws.
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