After the success of Ong-Bak, there was a lot of pressure on Tony Jaa and Director Prachya Pinkaew to follow up with something equally as impressive.
Tom Yum Goong delivers.
The storyline is virtually identical to that of Ong-Bak - A young Thai villager sets of to retrieve a stolen village icon, in this case two prized elephants.
Of course in a film such as this you aren't watching for the deep and meaningful story, you are watching for the action. It comes by the bucketload, but is a different sort from that of Ong-Bak. There is far less focus on Jaa's stunt ability, with more attention given to his martial arts ability. Muay Thai again plays a big part in Jaa's arsenal but watch and see him diversify to cope with his various opponents.
There are several stunning set peices to be seen here, the center piece being a 4 minute long, single shot - no camera cuts! In this scene Kham (Jaa) is on the hunt for the guy who stole his elephant, and works his way up a multi story building dispensing with multiple bad guys on the way. The choreography is amazing, and it really is a first in martial arts cinema to have a shot like this.
Various other high points in the movie include Kham battling a sword master, a skilled Capoeira fighter, and a bodyguard (Wrestler Nathan Jones) who is literally twice his size. There's also a little Matrix Reloaded moment (think Neo versus all those Agent Smiths) as Kham takes on about 30 or so bodyguards. you've never seen so many broken bones in a single sequence in a movie.
This film was really made for the set pieces, and does them really well, the choreography is top notch. The camera direction is also impressive, and there's a little light humour thrown in here and there.
Anyone who is a fan of Tony Jaa, martial arts or action movies should check this out.
8.5 / 10
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