The A/V presentation is so good that fans of the film will be able to use it to calibrate their home-video systems.
Anderson has simply combined the established iconography of the popular Capcom game franchise with prefab movie moments.
Nicolas Cage’s amusing turn as a kooky hermit with an affinity for newspaper hats often feels awkwardly spliced into the film.
The film is a reminder of the potential of these films before they became weighed down by blockbuster-ready excesses.
The action builds to such a head that even the serious stakes of the film’s motivation give way to pleasant vibes.
There’s no beauty to this film, little rhythm, none of the physical grace that action-film fans crave even if they don’t know they do.
It lays bare that the franchise’s most radical asset is also its most conservative: an overriding emphasis on, above all else, the on-screen family.
The third entry in the trilogy that made Thai martial artist Tony Jaa famous is a very shaggy dog.
Ong Bak 2 is infused with an urgency and relentlessness that few contemporary action films have.
The film isn’t a sequel to Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior, but it’s a thinly disguised retread.