I saw this movie just right when it came out and saw it again. Both times, I was just bored with the story and found the fighting parts to be silly and kinda boring to watch. When it came to the story, it just felt drawn out and I just didn't have any interest in what was going on. The story is about a guy that loses his elephant by poachers that kidnap and sell the animals for food to rich people. Some may claim, it's the fight scenes that matter for this types of genre. Which in a sense I do agree. But I think there needs to be at least a good enough momentum that excites the viewers. For example, the Transformers movies is primarily about Transformers, but if there is no drive that leads to the action sequences. Than the cause for watching the fights just lacks emotions. Now I am not saying martial arts movies needs a solid story to make it work. But I think what counts, is the transition into the fight sequences. The fight scenes are alright, but nothing really hard-hitting as "Ong-Bak". And like I said the fights aren't incorporated into the story very well and sometimes just seems random and silly. When it came to the twist, it was suppose to be an emotional part of the story. But I just could not get into it, because this movie is lame and silly. This whole movie is basically to showcase Tony Jaa's acrobatic skills and stunts. Which is fine, but the fight sequences were a bit on the dull side. Except that one scene with Tony walking up the stairs while throwing people overboard in just one long shot. But besides that all the other fights just didn't stand out or got me excited. I respect Tony Jaa and I think he is a great practitioner of Muy Thai. However I think it's the hard-hitting aspects of this art that makes it exciting. I guess they try to blend Muy Thai and acrobatics to make it more exciting. But it was done much better in "Ong Bak". I could sort of tell they tried to have a story, but it just isn't integrated very well into the fight scenes.
6/10
6/10