Ong Bak 2

Ong Bak 2 is a Thai action film from 2008. It was directed by Tony Jaa, who also plays the lead role; to complete the film, Panna Rittikrai joined him as a second director. Despite the number in the title, it is not a continuation of the story of the 2003 film Ong-Bak but a standalone prequel. The story is set in Siam in 1431, during the reign of King Borommarachathirat II of the Ayutthaya Kingdom. Tien, the son of a nobleman, is sent to a distant village to learn dance. When Lord Rajasena murders his family, the boy falls into the hands of slave traders. He is rescued by a group of fighters who train him. The film's fight scenes mix several systems at once. Alongside Thai Muay Boran and the weapon art of Krabi-Krabong, they feature Japanese swordsmanship and Ninjutsu, Indian Kalaripayattu, Malay Silat and Chinese martial arts. The weaponry matches: the katana, nunchaku, a chain spear, the Indian talwar and the Chinese jian and dao swords. Elephants also appear in the fight scenes. Tien's story continues in the film Ong-Bak 3 from 2010, made by Tony Jaa and Panna Rittikrai. The third instalment follows directly on from the second and also uses footage that did not make it into it.

Martial arts in this work

Origin

A sequel to Ong-Bak was announced in March 2006, and Tony Jaa took on directing alongside the lead role. Production stalled in July 2008, when Jaa disappeared from the shoot for almost two months and the film was left unfinished. He later stated that work had stopped because the studio Sahamongkol Film did not release the financing promised in the contract; this is his own explanation, and we did not find independent confirmation of it in the sources. So that the film could be completed, Panna Rittikrai joined the project as director; he led the stunt team that had once discovered Jaa. The film premiered in Thailand in December 2008.

Fact and fiction

The film sets its story in a real historical framework: Siam in 1431, during the reign of King Borommarachathirat II of the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The characters of the story, the hero Tien and his adversary Lord Rajasena, are however fictional, and we did not find a historical model for them in the sources. The film's lead actor has genuinely trained in the Thai martial arts it shows. From the age of ten, Tony Jaa practised Muay Thai in a temple, and later he also trained in taekwondo, Muay Boran and the weapon art of Krabi-Krabong. We have not been able to establish clearly from the sources who led the fight choreography of this particular film.

People and martial arts

• Tony JaaDirector
• Panna RittikraiDirector
• Tony JaaActor — as Tien· Muay Boran (real practitioner)

Series