Nice effects though.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

As Oscar Wilde (sort of) observed, to lose one elephant may be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose a second looks like carelessness. This is the case for Kham though, when his elephant is stolen and he sets off to track it down, bringing him into the world of fighting, gangs, and international terrorism. Perhaps this sentence is a bit general for a 0plot description, but to be fair it is probably as much as it deserves since the narrative is such a mess. To start talking about plot though is probably the wrong move because very few people would be coming to a Tony Jaa film looking for a great story – really we're looking for great action, and anything else in support of that is a bonus.Problem with this film is that the action is pretty weak throughout. It is not down to a lack of it, it is just that it does lack a reason to care, and it seems too chaotic in terms of what is happening and why it is happening. Surprisingly the film seems to limit the times the (mostly) talented cast can show off their skills in really well choreographed sequences, but the real issue is down to the technical delivery of the action. The use of CGI and greenscreen is as heavy as it is awful; as the credits show, even interior shots are done with complete greenscreen backgrounds, and it is never not obvious. This means that almost every scene feels disconnected from reality and wobbly – and when additional CGI is used it just makes it look worse. The use of music and sound effects is also generally not great; neither have great crafting in their design and they add to the feeling of this being a generally subpar effort. Editing is also a factor in the film feeling messy, with some sequences appearing to jump back to similar footage or be out of sequence.The performances are understandably not great. Jaa continues to be striking when it comes to physical movement, but as a leading man he struggles not to be overshadowed by his own elephant. Wongkhamlao hasn't got much to do here, and aside from a few jokes generally seems to be here because the sequel needed him. RZA is a nice bit of casting in theory, but his performance is (as always) limited and he doesn't make a great villain. As fighters Crump and Phongam are good presences but the film never really gets great sequences from them. At lower levels, performances are otherwise poor – par for the course in some ways.I do not follow martial arts closely enough to say if Jaa's career is really stalling as much as this film would suggest, but for sure this is a poor film. That it is poor in certain areas (plot, performances) is perhaps not a big deal, but the weak action sequences and the heavy use of poor technology is what really kills the film.

The sequel to the amazing action piece The Protector fails on every level. Tony Ja is slowly killing his career and needs to get back to basics. There is no need to mention plot because that is not why you watch a movie like this. You want action-packed fight scenes that 1 - up its predecessor not fake CGI! It looks bad and is acted even worst.The first movie was simple, put Tony Ja against tough bad guys and get the hell out of his way! You don't need terrible actors trying to play BAD @$#%@* when we no there not like that in real life (RZA). AVOID!!! AVOID!! AVOID!! and go rent The protector if you want to see Tony Ja show what he can really do!

Uh oh. Someone took Tony Jaa's elephant again. Bad assery is sure to ensue. Unfortunately, it was the worst rapper turned actor since 50 Cent, The Rza that took the adorable pachyderm. Lucky for us, their heavily cut and right down awkward fight sequence doesn't come until the very end. There is actually an unintentionally hilarious shot of the Rza giving the audience his evil face as he chokes his own cohort out of anger. But bad acting aside, you have to put it aside or you wouldn't watch this, this film is entertaining. Jaa comes through once again with some awesome martial arts sequences, if only in spurts. The first hour of the movie is nothing but a series of movie stunts put together. Some of them go on a bit too long, particularly a series of stunts where he is fighting guys on motorcycles and motorized scooters. Why they don't get off the the motorcycles is unexplained, but there's a lot of amazing physical stunts in there. There are some stunts that are a bit heavy on cuts and obviously lacking continuity. This is a result of piecing tons of cuts together, including annoying ones where it's just a fist flying at the camera. But when Jaa is going full throttle it's pretty exhilarating. Don't bother with the plot, or figuring out how Jaa's character survives a fall off a sky scraper, because it makes no sense. Just know Tony Jaa really wants that elephant back, and he's going to kick butt to get him. Again.

There are few redeeming qualities to this film. The action sequences are a pale imitation of the crisp and fluid scenes we have come to expect since Ong Bak and the original Tom Yum Goong. Some of it verges on slap stick and the spectacular stunts we associate with Tony Jaa are replaced by B-movie special effects.This is compounded by a script/story that barely makes sense. Events just occur randomly - the entire bike fight for one - whilst the bad guys are pathetic caricatures. RZA's street pimp style performance is just plain ridiculous.There are only 2 things of any value in this film. The occasional witty interjection by Mark (Petchtai Wongkamlao) with his funny one liners and the beauty of Yayaying Rhatha Phongam. Beyond that, even the most die hard Tony Jaa fan will find it very tough to sit through this one.With an ever increasing global library of action films from which to select, this one should be considered scraping the bottom of the barrel. You are better off watching or re-watching almost anything else - especially one of Tony Jaa's other films. Tom Yum Goong 2 makes Ong Bak 3 look like a master piece by comparison.