Gravity is not only the Law but a good idea Tony Jaa!

For all the annoyances Tony Jaa's movies have caused me, they're just so damn entertaining I can't dislike them.

You Knew Tony Jaa would win. He knows how to play his character the other guy is just mashing buttons!

Did you know, Enzoblue, there's a term amongst fighters in MMA for somebody who is hoping to win by some quick lucky break rather than any superiority of technical or physical ability? It's called taking a puncher's chance.

And yes, that comes straight from boxing. In boxing, sometimes there are lucky hits, and sometimes no, you can't overcome them. Because every so often even a high level fighter will look the wrong way for a split second or bob when he should weave and just by chance, just from pure random chance, the can that he is supposed to be destroying takes a massive swing and gets the flash KO. And the champ will hit the mat, and he won't get up. Will and spirit and whatever else you want to say has no part in it, the man is unconscious.

So when you're talking about MMA, understand that fighters often consider standup striking to be a far riskier prospect, in that there is a higher chance that an inferior opponent will catch a lucky punch KO than a lucky sub.

As for this: "That's not fighting the way anyone wants, we want epic battles decided by brute force and technique and spirit." I have already addressed the fact that submission fighting is just as much a measure of technique, spirit, and athleticism as other aspects of the MMA game. And what exactly is "fighting the way anyone wants"? Do you think MMA fights are supposed to look the way people imagine they should, or more to the point, the way you imagine they should? They aren't, that's what Tony Jaa flicks are for. If you want to watch good fights the way they happen realistically between real experts, then go to an MMA match.

One of my coaches quoted after somebody commented about what he believed was a lucky win, "Luck is the intersection between opportunity and preparation." Sometimes inferior opponents catch lucky hits and lucky subs. That's the sport. The good guy doesn't always win. There is always the uncontrollable variable of luck, but the good fighters train so every other variable, be it strength, endurance, speed, power, whatever, is under their control.

In all honesty, I'm just repeating the things I said in my above post, but it's not clicking for you, I think because you don't have the experience or knowledge to dig what I'm saying. If one day you look deeper into MMA or even better take a crack at training it, you will be in a better position to judge. But until you do, and until you are, understand that I believe you are demeaning the sport by making ignorant assertions about what styles of fighting are "cheesy" or cheap, and what truly requires strength of heart.

P.S. As for groin strikes, if they were allowed, the sport would in all likelihood not be reduced to groin snipers. As Matt Thornton would say, adding a single strike does not affect the delivery systems that form the base for good fighters. Submissions, on the other hand, are not single attacks, they are a range of attacks, and thus are part of that base. It's the same as training for a self-defense type of situation: learn the gameplan, develop a base, then just add dirt.

Just FYI, this is not Ong Bak 2 but Tom Yum Goong retitled The Protector for the US market. Tony Jaa has started work on Ong Bak 2 in October 2006, with a scheduled release date of late 2007.

Just FYI, the voiceover that Tony Jaa recalls says: "The most important part of an elephant's foot is the achilles tendon. If they are destroyed, the elephant will fall."

Which is why he goes on to beat the heck out of the muscle dudes' joints.

I've been waiting for years for this guy to hit US shores. I never thought anyone could fill the void Jackie Chan left when he went hollywood...but I was wrong. Never has martial arts talent and acrobatics been so seamlessly combined. The movies are actually quite terrible by any standard, but watching Tony move is more than enough to carry the films. Tony Jaa is the real deal and just one of many reasons I love Thailand.

Tony Jaa has some real talent, yes. Everyone can agree on that. But why would you pick Fall Out Boy as the music for this? Yes, it is a pretty good song for some, but c'mon...who thinks of that song when they see some guy kickin' the crap out of people? It's like playing Michael Bolton and break dancing to it...what would that be like?...I wonder...

The movie was called Tom yum goong in asia. In america, it was called The protector, and in the uk, warrior king.. at no point, has it been officially called ong bak 2(well, that was the working title for it in thailand). Tony Jaa is filimg another film, currently called Ong Bak 2 aswell, however, hasn't been released yet, or given an official name.

Nice to hear a voice of reason around here.

In reply to your comment:
“Tony Jaa would be the first guy to say that what he does in the movies isn't 'real' Muay Thai - I've seen a couple of interviews with him where he's pointed it out. Some of it is a reasonably fair representation, but the acrobatics and the jumping kicks are much more akin to wushu, capoeira, free running, or tricking.

The guy has an undeniable talent, and I really loved Ong Bak. The Protector (aka. Ong Bak 2) had some great fights, particularly the 5-6min one-shot scene that southblvd mentioned. The problem with The Protector was that it was seriously malnourished on plot - even by the (not high) standards of martial arts movies.”

Tony Jaa would be the first guy to say that what he does in the movies isn't 'real' Muay Thai - I've seen a couple of interviews with him where he's pointed it out. Some of it is a reasonably fair representation, but the acrobatics and the jumping kicks are much more akin to wushu, capoeira, free running, or tricking.

The guy has an undeniable talent, and I really loved Ong Bak. The Protector (aka. Ong Bak 2) had some great fights, particularly the 5-6min one-shot scene that southblvd mentioned. The problem with The Protector was that it was seriously malnourished on plot - even by the (not high) standards of martial arts movies.

geek? wtf.

Tony Jaa's got some even more over the top moves in his movies, like Ong Bak II where he jumps off a roof of a building to deliver a flying knee to the face of a man hanging from a rope attached to a hovering helicopter some distance away. Yea that was serious shit.

Tony Jaa rocks my socks.

VERY good job.
Bruce Lee was the man...
Hopefully Tony Jaa will be able to live up to him.

Yeah, best action movie I'd seen - and I've seen a lot. Check out the scene's making if you have the chance - it's one straight scene with no cuts as Tony Jaa runs and leaps and jumps in practice.