It's Just Movies

— by JESSIKA OWENS —

When you hear the word Thailand, is your first thought Tony Jaa? Or even martial arts? My guess is that for the majority, neither Tony Jaa nor martial arts are what the word Thailand evokes. When most people think of martial arts films, China and Japan, Lee and Chan are the promising commons that spring to mind. That being said, Thailand has brought us the “Ong Bak” films, with the third installment coming up.

The first two films were ripe with amazing action/fight sequences and the trailer for the third film promises nothing less. I fear, as with any sequel or prequel, that it will not live up to the originals standards as far as storyline goes. If “Scream” has taught us anything, it’s that sequels are expected to have more blood and gore, and part three is usually a flop (hopefully, “Scream 4” can redeem the series a little bit).

I hope the curse of the third movies doesn’t afflict this franchise. There have been successful third part-ers; “Rush Hour 3,” for example — which in my opinion was just as good and funny as the first and second films. And I’m not just using that film as a comparison because Jackie Chan was a lead, and, by default, a contrast to Tony Jaa. “Return Of The Jedi” is my favorite film out of the “Star Wars” saga. So there is hope “Ong Bak 3” can become a positive addition to the series and not fall upon a crooked cliche of Hollywood trilogies.

As for Jaa, I give props to anybody who writes, produces, directs AND stars in a film (tip your hats to Mr. Eastwood). “Ong Bak 3” looks exciting to me — the fight scenes look really well done and creative. I’m the kind of girl who likes to see people get their faces punched in during a film and this flick definitely appears to smash some faces! I don’t want to get my hopes up too much for this one, but I can definitely give it a shot.

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Follow Jessika Owens on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jessika.