Geek Cheat Sheet: Tony Jaa

With Ong Bak 2 hitting theaters tomorrow, here's a handy primer on the world's next great martial arts star

If you’re not already familiar with Tony Jaa, it’s time to get schooled. Widely hailed as the next Jackie Chan or Jet Li, Jaa is a Thai martial artist who eschews wires and CGI for unaided acrobatics and ass-kickings. He notified the world of his existence with the cinematic elbow to the skull that was 2003’s Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior. This Friday, U.S. audiences will finally get to see the film’s widely praised prequel Ong Bak 2, which has already left Asian audiences (and savvy American kung fu fans who picked up the foreign DVD) wincing with sympathy pains. This period action flick set in ancient Thailand finds Jaa whipping around weapons, flipping off elephants (we mean literally, not that he’s giving them the finger) and delivering artistically executed mass maulings.

If you’ve never seen a Tony Jaa film, check out these YouTube clips so you can intelligently jaw with your friends about what to expect.

Acrobatics: In this Ong Bak chase scene, Jaa executes crazy jumps and actually runs across people’s shoulders. It’s gotta be the shoes.

Endurance: This four-minute fight from Jaa’s 2006 film The Protector has no camera cuts. It was all done in one super-long shot—one super-long shot that took them a full month of preparation to nail.

Brutality: Want to see a preview of the throwdowns you’ll be able to enjoy tomorrow in Ong Bak 2? Begin wincing now.

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