Mission Hunter 2

With Tony Jaa tucked away in a Buddhist temple for the foreseeable future (at least until his current acting contract expires, I suspect), fans desperate to see more of the Ong Bak/Warrior King superstar in action will probably turn to his earlier movies to get their kicks. My guess is they'll be more than a little disappointed, especially with Battle Warrior (AKA Mission Hunter 2), an extremely inept low-budget effort in which Jaa appears only for a scant few minutes. despite his picture (a still pinched from Ong Bak!) dominating the DVD cover.

The film's daft plot sees a team of tough mercenaries hired to rescue an explorer who has been captured by evil despot General Jang, who believes that his prisoner knows the whereabouts of a valuable golden stone. After travelling through dense jungle inhabited by the deadly Black Goblin tribe and a fearsome martial arts zombie (played by Panna Rittikrai), the mercenaries come face to face with Jang's elite Panther squad, led by bad-ass Mo Sah (Jaa).

Jaa's brief acrobatic fight against another of Jang's men is easily the highlight of the film, although it pales in comparison with any of the action scenes from his better known films; the remainder of Battle Warrior fails to impress in any way, although the over-dramatic score, which reaches a crescendo early on and never abates, is good for a few unintentional laughs, as is the explosive final battle in which all the good guys fire their weapons with deadly accuracy, whilst Jang's men couldn't hit a barn door at five paces.