There were numerous stories about on-set problems during the making of Ong Bak 2: The Beginning, so I fully expected Tony Jaa's prequel to his breakthrough film Ong Bak to be a disaster. But while it isn't a patch on the original movie, there are enough inspired moments in this tale of feudal Thailand to sate the appetite of most action addicts.

Ong Bak famously boasted 'no wire-work, no stunt doubles and no CGI', relying instead on the superhuman athleticism of its star Jaa. It gave the martial arts genre a much-needed flying-kick up the backside, while Jaa achieved global fame and found himself compared to the legendary Bruce Lee. Here, he assumes directorial duties as well as starring, with mixed results. But first, a word about the plot. Revenge. OK, that’s that covered. As for Jaa’s directorial chops, his favoured technique by far is slow-motion. In fact, if the film were to play out at normal speed I suspect the running time wouldn’t get too far past the hour mark. There’s so much slowed-down action I kept expecting Sky Sports football commentators Martin Tyler and Andy Gray to pop up and provide a voiceover on the action (‘He’s hit him square in the face with a nunchuck, Martin. If the referee sees that, he’s off’). The script is almost as minimal as the plot and sparse enough to fit onto a certain Premiership footballer’s morally-bankrupt heart.

However, the film is saved by a stirring final act where Jaa unleashes his inner Wolverine and takes on a small army of opponents in berserker mode. His 2005 elephant epic Warrior King concluded in a similar style and it makes you wish he could pace the action better to eliminate the mid-section longueurs that all his movies suffer from. Speaking of elephants, there are prodigious pachyderm stunts here that would liven up the Saturday evening TV schedules if they had to be attempted by unlikeable Z-list celebs. As the song said in Dumbo, I be done seen ‘bout ev’rything when I see Fearne Cotton, Victoria Coren and Piers Morgan running over the backs of stampeding wild elephants.

Ong Bak 2: The Beginning is out now on DVD and Blu-ray (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

Colin Houlson