2. The Protector
Tony Jaa is some sort of superhuman. Thats the only explanation Ive got for a man who seemingly cant eat his breakfast without elaborately beating up a crowd of goons. His films especially Ong-Bak are an absolute riot, and until last years The Raid I dont think anything could touch him in contemporary cinema for sheer, balls-out entertainment. Nowhere is this more apparent than in The Protector is his brand of ass-kickery more apparent than the Protector, but on the face of it, this fight scenes doesnt seem too different Tony turns up somewhere, bad guys crowd him and then Tony brings the pain. But the amount of bones broken in the fight scene at the start of the third act is nothing short of wince-inducingly remarkable. We know were in for a treat when he doesnt actually fight for a while, instead choosing to let a bunch of people half-heartedly kick him while he deals with how distraught he is about stumbling across the bejewelled bones of Por Yai, an elephant he was supposed to protect. Then somebody makes the classic bad guy mistake of stabbing him, causing Tony to fly off the handle and brutalise absolutely everything put in front of him. Its an amazing watch but an uncomfortable one too, and thats got everything to do with the meaty sound effects which accompany every single break and snap as his character Kham makes his way through the hired goons with a brutality you've not seen before. This is brutality for entertainment, and youve got to be impressed by the sheer choreography that goes into this hes like a whirling dervish of pain, ready with a throw, a lock and an orthopaedist on call. Its just awesomely, awesomely brutal, and one of the more brilliant ways Jaa has faced down an army of goons.