Tony Jaa in Mission Hunter 2!

When Tony Jaa burst on to the martial arts scene with Ong Bak many people mistakenly assumed that he had done just that: burst on to the scene as a fresh new face. What most didn't know was that Jaa had spent years prior to his break out role paying his dues as a member of Panna Rittikrai's stunt crew. And who is Rittikrai, you ask? Unknown outside Thailand until the double blow of Ong Bak - which he wrote and choreographed - and Born to Fight - which he wrote, choreographed and directed - Rittikrai has spent literally decades cobbling together a string of Thai action films on little more than loose change, a piece of string, pocket lint and a willingness to incur severe bodily damage upon himself. The current generation of Thai action stars leaving western audiences with their jaws on the floor? Rittikrai trained them all. But even film scholars would have been hard pressed to tell you who this man was just a few short years ago. He worked fast and cheap and his titles quickly dropped out of print. It is only with the massive international success of his recent work that Rittikrai's vast back catalog is reappearing in Thailand - albeit only on VCD thus far - and among the newly available titles is Mission Hunter 2, a film featuring a young Tony Jaa in an early, villainous, starring role.

Mission Hunter 2 begins with an archaeologist being chased through the perilous jungles of remote Thailand by the heavily armed forces of a heroin producing gang. He has found a priceless artifact - the Golden Stone - and they want it. Bad. His partner is shot but by the time the goons capture him the archaeologist has managed to hide the stone somewhere they will never find it, a fact that condemns him to endless torture as they try to extract the information from him.

Jump forward a year. Pratuang (played by Rittikrai) is a Thai mercenary hired by the missing archaelogist's daughter to return him home safely. After months of dead ends Pratuang has come across a photograph of his quarry, held captive in a bamboo cage deep in the jungle, surrounded by the heroin lord's private army. The odds are heavily against him but Pratuang is not one to turn down a job and so accompanied by his three regular accomplices, teh archaeologist's daughter, one insanely large and heavily muscled white journalist, and a kung fu enabled local guide, the group sets off on their search and rescue mission. But wait! There's more peril! Before even getting to the drug lord's domain they will first have to pass through the land of the Black Ghosts - a hostile, primitive jungle tribe who speak in gibberish sure to leave PC types apopleptic - and, wait for it, a zombie forest! Yes, this film has zombies. Well, zombie, actually, as the budget apparently didn't allow for more than one but he's of the kung fu enabled, decaying flesh variety, so it's all good.

Meanwhile, in the drug lord's remote jungle lair, a trio of high powered global crime bosses are paying a visit. Anxious to show of his power the crime boss brags about his unbeatable fighter Mohsean - played by Tony Jaa - and the visiting Japanese drug lord steps up to try his skills. Mayhem ensues.

Now, before I am accused of over hyping this, let me be very clear: Mission Hunter 2 is not the second - or first, for that matter - coming of Ong Bak. There is nothing here to compare with the level of martial arts work in Jaa's most famous film. The story has plot holes you could drive a truck through and the limited funds are apparent on more than one occassion. However, and this is a big however, Mission Hunter 2 isn't trying to be a big martial arts film. In fact, the more I dig into Rittikrai's back catalog the more obvious it becomes that although Rittikrai does a lot of martial arts in his films, and does them very well, what he really wants to make are big, dumb, early eighties style action extravaganzas in which a great many things blow up in a most satisfying fashion. And for what it wants to be Mission Hunter 2 succeeds and succeeds very well. From the wildly over exuberant score - which I'm sure must have been stolen because there's no way a film with a budget this tight actually paid for a full orchestra itself - to the goofy set pieces, to the grenades and bullets flying everywhere, to the not-Ong-Bak-caliber-but-still-pretty-damn-good martial arts sequences, the film is loaded with goofy, energetic charm. It's like Commando on crack with a bit of The Dirty Dozen and Rambo thrown in. Rittikrai does surprisingly little fighting himself in this, choosing instead to leave the marquee moments to Jaa, the Japanese crime boss, and the mercenary guide, each of whom get multiple cracks at things and each of whom impress.

Now, on to the presentation. This is a VCD release, which is never a good thing. Furthermore, this is a VCD release of an old, low budget film which nobody in their right mind would have ever thought to archive. Thus, it is a cheaply produced VCD. If a good VCD will give you roughly VHS quality, this one gives you the rough equivalent of a second generation dub. Pretty it aint. This is one that looks far, far better scaled down and viewed on a computer monitor than through a DVD player onto a television. Additionally, as is the case with almost all VCD releases, the film is panned and scanned, which hurts very badly on many occassions. Rittikrai is a director who loves to use the whole frame and there are a lot of moments where action is occuring outside the crop lines, which makes the choreography difficult to track and appreciate. There is one major plus, however. The disc is English subtitled, a rarity in the VCD world, and not only that but the subs are overlayed rather than being burnt in to the print. The translations good, and the subs are very easy to read and follow.

Is Mission Hunter 2 a classic? No, not by a healthy margin. It is, however, much more than a simple curiosity. It's a fun, entertaining piece of work that gives an early look at a man destined to be one of the biggest - if not the absolute biggest - martial arts stars of this generation. Word is the exhumation of old Jaa titles for DVD release has already begun, so I can only hope that this will get a better release in the near future. But in the meantime the VCD is only five bucks. Can't go wrong for that.