Doing It to Death

The strange contortions of Michael Jackson's "This is It" and Tony Jaa in "Ong Bak 2."

From the moonwalker to the kickboxer: Making the Thai martial-arts epic “Ong Bak 2,” Jackson’s kindred contortionist Tony Jaa drove himself to severe exhaustion in the name of his own highly physical art. But, luckily, Jaa is still alive, allowing us to hope for a third chapter in the outrageously intense and entertaining “Ong Bak” series (or at least a posthumous documentary of the rehearsals for same).

In addition to kicking up a storm as Tien, an orphan bone-snapper seeking bloody revenge against the 15th-century thugs who killed his folks, Jaa toiled on “Ong Bak 2” as co-director, action choreographer, and co-creator of the (wacky) story. Put a mic in his hand and this multi-hyphenate acrobat could probably belt out a helluva “Man in the Mirror,” whereas MJ, even in his prime, would’ve been hard-pressed to jump between stampeding members of an elephant herd, as Jaa does in “Ong Bak 2.”

No offense to the dead. I’m just sayin’, if you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and buy a ticket to Jaa’s movie; you’ll come home happy.

Rob Nelson is our guest critic for the month of October.

“This Is It” opens wide on October 28th for a two-week run; “Ong Bak 2″ is now playing in limited release.

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