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The first film

  • Memetic Mutation: The famous Oner got a minor one with Kajetokun's "Terry Yum Goong", which replaced all the audio with fighting game voice clips and sound effects (Tony Jaa being "voiced" by Terry Bogard, no less) as well as the background music with tracks from Fist of the North Star. This led to a brief period of various offshoots with audio taken from other video game series.
  • Narm:
    • The bad guys attacking Kham while riding motorcycles. They actually try to ram him jousting-style, happily ignoring the fact that they would probably take themselves out as well upon colliding.
    • Kham's opponents in the temple (the capoerista, the wushu fighter and TK) pop out one at a time against him, making it look (even more) like a video game level.
    • TK and the other giant bruisers tossing the baby elephant off the window. The whole thing sounds straight out of a David Lynch film.
    • Kham landing on Por Yai's tusks and somehow getting cushioned by their hard ivory as if they were pillows.
  • Narm Charm: The silliness of the premise, the fights, the plot points and basically everything is part of its charm. Many fans love the movie because of the ridiculousness, rather than in spite of it.
  • One-Scene Wonder: The capoeirista played by Lateef Crowder. Even though his fight scene was cut short due to an on-set injury, it is still one of the highlights of the movie, and the sheer craziness of the character stands out in a film already full of crazy people.
  • The Problem with Licensed Games: Yes, this movie has a Beat 'em Up tie-in game with it, which was forgotten in less than a year because of this trope. It was rather poorly received because of its jerky controls, mediocre graphics, and honestly pathetic attempts to emulate the movie's most iconic scenes. Here's the restaurant level that's supposed to recreate The Oner from the film, by the way.
  • Signature Scene: The Oner at the film's namesake restaurant, Tom Yum Goong Otob. Four straight minutes of Kham fighting his way up through the establishment to reach the VIP area and demolishing every single goon dumb enough to get in his way.
  • Tear Jerker: Kham's breakdown upon seeing Por Yai's skeleton along with the flashbacks of the two of them living together is pretty heartbreaking.
  • Values Dissonance: Madame Rose's transexuality was erased from the American release and a few others. Back in 2005, this was usual, even common, in order to appeal to American sensibilities of the time. Had the omission happened nowadays, with the rise in emphasis on LGBTI representation, the entire film would have been Overshadowed by Controversy — and had it been kept, the film would have been still attacked for featuring a villainous portrayal of a LGBTI person.

The sequel

  • Ensemble Dark Horse: No.2, Marrese Crump's character. Critics were unanimous in that, as badly used as he might've been, he was one of the best parts (if not the best part) of the entire film.
  • Franchise Original Sin: The first Tom-Yum-Goong was exciting and innovative enough in its choreography to make the viewers forget about its rather shallow plot and its overall goofiness. However, the sequel ran with these shortcomings again in an attempt to get the same reaction, which didn't happen a second time because the audience was already accustomed to the style of action scenes that saved the first film.
  • Ham and Cheese: Let's say that RZA has a good time playing LC.
  • It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: A common complain was that its premise was again "Where is my elephant?" just like the first film.
  • Sequelitis: While the first film was liked despite (or because of) its absurdity, Tom-Yum-Goong 2 received universally harsh criticism by fans and pundits alike. They cited its confusing plot, increased amounts of Narm, waste of supporting talents, and poor choreography in comparison with Jaa's earlier films, as well as the fact that Jaa himself abandoned his trademark wireless stunts.
  • Special Effect Failure: It's painfully obvious that some stunts are done in CGI and with the use of green screens.
  • Tear Jerker: Ping-ping when she realizes her sister is dead.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • Ping-ping. She practically has no weight as a character, aside from helping Kham occasionally and/or getting beaten down by any antagonist they are facing, and never really lives up to the deuteragonist role she seemed to have been created to be.
    • No.2. He is a ridiculously tough enemy with an interesting and exotic fighting style, but ultimately receives less development than lamer characters like LC's lover.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The reveal that Kham only fell to No.2 because he was incapacitated by Ping-ping's needle has no effect on the plot — it just undermines No.2's aura as an antagonist in exchange for protecting Kham's Invincible Hero status. Instead, No.2 being portrayed as genuinely stronger than Kham, and Kham having to resort to his smarts to beat him (just like he did in the previous film against the wrestlers), would have made for a better arc.

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