Bad timing?

Ongoing building work of the Khmer palace used in Ong Bak 2

A brand new film just released in Thailand and wowing the martial arts fans in that country is Ong Bak 2, a vehicle for leading man Tony Jaa, who's also the director, to further display his athletic fighting prowess and for him to expose a mix of Khon Dance and Muay Thai kick-boxing to his audience. However, he has chosen to do so using Khmer imagery from the 15th century and part of that backdrop includes a 25-million-baht replica of an ancient Khmer palace, known as Prasat Nagara of Deva (Pavilion of God's City) which took two years to build on a plot of land in Rayong province. Jaa himself is a native of Surin, in northeast Thailand, so he's familiar with ancient Khmer ruins in that part of the country. I'm not sure its such a bright idea with the current frosty relationship between Thailand and Cambodia for an action movie like this to hit the theatres using such an obvious Khmer backdrop - and thank goodness they didn't build an exact replica of Preah Vihear or all hell would've been let loose, but if one of the theatres here in Cambodia is scheduled to show the film, they might want to rethink that strategy in the current climate!