Ong-Bak

Ong-Bak is a Thai action film centred on a young man named Ting, who has been trained in the martial art of Muay Thai at a rural temple. When the head of a Buddha statue the villagers revere as their protector is stolen, Ting is sent from his village to Bangkok to recover it. There he encounters a criminal underworld connected to the theft and must fight his way toward the relic's return.

The film was released in 2003 and marked Prachya Pinkaew's first turn as director; he went on to make The Protector, Chocolate, Elephant White and The Protector 2. Suphachai Sittiaumponpan wrote the screenplay, and Pinkaew produced alongside Sukanya Vongsthapat and Somsak Jiewsuwan. Tony Jaa stars as Ting, with Petchtai Wongkamlao, Patrarin Punyanutatam, Suchao Pongwilai, Choomporn Theppitak and Cheathavuth Watcharakhun among the credited cast of thirty-two; fifty-nine crew members are credited. Made for about one million dollars, it went on to take roughly twenty million worldwide, a return that far outweighed its modest production cost. Audiences rate it 7.2 out of 10 on both IMDb, from around eighty-one thousand votes, and TMDB, from a much smaller base of roughly two thousand. Critics' reviews give it 7 out of 10 from 106 reviews, broadly in line with those audience scores.