This film made Tony Jaa's career but even so I still can't think of another film that he has been in. Martial arts are selective to a culture and unfortunately it isn't a culture that has truly taken off in this country yet. There are some absolutely genius martial arts films that are well known such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but there really aren't that many unless you are a fan of them and by a fan I mean that you actually regularly watch them.
Ong-Bak is a Buddha statue that gets deformed and decapitated when thieves cut off the head of the statue. A villager called Ting (Tony Jaa) attempts to relocate the statue and bring it back to his village by travelling to Bangkok, beating the underground fighting king and working for a crime lord. Don't question the methods, only question the martial arts, choreography and relentlessness of Ting to get back the Buddha statue. Muay Tai is a specific type of martial arts that is subjective to Thailand, you wont find it anywhere else in the world and you are unlikely to see a lot of films with this type of martial arts in it.
I would assume that those who have kept reading to this point are serious fans of martial arts and actually know a lot about this film. This is another film that you have to watch subbed and please don't watch it dubbed because dubbed is painful for everyone. So if you are a fan of martial arts films then watching this is essential to help you distinguish between martial arts from different cultures and countries. It's not just the name but actually knowing what they look like and how to recognise them. There is always a twist in the plot and nothing can go smoothly because there are always more enemies to fight and more people who are convinced that one style of fighting is better than the other, however, if you are looking for a reason to watch this film then watch it for the perseverance of Ting and just witnessing how important that statue of the Buddha is to him and his village.
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