"King of the Ring" movie

Year: 2004

Genre: Action/Thriller/Crime/Adventure

Region: Thailand

Production Company:

Language: English/Thai

Release Date: Thursday, 2004-02-19

English Title: Ong-Bak

Alternative Titles: The Thai Warrior / Muay Thai

Screenplay: Panna Rittikrai / Prachya Pinkaew

Director: Prachya Pinkaew

Starring: Tony Jaa

Statistics: Subscribed by 43 people

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368909 (7.2/10 from 38,048 users)

Synopsis:

A young man with extraordinary skills, Tin (Tony Jaa), lives in a peaceful village called Batu in Thailand. He has been studying Muay Thai since he was a child under the guidance of his master. One night, a delinquent youth named Bangtan injures Tin's master and steals the head of a Buddha statue that the villagers revere. Entrusted with the hopes and expectations of the villagers, Tin embarks on a journey to find Bangtan and retrieve the Buddha head. After much effort, he locates his fellow villager Hanlai who is making ends meet in Bangkok, only to find out that Hanlai is just a money-grubbing thug with no intention of helping. Instead, Hanlai takes advantage of Tin’s fighting skills to make money in underground black-market boxing rings. Tin becomes renowned in the black-market boxing scene but remains preoccupied with retrieving the Buddha head from his village. Determined to follow through, he continues his investigation. Inevitably, he finds himself up against a notorious group of artifact criminals, leading to a series of intense confrontations...

This film won the "Asian Action Unit Award" at the 6th Deauville Asian Film Festival in France in 2004 and the Orient Express Award at the Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival in 2003.