Ong-Bak

The head is stolen from a Buddha statue in a Thai village, and the villagers pool their money to send Ting to Bangkok. He ends up in underground fight rings trying to get it back. The film's entire capital is Tony Jaa's body. He had trained in Muay Thai since childhood and built the choreography with Panna Rittikrai. Its most discussed feature is the absence of wires and computer effects; everything is actually done, and that became a direct selling point internationally. Showing several takes of the same stunt over the opening credits is deliberate too: it proves to the audience that this really happened. On a 1.1 million dollar budget it grossed 20.1 million worldwide and made Jaa an international star. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 85 percent, with critics reaching for Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan as comparisons. Two prequels followed, Ong Bak 2 in 2008 and Ong Bak 3, both directed by Jaa. Who it is for: anyone who wants fight choreography with nothing between them and it. Who it is not for: viewers looking for a script. The story is a pretext and the characters are paper thin.