History Film / OngBak

* IncendiaryExponent: Ting (played by muay thai expert Tony Jaa) kicks a [[{{Mook}} mook]] in the head with his legs on fire. Jaa did his own stunts.

* JerkassVictim: Big Bear. He is unnecessarily violent towards anyone he pleases, particularly offensive towards women, and seems to like bad mouthing Thai people. While all of the villains in the film are pretty much [[{{Jerkass}} jerkasses]], Big Bear, by backhanding a Thai waitress, is the first to get Ting to finally put aside his Buddhist/pacifist ways and get kicking.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first Ong-Bak is the only movie set in the present, while the sequels are both period pieces.

* ManOnFire: Ting kicks a man in the face while his legs are on fire. He then puts them out in a barrel of water. (Note: Tony Jaa, who had previously been a stuntman, did his own stunts for the film. Damn.)

The debut film of Creator/TonyJaa, showcasing his "no-strings-attached'' (as opposed to WireFu) style of martial arts cinema, and brought muay moran to the attention of global media.

* TheDreaded: Mad Dog. When he came into the ring, the announcer didn't even bother introducing him, he just went "[[OhCrap Oh God, Mad Dog!]]" and ran away.

''Ong Bak 3'' concludes Tien's story, and ties both movies with the first.

!! ''Ong-Bak'' contains examples of the following tropes:

!! ''Ong-Bak 3'' contain examples of the following tropes:

* AllThereInTheManual: Bhuti Sangkha's complete name is never said on screen. Rajasena only calls him a "crow" (not without reason, as "Bhuti Sangka" literally means "Ghost Crow").
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: We see what an utter bastard Bhuti is when he starts killing elephants and drinking their blood.
* BarefootSage: Master Bua ditches his footwear when he becomes a Buddhist monk, and a sign of Tien's newfound spirituality is that he does the same.
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler:The whole climax, a battle in which the returning Tien submits to the rage of watching Pim die, beats down a lot of guards, and dies to Bhuti's spear, turns out to be just a mental vision of what will happen if he ever gives in. In the real battle, knowing his own rage is fueling Bhuti's power, Tien depowers him with his inner peace, humiliates him in hand-to-hand and ultimately defeats him.]]
* BigBad: Rajasena. [[spoiler:Then Bhuti.]]
%%* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve
* CrucifiedHeroShot: Tien gets one or two.
* DentedIron: Tien's body is damaged by torture. When he recovers, he can hardly stand on his own feet.
* DiabolusExMachina: We are never told who or what is Bhuti, only being shown that he is some kind of evil supernatural warrior.
* EnlightenedAntagonist: Though not in a positive light, Bhuti. He sports sutras in his skin, has the statue of a fierce deity and other tantric imagery in his cave, and even appears presiding a spiritual ceremony in Rajasena's flashback with the previous king. This implies his powers are the result of spiritual practice and therefore not evil themselves, with only his twisted, egotistical usage of them being evil (something possible in Buddhist mythology, where even enlightened people can actually fall and become evil).
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers:
** Bhuti can summon ''eclipses'' with the powers achieved through his spiritual practices.
** Tien's fighting style after coming back from his crippling is notably more unrealistic and improbable than his previous muay boran, instead resembling tai chi or kung fu choreographies, with a lot of artistic stances, superhuman deflections and improbable hand throws. This implies his newfound spirituality has granted him a much higher power than his brutish, earthly martial arts ever did.
%%* EvilerThanThou: Bhuti after he [[KlingonPromotion kills Rajasena and becomes the new ruler]].
* EvilIsNotAToy: Rajasena soon discovers that becoming involved with an evil wizard is not a safe activity.
* {{Foil}}: At the end of the film, Tien and Bhuti are specular images: both of them have gained spiritual power, but while Bhuti only acts on his own benefit, Tien has tamed ego and acts on favor of his people.
%%* HonorBeforeReason
* HijackedByJesus: At the end of the movie, intentionally on the producers' part or not, Tien ends up doing a full Moses impersonation: in long robes, barefoot and with a shepherd staff, returning to the place where his people were enslaved to build palaces and temples, in order to challenge their evil overlord and free them.
* HumanSacrifice: The presence of skulls in Bhuti's cave implies he sacrifices people. However, they might also be bones exhumated for ritual purposes, as dharmic esotericism contemplates both things in its most hardcore variations.
* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Mhen, either a madman or a mentally retarded, who also doubles as ComicRelief.
* MindScrew: The final battle can be somewhat confusing.
* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler:Rajasena]] receives this treatments, and for some reason, his severed head keeps talking after being cut.
* OneManArmy: Bhuti as well when he curbstomps Tien's fellow mercenaries and Rajasena's soldiers.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Tien's adopted father Chernang, who killed his real father, allows himself to be killed by Tien both to atone for killing his father and to ensure that the rest of his own family is kept safe.]]
* WizardDuel: In a sort of duel of meditation, Bhuti sends darkness to infect Master Bua, but the latter calmly expels the darkness out of his body through pranayama, coming then to the realization that he must become a monk.

There is a prequel released, called ''Ong Bak 2: The Beginning'', which is far removed from the modern setting of the first and is essentially a Training Montage, a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, and closes with an considerable drawn out QuirkyMinibossSquad battle, involving Tony Jaa's character, called Tien, squaring off against every single "ancient" martial art developed in Asia.

!! ''Ong-Bak 2 & 3'' contain examples of the following tropes:

* BarefootSage: Master Bua ditches his footwear when he becomes a Buddhist monk in ''3'', and a sign of Tien's newfound spirituality is that he does the same.
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler:The whole climax of ''3'', a battle in which the returning Tien submits to the rage of watching Pim die, beats down a lot of guards, and dies to Bhuti's spear, turns out to be just a mental vision of what will happen if he ever gives in. In the real battle, knowing his own rage is fueling Bhuti's power, Tien depowers him with his inner peace, humiliates him in hand-to-hand and ultimately defeats him.]]

* TheBerserker: Tien's fighting style is frighteningly aggressive. In ''2'', he even scratches the face of an enemy after putting him a necklock.
* BulletproofVest: Tien seemingly kills Rajasena by slashing him multiple times on the torso before [[DisneyVillainDeath throwing him off a building]]. Rajasena reappears later and smugly shows his armored vest to Tien.
* BolivianArmyEnding: ''2'' ends in one.

* ContrivedCoincidence: [[spoiler:Rajasena sends Chernang to massacre Tien's family, only that Tien escapes thanks to a loyal vassal. He ends up in a slave circuit, where ''Chernang'' of all people finds and adopts him because he likes his spunk. Naturally, the thing becomes tragic when the truth is revealed.]]

* DentedIron: In ''3'', Tien's body is damaged by torture. When he recovers, he can hardly stand on his own feet.
* DiabolusExMachina: We are never told who or what is Bhuti, only being shown that he is some kind of evil supernatural warrior. His very introduction at the end of ''Ong-Bak 2'' plays it even more straight, as he just comes and kicks Tien's ass up before leaving.

* {{Foil}}: At the end of ''3'', Tien and Bhuti are specular images: both of them have gained spiritual power, but while Bhuti only acts on his own benefit, Tien has tamed ego and acts on favor of his people.
* GenreShift: The second and third movies are a historical martial arts epic.

* HeroicRROD: The marathon village fight in ''2'' takes its toll on Tien and by the end, he can barely stand.
* HijackedByJesus: At the end of ''3'', intentionally on the producers' part or not, Tien ends up doing a full Moses impersonation: in long robes, barefoot and with a shepherd staff, returning to the place where his people were enslaved to build palaces and temples, in order to challenge their evil overlord and free them.

* KarmicDeath:
** [[spoiler: Tien slits the throat of his adopted father with his sword, who murdered his actual father by slitting his throat with a sword. He even acknowledges this fact before Tien kills him.]]
** As a boy, Tien was thrown into a crocodile pit by one of the guards. Years later, when Tien has the guard-turned-slaver at his mercy, he [[IronicEcho repeats the man's words from back then]] ([[FalseReassurance "I will give you a chance"]]) before ordering him [[ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine thrown to the crocodiles]].
* LikeASonToMe: Chernang affectionately calls Tien "My son!"
* MultiMeleeMaster: Tien masters a variety of weapons from different countries growing up and shows his skills with the sword (krabi, jian, talwar, katana, dao), spear, three-section staff and rope-dart.
* MindScrew: The final battle in ''3'' can be somewhat confusing.

* OneManArmy:
** To say the least, Tien is able to curbstomp an entire palace and then an entire village of mercenaries.
** Bhuti as well when he curbstomps Tien's fellow mercenaries and Rajasena's soldiers.
* OnlyAFleshWound: Tien is cut and slashed a lot in the closing, and yet is able to still dodge 99% of the attacks from his enemies.

* TheSvengali: [[spoiler:Chernang, who was working for Rajasena the whole time.]]
* WizardBeard: Chernang's blind seer has one, with matching hair.

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: In ''2'', Tien uses a DDT, a headscissors takedown and a couple elbow drops on occasion.

* BattleOfTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler:The whole climax of ''3'', a battle in which the returning Tien submits to the rage of watching Pim die, beats down a lot of guards, and dies to Bhuti's spear, turns out to be just a mental vision of what will happen if he ever gives in. In the real battle, knowing his own rage is fueling Bhuti's power, Tien depowers him with his inner peace, humiliates him in hand-to-hand and ultimately defeats him.]]

* TheBerserker: Tien's fighting style. In ''2'', he even scratches the face of an enemy after putting him a necklock.

* ContrivedCoincidence: [[spoiler:Rajasena sends Chernang to massacre Tien's family, only that Tien escapes thanks to a loyal vassal. He ends up in a slave circuit, where ''Chernang'' finds and adopts him because he likes his spunk. Naturally, the thing becomes tragic when the truth is revealed.]]

* EnlightenedAntagonist: Though not in a positive light, Bhuti. Aside from sporting sutras in his skin, he is shown meditating and worshipping a murti in a cave with tantric imagery, which implies his powers are the result of spiritual practice and only his usage of them is evil. This is actually recurrent in Hindu mythology, where even demons can gain boons and skills by doing so.
* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Tien's fighting style after coming back from his crippling is notably more unrealistic and soft than his previous muay boran, instead resembling harmonious tai chi or kung fu choreographies, with a lot of forearm slaps, superhuman deflections and improbable hand throws that somehow knock his enemies out. This implies his newfound spirituality has granted him a much higher power than his brutish, earthly martial arts ever did.

* HumanSacrifice: The presence of skulls in Bhuti's cave implies he sacrifices people. However, they might also be bones exhumated for ritual purposes; dharmic esotericism contemplates both things in its most hardcore variations.

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: Tien uses a DDT, a headscissors takedown and a couple elbow drops on occasion.

* BarefootSage: A sign of Tien's newfound spirituality in ''3'' is that he ditches his usual sandals.

* GenreShift: The sequel/prequel is a historical Martial Arts Epic.

* WizardBeard: Chernang's blind sage has one, with matching hair.

* CreatorCameo: Legendary if controversial muay thai trainer Ajarn Yodthong, who served as a consultant for the film, makes a cameo as the man selling cigarettes, which is funny considering Yodhtong is very against smoking in real life.

* AllThereInTheManual: Bhuti Sangkha's name is never said on screen. Rajasena only calls him a "crow".

* BigBad: Rajasena.

* HijackedByJesus: At the end of ''3'', Tien ends up doing a full Moses impersonation: in long robes, barefoot and with a shepherd staff, returning to the place where his people were enslaved to build palaces and temples, in order to challenge their evil overlord and free them.
* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: The apparently mental retarded Mhen, who also doubles as ComicRelief.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Tien slits the throat of his adopted father with his sword, who murdered his actual father by slitting his throat with a sword. He even acknowledges this fact before Tien kills him.]]

* OneManArmy: To say the least, Tien is able to curbstomp an entire palace and then an entire village of mercenaries.

* TheSvengali: [[spoiler:Chernang, who was working for Rajasena the whole time]]
* WizardBeard: Chernang's blind shaman has one, with matching hair.

* HandshakeOfDoom: Ting's third battle in the underground fighting ring is against TheBogan, Big Bear. Initially, Big Bear offers Ting his hand before the match starts. Ting agrees, believing it to be a gesture of honour. Unfortunately for Ting, Big Bear is a cheater, holding an empty wine bottle in his other hand, at which point he uses that handshake as a chance to pull Ting closer and whack his head with said bottle.

* DanceBattler: Ting fights a FunnyAfro taekwondo stylist in the arena.

* [[MixAndMatchCritter Mix and Match Foreigner]]: The second of three fighters that Ting faces in the fight club has a Japanese name (Toshiro) and school uniform, while using a Korean fighting style, having a FunnyAfro hair style... maybe he's trying to represent multiple foreign stereotypes at once.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: We get what an utter bastard Bhuti is when he starts killing elephants and drinking their blood.

* BulletproofVest: Tien seemingly kills Rajasena by slashing him multiple times before [[DisneyVillainDeath throwing him off a building]]. Then Rajasena reappears and smugly shows it off to Tien.

%%* EvilerThanThou: Bhuti after he kills Rajasena and becomes the new ruler.

** As a boy, Tien was thrown into a crocodile pit by one of the guards. Years later, when Tien has the guard-turned-slaver at his mercy, he [[IronicEcho repeats the man's words from back then]] ([[FalseReassurance "I will give you a chance"]]) and orders him thrown to the crocodiles.
* LikeASonToMe: Chernang affectionately calls Tien "My son!"

* EvilerThanThou: Bhuti after he kills Rajasena and becomes the new ruler.

* MultiMeleeMaster: Tien masters a variety of weapons from different countries growing up and shows his skills with the sword, spear, three-section staff and rope-dart.
%%krabi, three-section staff, rope-dart, jian, katana, dao

* TheSvengali: [[spoiler:Chernang.]]

* DiabolusExMachina: We are never said who or what is Bhuti, only being shown that he is some kind of evil supernatural warrior. His very introduction at the end of ''Ong-Bak 2'' plays it even more straight, as he just comes and causes Tien's defeat up before leaving.

* HonorBeforeReason

The debut film of Tony Jaa, showcasing his "no-strings-attached'' (as opposed to WireFu) style of martial arts cinema, and brought muay moran to the attention of global media.

* TheBrute: Big Bear. He's a fighter in the crime boss Komtuan's underground fighting ring who is very big, very strong, [[{{Jerkass}} very unpleasant]], and is both the first opponent to get under Ting's skin and the first to be able to stand up to multiple blows from Ting.