Urbanite thieves steal the head of a revered Buddha image from an upcountry village temple, where a mass ordination ceremony is scheduled to take place a week later. It becomes the task of villager Boonting (Phanom) to track the thief down to Bangkok and reclaim the religious treasure.
In Bangkok, Ting gets inadvertently involved in unlicensed fighting, organized by the Ong Bak thieves, in a warehouse in a dingy alleyway off Khaosarn Road. These illegal gatherings provide ample opportunity for Phanon to show off his skills and while muayboran proves a more stylish spectacle than the blunt harshness of muaythai, the action is often uncomfortably realistic; you'll be flinching in your seat as another crunching knee strike connects alarmingly with some anonymous scrappers jaw. The illegal gatherings also pit Ting against a motley crew of foreign challengers, giving Thai audiences a kick from watching their countryman mete out fierce physical punishment to a bunch of unseemly farangs. "
