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Reviews of Muay Thai Movies

On this page we reviewed the best Muay Thai movies for you. If you're more interested in Muay Thai documentaries, Click here to go to our Muay Thai documentaries review page!

Muay Thai Movies: Beautiful Boxer

Beautiful Boxer is based on a true story of Thailand's famous transvestite kick boxer, Nong Toom, played by Thai kickboxing champion, Asanee Suwan. Nong believes he has been a girl trapped in a boy's body since his youth. He wants to become a Muay Thai champion so that he can make money to pay for a sex change operation. The story is told in an emotional and funny discourse, full of breath-taking Thai kickboxing scenes. Beautiful Boxer tells the story of a boy who fights like a man to become a woman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Muay Thai Movies: Ong Bak (2003)

Ong Bak is the movie which introduced Jaa Phanom Yeerum (Tony Jaa) to an international audience. It tells the story of the orphan, Ai Bak Tim, who lives in a small rural temple where he is been looked over by a local monk and trained in the ancient art of Muay Boran. After thieves one day steal the holy statue from the temple, Ai Bak Tim follows them to Bangkok were he needs all of his spectacular Muay Thai techniques to retrieve the stolen statue.

Unlike the Hollywood and contemporary Hong Kong martial arts exponents of the genre, the director of Ong Bak doesn't try to fool himself that the story is even slightly important. He lets the action scenes follow each other at a rapid pace and makes no effort to disguise the lack of storyline. As a viewer you don't have to worry that you'll miss a stunt, as every stunt is repeated at least twice or shown from a different angle. Highlights include the chase on foot, with Tony Jaa using all his athletic abilities to avoid obstacles, the pursuit by Tuk Tuk (3-wheel mopeds) and the various fights in which Tony Jaa shines.

This movie is a must-see for any Muay Thai fan. With its fast paced bone-crushing Muay Boran moves, the movie reintroduced the almost largely unknown ancient form of Mauy Thai to people outside the Muay Thai community. After this movie, Tony Jaa is mentioned alongside martial art movie stars like Jet Lee and Jackie Chan.

Muay Thai Movies: Ong Bak 2 (2008)

Ong Bak 2 is set in the ancient past and has in terms of storyline nothing to do with the first Ong Bak movie. We already know that Tony Jaa (Jaa Panom Yeerum) is a master at executing spectacular Muay Thai moves. But in this follow-up he demonstrates that he also masters swords, spears, chains and other weaponry like no other!

Teean (Tony Jaa) is the son of a powerful politician. He wants to become a fighter but his parents drop him in a traditional dance school to protect him from violence and to ensure his safety. One day, Teean witnessed how his father and mother got murdered by political opponents. Teean flees into the forest and ends up with Cher Nung, the leader of a pirate clan. Nung teaches Teean the art of fighting, at which he appears to be a natural talent. When he has learned enough, he decides to leave to take revenge on the people who killed his parents.

 

 

Muay Thai Movies: Ong Bak 3 (2010)

Teean (Tony Jaa, who also directed this movie) has lost almost everything he had after his father, stepfather and brothers got murdered. He gets even more devastated when at some point he also loses the ability to perform the martial art for which he trained all his life. He was captured by Lord Rajasena (Sarunyu Wongkrachang) and is sentenced to 13 gruesome tortures and got nearly tortured to death. Due to the care of the villagers, a monk's healing powers, the love of his childhood girlfriend and intense meditation sessions, he comes somewhat back to life. While Teean is recovering, he also tries to get the dark demons in his soul under control. This makes him stronger than ever. He prepares himself to take ruthless revenge on his tormentors.

The fight choreography is spectacular, the action scenes are stunning and the visuals are magnificent. Even though the storyline might be a bit disappointing for some, this movie is still a must-see for all Martial Arts lovers around.

 

Muay Thai Movies: Muay Thai Chaiya

Phao is a young Muay Thai student who lives and trains at a Muay Thai camp in a small Thai rural village. Although he is a skilled Nak Muay, the other fighters in the camp don't respect him, except for his friends Piak and Samaw. When Phao's father returns after having been missing for some time, he takes it on himself to train the three friends so they can compete against the best Muay Thai fighters.

The ambitious Thai director, Kongkiat Komesire, tries to run the different story lines of the three friends simultaneously, but the question by choosing this method is: does every different account come into its own? The story of Piak is probably the most intriguing, as his character keeps developing and you can't see him as completely good or completely evil. It's captivating to see how Piak's character will develop and whether he will make the right choices.

Due to frustration over his career in the official Kickboxing circuit, he comes in contact with the wrong types who talk him into taking part in underground fights which pay well but are morally dubious, especially when he is told to take care of some shady errands. To earn his living he becomes a gangster who kills people. Only when faced by the personal consequences of his line of work, he gets in trouble with his conscience. Meanwhile he has to keep his wife Sripai feel loved and content. This becomes difficult when he falls in love with a sexy dancer at his boss' club. Another complicating factor is that his friend Phao falls in love with Sripai. On itself enough material for a dramatic and action packed Muay Thai movie. The only disappointing factor is that the movie follows a lot of clichés and isn't very surprising. The story line of Phao's character is less interesting but becomes interesting when it starts overlapping with the story line of Piak's character, who tries to right his wrongs in a climatic final fight were he comes to the rescue of his friend with some impressive Muay Chaiya techniques.

Muay Thai Movies: Chocolate

Zen is the autistic daughter of Zin, who is the Thai wife of Yakuza boss, Masashi. When Zin’s ex-boyfriend, the Thai gangster No.8, finds out about the relationship between his ex-girl friend and the Japanese gangster, he forbids her to stay in contact with her lover and the father of her child. When Zen and her mother are forced to move in with a local Muay Thai school, the autistic girl becomes totally fascinated about the art of the eight limps and starts mimicking the moves made by the students. In combination with her highly developed reflexes, she becomes a skilled Muay Thai fighter.

When it becomes clear that Zin is suffering from cancer and needs an expensive chemo treatment,  Zen and her best friend, Moom, start desperately looking for ways to find the needed funds. When the two girls discover a little notebook containing a list of debtors, mainly members of No.8 gang, the girls decide to collect the outstanding debt by themselves to raise the money for Zin’s treatment. With reluctant debtors, the girls discover that Zen’s lightning fast Muay Thai moves are a great way to encourage them to pay their debts to the two girls. Director Prachya Pinkaew, who you might know from the famous Muay Thai movie, Ong Bak, again accomplished to offer Muay Thai fans a high paced action packed Muay Thai movie.

Note: Actress, Jeeja Janin, who played the role of Zen in this movie, did not make use of a stunt double during the shooting of this movie, which resulted in suffering several minor injuries. Some of these scenes are shown in the bloopers at the end of the movie. In this movie you can see the acting debut of the Dutch four-time world champion Thai boxing, Soumia Abalhaya.

Muay Thai Movies: Chok Dee

Chok Dee is the autobiographical story of the French Muay Thai fighter, Dida Diafat, who fought a total of 87 professional Muay Thai fights and won 16 world title fights. The film starts with the main character, Dida, who stays in a French jail where he shares a cell with an older men, who in a past life used to live and study Muay Thai in Thailand. The older man takes the young and restless Dida under his wings and tries to give his life some direction by telling him about his life in Thailand as a Muay Thai fighter. He also teaches Dida some Muay Thai techniques. When Dida leaves the prison at the end of his term, he decides to leave France to follow his new passion, namely studying Muay Thai in Thailand.

When he arrives in Bangkok, he directly takes a taxi to the camp of which his cellmate told him about. Once arrived at the camp, the students and trainers don’t really receive him with open arms. Not speaking the language, Dida finds himself on the streets of Bangkok with no way back. Yet he refuses to take no for an answer from the camp’s owner and is finally allowed to enter the camp, but only to help out in the kitchen and cleaning the gym. After some time he wins the respect of the students and the trainers of the camp by his hard work and dedication and is granted a chance to train at the camp and to become a real Muay Thai fighter. When Dida beats a former champion in his first fight, he earns the name Chok Dee (good luck) boxer.

The second storyline of the movie follows the story of his cellmate, who comes back to Thailand after finishing his prison term in France to find his lost daughter who has been adopted by his former partner in crime. The storyline of the older man is full of clichés which were not needed and only take the overall standing of the movie down. The Muay Thai scenes are quite realistic and shot on location in Thailand. Some of the fights shown in Chok Dee were actually filmed in Bangkok’s Rajadamnern Stadium.

Muay Thai Movies: KickBoxer

This  1989 classic was the movie which introduced Kickboxing to the wider world. The movie starts out when Kurt Sloan (Jean Claude van Damme) and his brother Eric, world champion kickboxing, leave for a title fight to Thailand. When after winning the fight Eric’s Thai opponent, Tong Po, breaks Eric’s back, which will leave him paralyzed for the rest of his life, Kurt swears to avenge this act of unnecessary cruelty.  He agrees to meet Tong Po for a show down in the ring.

Kurt realizes that he will need to train the Thai version of Kickboxing, Muay Thai, if he is ever to stand a chance against the vicious Tong Po.  After some persuasion, Kurt can start his training from the somewhat eccentric Muay Thai master, Xian Chow, who is only willing to train him for his fight on one condition, that he will do anything Chow tells him to do. Most impressive are the training scenes were Chow sets up complicated drills to improve Kurt’s speed and techniques.  His great flexibility in combination with the great locations where these drills were filmed make this movie a joy to watch.

One of the funniest moments in the movie is when Chow takes Kurt into the village where he fills him up with booze and then starts telling the locals that the Falang (foreigner) has been talking bad about them. The final fight takes place on old Muay Boran rules, were Kurt agrees to fight Tong Po with rope-bound hands dipped in glue and glass. 

Muay Thai Movies: Yamada - The Samurai of Ayothaya

The storyline of this movie is based on true historical facts and is the acting debut of K1-Max Champion, Buakaw Por Pramuk.  This movie is full of lightning fast sword play and bone crushing Muay Boran moves.

Yamada Nagamasa is a young Samurai during the Edo period who ended up serving in a Japanese volunteer regiment in the old capital of Siam, Ayutthaya. When a group of Japanese warriors, under the leadership of Kuroda Toranaga and disguised as Hongsawadee soldiers (the arch rival of Ayutthaya), beset the city, Yamada gets injured fighting off the attackers and is taken to a priest by a group of Thai warriors.

The priest mumbles a spell over Yamada during his healing process which gives him greater understanding of the techniques of Muay Boran. When King Naresuan holds a tournament to recruit new fighters for his Royal guards, Yamada and his new friends decide to enter the tournament. After some hard fights, they are selected to become part of the King’s personal guards. When the King announces Ayutthaya’s independence from the Hongsawadee, Yamada and his friends fight bravely and earn the respect of the King. However, after Ayutthaya gains its independence, Yamada can’t rest. He has one final task ahead, namely taking revenge on Kuroda, who dishonored the Samurai code and the Japanese people.

The Samurai of Ayothaya  stars some well-known Muay Thai and Boxing superstars, namely Muay Thai greats: Buakaw Por Pramuk, Somluck, Yodsanklai Fairtex, Sanchai Sor Sanchai and Anuwat Kaewsamrit, plus Olympic gold medalists in boxing: Somjit and Mahnut.

Muay Thai Movies: Aukmen - Ahmad Al-Sulaiti

Ahmad Al-sulaiti is a Qatari who comes to Thailand to chase his dream of becoming a pro Muay Thai fighter. After arriving in the Thai capital, Bangkok, he quickly runs into a series of unfortunate events after which he ends up penniless on the streets of the strange city. Ahmad gets approached by a shady boxing promoter named Nikki and accepts to take on K-1 Champion, Kaoklai, in an illegal fight. This, however, results in even a worse situation.

His luck changes when he is taken in by Apidej and his granddaughter, Katoon, who runs a professional Muay Thai camp. Ahmad is given the change to realize his dream to become a professional fighter. But he finds out that as foreigner the judges don't favor him and that has to fight twice as hard to prove himself in the ring.

 

 

 

Muay Thai Movies: Final Impact

After Danny wins the Ohio heavy-weight title, he gets discovered by Nick, a former kickboxing world champion. Nick sees that Danny is a fighter with great potential and offers to train him for his upcoming world championship fight. After a period of intense training, the couple sets off for the world championship kickboxing in Las Vegas. During the tournament Danny runs into the current champion, Joe, who dethroned Nick. The reunion makes him relive the past event and he turns to the bottle for peace of mind, risking to lose everything including his students chance of winning the world title.

 

 

 

 

 

Muay Thai Movies: Muay Thai Giant (Somtum)

This Muay Thai comedy is a strange mixture between ‘The Incredible Hulk’, ‘The little rascals’, and spiced up with some fast Muay Thai action.

After the giant Barney has been tricked by a working girl at a nightclub, he is abandoned on the streets of Bangkok without his clothes, money and passport. Two streets kids Dokya and Katen feel sorry for the big giant and take Barney with them to their mother’s beach side Somtum restaurant.  When Barney is offered to try some Somtum, his reaction to the spicy dish is so violent that he destroys the restaurant, which brings the friends in the position that they have to find a way to raise money needed to rebuild the restaurant.  Dokya, a former Muay Thai Fighter, returns to the ring to make some easy cash, which in turn gets them in trouble with a gang of diamond thieves.

Note: Dokya is played by Sasisa Jindamanee, a junior Muay Thai champion.

Muay Thai Movies: Fireball

Fireball combines the breakneck paced sport of basketball with the bone crushing brutality of Muay Thai and mixed martial arts. The plot of the movie is quite simple and shouldn't be the reason to watch this movie. Tai returns home from prison to find his twin brother Tan in a coma and goes looking for answers. Soon he finds himself recruited on to a Fireball team by a boss who mistakes him for Tan. With everyone assuming he is Tan, Tai joins the team in order to wreak revenge on the player responsible. Tan ended up in a coma after entering the game to spring Tai from jail and falling foul of criminals. Tan has also paid for his girlfriend Pang's education and she encourages Tai to enter the fireball business and pursue his brother's assailants. This plot is a pretext for nonstop bone-crushing mayhem of a mind-numbing kind.

 

Muay Thai Movies: Raging Phoenix

This Muay Thai meets Hip Hop movie, Raging Phoenix, stars Chocolate star Jeeja. The story starts off when Jeeja is kidnapped by a gang of B-boys who sell girls to traffickers. During her quest for a missing friend Jija encounters another Group of B-boys and because she is headstrong and doesn't show any fear, she is taken in by the gang. The plot as in many Martial arts movies is not the strongest and won't win this movie an Oscar, but the flashy Muay Thai moves in combination with the fresh hip-hop beats make the action scenes enjoyable the watch. Jeeja's moves in combination with the B-boy moves reminded me somewhat of Jackie Chan's Drunken Master.

 

 

Muay Thai Movies: BKO: Bangkok Knockout

“BKO: Bangkok Knockout” is not a movie you need to go and watch when you’re looking for a great story. But if you’re looking for some amazing stunt work and cool Muay Thai moves, this movie is going to be highly enjoyable. The plot of the movie is quite similar to movies as “Death Race” and “Running Man”, which is the perfect format to stuff the movie with amazing stunts and intensive fight scenes. The story starts when a group of fighters is invited to take part in a tournament. Several winners will be given the opportunity to work in Hollywood. However, this turn out to be not the case. The winners are drugged and abducted to take part in a deadly contest were only one can survive. And this all to entertain a group of affluent gamblers. 

The movie has been directed by Panna Rittikrai who was the fight choreographer in movies like Ong Bak 2 and 3.

 

Muay Thai Movies: Bunohan

This Malaysian Muay Thai movie starts ofF when Adil, one of the main characters, is one of the fighters in a so-called deadmatch. However, the fight is set-up by a corrupt Thai promoter and Adil is heavily outclassed by the opponent. When his lifetime friend steps into the ring to save his best friend from a certain dead in the ring, the couple is forced to flee. Because Adil broke his terms of the contract, the promoter hires a professional hitman to chase the couple down and kill them. The contract killer, Iham, left home when he was a young boy and is in fact Adil's half brother. This comes to light when he follows the couple back to their hometown of Bunohan, where the fugitives have taken shelter at the boxing school Adil started his career. The promoter, who is trying to get control of the local Muay Thai school, is working together with the third brother of the family Bakar, who also has returned to Bunohan trying to convince their father to sell their mother's burial grounds to a local developer for his own profit.

 

Muay Thai Movies: The Kick

This new action-packed film has been directed by Prachya Pinkaew who we all know from “Ong  Bak”. In this movie, just like in Ong Bak, an object gets stolen and a group of fighters will go after the bad guys to reclaim it, only this time the movie has a Korean twist.
 
The movie starts when a Korean family moves over to Thailand where the parents of two former Taekwondo Champions open up their own dojo and Korean restaurant. Their three children have diverse interests. Only the youngest son seems to be interested in the family sport as where his older sister is made about football and traditional Thai dancing. The eldest son is completely crazy about K-pop (Korean pop music).  The family befriends a local Thai named Mum and his niece Wah Wah (Jeeja Yanin), who is a talented Muay Thai boxer. But all their lives will changes when the Korean family and their new friend are confronted with a gang of Korean criminals who have just stolen an ancient dagger.

 

Muay Thai Movies: Harder They Fall

Max and Jesus are two kickboxers who have completely different backgrounds. One comes from the poor side of Miami and the other from the more affluent part of the city. The two rivals battle for triumph in their sport by becoming state champion of South Florida. However, some unexpected events move their struggle from the ring to the streets. The two boys have to show what they’re worth with at the end only the champion remains standing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On this page we reviewed the best Muay Thai movies for you. If you're more interested in Muay Thai documentaries,
Click here to go to our Muay Thai documentaries review page!