History Film / OngBak3

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Apparently, having an elephant pulling a gigantic stone structure with a rope is enough for the structure somehow being launched high into the air over the elephant and land several meters in front of him. Of course, considering [[spoiler:all of this is happening just in Tien's mind]], it might be justified.

* 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 to unskilled emotions. 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.]]

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In the previous film, Bhuti was a silent, stone-faced enforcer that didn't really stand out in Rajasena's assassins squad, of which the masked samurai seemed to be the leader (likely because this is how they were meant to be in the original plans for ''Film/OngBak2''). In this film, it turns out he is an evil mystic, seemingly unrelated to the other henchmen and evidently of a higher rank in Rajasena's payroll, and is quite talkative, expressive and twisted. Speaking of the samurai, he has lines in this film, while in the previous he was also voiceless.

** Bhuti's attempt to contaminate Bua with darkness fails due to the old master's meditative ability, which allows him to remain serene and expel the darkness again. Bhuti later tries it on Rajasena, and this time it works wonders because, unlike Bua, Rajasena is a greedy, unskilled man without any control over his emotions.

* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Mhen, the village madman, who also doubles as ComicRelief. Most of what he says is nonsense, but it's hard to disagree with him when he points out that laughing is better than crying. More decisively, his shenanigans end up distracting a suicidal Tien enough time for Master Bua to reach him.

* WizardDuel: In a sort of duel of asceticism, Bhuti sends darkness to infect Master Bua, but the latter calmly expels the darkness out of his body through ''anapanasati''. Still, Bua decides it not to be enough and realizes he must become a monk.

* SimpleStaff: In a sort of TakeUpMySword moment, Master Bua hands Tien his ''danda'' before he goes to confront Bhuti, although the item is not used in the battle.

After the events of the previous film, Tien is captured by the evil Rajasena and, despite his fiery resistance, tortured into utter ruin. Only the intervention of the Ayutthaya Kingdom saves Tien, taking him to the village where he passed his childhood, but by then the young warrior is already turned into a cripple unable to stand. At the same time, a new, supernatural enemy is rising.

In his new state, Tien will have to learn to rebuild his life and give a new meaning to all he knew, helped by the enlightening of UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} and the beauty of Thai dance, and hopefully to stop the kingdom of terror involuntarily brought by Rajasena's ambition.

The last film of the trilogy and the intended climax of the previous film. After its grueling production, Jaa decided to become a Buddhist monk for real and retire temporally from filmmaking.

* BackForTheDead: Five of the previous film's bandits (the Chinese, the wrestler, the samurai, the guy of the iron rings, and the guy of the twin sabers) return to try to rescue Tien, but they are all of them killed by Bhuti.

* 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.]]

* CrucifiedHeroShot: Tien gets one or two.

* EnlightenedAntagonist: Bhuti seems to be some kind of ascetic, as he sports sutras in his skin, has a ''murti'' and some tantric paraphernalia in his cave, and even appears presiding a spiritual ceremony in Rajasena's flashback. 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 Hindu and Buddhist mythology, where demons can gain power by ascetism and god-worship themselves and even enlightened people can fall and become evil).

** Tien's fighting style after coming back from his crippling is notably more unrealistic and improbable than his previous martial arts, instead resembling wire-work 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]].

* {{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.
* GaiasVengeance: In a possible reference to the Buddhist concept of ''maravijaya'', Tien invokes this in the climax, when he [[spoiler:defeats Bhuti not by beating him up, but by throwing him to the mercy of the elephants Bhuti had been taming to kill.]]
%%* HonorBeforeReason

* 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.
* SimpleStaff: In a sort of TakeUpMySword moment, Master Bua hands Tien his ''danda'' before he goes to confront Bhuti, although the item ends up not being used in battle.

* 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.

* 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").

* 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.

* 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).

** 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.

* 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.