646f9e108c Daew is a cop who has nailed the evil gunrunner General Yang, but his partner is killed in the case and Daew becomes depressed. However, his sister asks him to join her and some of her athlete friends to a small village to give food and toys to the villagers. What starts out as a trip to help people turns into a nightmare when Yang's men arrive at the village and take over, demanding the release of Yang or a nuclear missile will hit Bangkok. When villagers are killed left and right, Daew and the athletes must start a revolution against the tyranny before it's too late.
A group of athletes helping a poor village must stop an evil tyrant and his men from terrorizing the village.
Where ONG-BAK is a traditional martial arts film that strings a series of muay-thai fights and Jackie Chan-style chase scenes together with a simple plot, BORN TO FIGHT is an action film more akin to DIE HARD. That means plenty of John Woo-esquire gun battles and an incredibly high body count, with a sprinkling of brutal stunts. BORN TO FIGHT is not a sequel to ONG-BAK, its not "the next ONG-BAK", its simply a highly entertaining actioner that will keep fans of this director satisfied until TUM YUM GOONG is released.<br/><br/>The opening sequence, featuring people leaping between 2 moving trucks, is reminiscent of similar classic scenes from POLICE STORY. The story then switches gear, seemingly heading towards simple martial arts film territory (our hero is challenged by a local thug over the affections of a girl) before a hail of gunfire signals a massive change in direction. The next portion of the film is a relentlessly brutal slaughter-fest, as the evil villains randomly gun down villagers without a second thought, to levels you would never see in a Hollywood film. Hans Gruber has nothing on these guys! Finally, after a few false starts and a rendition of the Thai national anthem, our plucky villagers rise up, although quite how they manage to slaughter so many villains in revenge despite being outnumbered, unarmed, and constantly being killed in the gunfire is never entirely clear. What is clear is that the ridiculously gimmicky "gymnastics fights" are fun to watch, the ball-kicking guys who fire kettles and things at the heads of their enemies deserve a SHAOLIN SOCCER type film of their own, and there's nothing cuter than seeing a little kick-boxing girl kick the hell out of a baddie.<br/><br/>Our hero has a few moves of his own, but the film's focus is wider than ONG-BAK, concentrating on the efforts of a team rather than a lone individual, nevertheless he is the star of two wonderful gun battles shot in single takes without cuts: forget DOOM's first-person-shooter scene, this is the true visual embodiment of the modern shooter game, a breathtaking yet agonisingly short sequence inspired by similar sequences in John Woo's HARD BOILED and John Carpenter's THEY LIVE.<br/><br/>What BORN TO FIGHT lacks in coherence, it makes up for in energy. This is the modern equivalent of the kind of crazy rule-breaking action films Hong Kong could churn out so successfully in the 1980s. And its the perfect appetiser for TUM YUM GOONG to come.
There is no aspect of this movie that I was not completely embarrassed to behold.<br/><br/>30 minutes: Welcome to Thailand. Thailand is beautiful. Buddha is our only advocate. We are Thai. We love Thailand sooo much. Thailand is great. We are peaceful.<br/><br/>30 minutes: Random thugs out of nowhere capture a village, annihilating 100 children in the process.<br/><br/>10 minutes: Remaining villagers wailing. But whatever can they do? <br/><br/>30 minutes: THEY REMEMBER THEY ARE THAI. They listen to the Thai national anthem. They squeeze images of the good king of Thailand in their sweaty fist and say patriotic things. Then a village of completely twiggy people have some insane battle versus thugs with automatic rifles. The villagers are not unarmed, however. They attack with daunting weapons such as wicker balls, grapefruit, and a tea kettle. And of course, there is a dopey villager running back and forth through the carnage waving the Thai flag.<br/><br/>45 seconds: Character development and crying.<br/><br/>NEGATIVE TWELVE STARS