Nascido para Lutar

Oh, I have an idea. Let's build a village, put some people there and then some evil men who shoot them. But here is the thing: They have athletes among them who will fight. Oh, and in the end let's blow up the village. That way we don't even have to tidy up a set. Let's call it ''Born to Fight''. If you want to see one and a half hour of people getting killed then this is your movie. They didn't waste time for something called a storyline or dialogue. OK given, the stunts are brilliant, probably some of the best ever filmed. But if I only want to see stunts I watch a broadcast of a martial arts tournament. The ''actors/actresses'' have nothing more than a few lines before the killing starts. No character depth, no development and no acting. There are probably 15 minutes without killing, not even done ''nicely''. You can't even memorize the names before the ''action'' starts. Also, I don't call it fighting but killing, on purpose. The movie is like an ego-shooter, like a scene from Rambo. The basic story was actually OK and you could see that the actors/actresses would have been able to act if given the chance. The characters just didn't interact at all with each other. Everyone says hi and that's it. Bum, bam, shot people falling down, an explosion here and there. The End. What a waste.

In 2003 Thailand produced one of the most jaw dropping action films in recent years in ONG BAK, a throw back to the reckless stunt choreography of Hong Kong cinema. 2004 continues the tradition with BORN TO FIGHT, a film that maintains the philosophy of doing stunts with no special effects, no wires and no stunt doubles. Keanu Reeves need not apply.

The plot of BORN TO FIGHT is very simple. A cop (Choupong Changprung) and his partner are working undercover to capture a drug kingpin/mercenary. The cop succeeds in an over the top opening sequence that leaves both a town and his partner blown to pieces. To get over the loss of his partner, the cop decides to accompany his sister with a group of gymnasts on a humanitarian mission to a small village. But as cinematic bad luck would have it, the thugs of the aforementioned crime boss shows up, take the village hostage and threaten to detonate a nuclear missile unless their leader is released. It is then up to the cop and the villagers to stop them.

The basic premise of BORN TO FIGHT is so standard that it could easily be used for any American action film ("DIE HARD in a village!" is what the execs would call it). What sets it apart from a majority of its action genre brethren are the astounding stunts and fight scenes. Both this film (and ONG BAK for that matter) take me back to the time when a stunt would make me audibly wince in pain for the guy on the receiving end. Knowing that person actually took the bump rather than standing in front of a green screen and being digitally made a bad ass is far more satisfying to me. The adrenaline-pumping trailer, which made the internet rounds during the summer of 2004, contains only a fraction of on screen mayhem contained in this film. The last half hour, where the villagers fight back, is a non-stop battle.

Director Panna Rittikrai, who was the fight choreographer on ONG BAK, utilizes a number of Thai athletes as the heroes. By doing this Rittikrai is able to incorporate their various athletic abilities such as gymnastics, soccer playing and the Thai sport of sepak takraw (which utilizes a hard ball that becomes a formidable weapon). This helps substantially in the film's pursuit to "one up" each previous stunt. However, that is not to say that regular action staples such as gun battles and car chases are left out of the mix. The film contains lots of bloody shootouts, including one done in a long take a la Woo's HARD BOILED. And the vehicular mayhem is ever present with a number of motorcycle stunts that qualify as the most dangerous I have ever seen in a film. In a nod to their influences (particularly Jackie Chan), the filmmakers end the closing credits with footage of the stunts as they happen. Surprisingly, the most dangerous looking ones result in the stuntmen jumping up and signaling they are okay.

With ONG BAK getting a lot of (deserved) hype leading up to its North American theatrical release, it is refreshing to see that the Thai film industry isn't resting on that film's rep. While this film may lack the plot dynamics and production value of ONG BAK (it probably cost half of that), it still manages to deliver on the promise of non-stop action. BORN TO FIGHT is a must see for anyone who was once thrilled to the sight of Yuen Biao kicking a coconut, Sammo Hung getting into a stick fight or Jackie Chan destroying an entire shanty town.

Well I'm still quite impressed or just stunned with the lengths these guys will go to for a stunt. I wouldn't be surprised if there really were some casualties at the end of the filming. But anyway, as a newcomer to Thai cinema, I can say that the actual fight sequences are choreographed pretty well, the elaborate death blows thrown in the world of Muay Thai are seen here, along with a little different touch as well. As good as the choreography is, the lack of coherency far out paces it though, which leads me to believe that the story is just somehow weaved in-between these high flying fight scenes. Which I think is further shown with the always surprising use of the slow-motion instant replay (for all of us with broken rewind buttons?), which they use for those really sweet stunts. But hey, since when do judge an action movie by it's coherence, that would take out all the fun out of it. While not a great movie it is still quite entertaining, and if you don't actually speak Thai well you can probably skip the subtitles seeing as the dialogue adds little too the movie, just watch these little thai guys running around jumping off stuff and you'll be alright.

cheers

Reviewer Niz sums this movie up really well, but I have to add that some of the fighting was so bad it had me laughing. A lot of it actually. The inclusion of "Gymnastics Battle Bad Guys" was a really bad idea and had me laughing the hardest. The weapons a drug kingpin could buy in 2004 is amazing and the few cgi effects weren't really passable, but fit in with this movie as a throwback to the 80's.

I did feel a little guilty from the laughing as you could see they put a lot of blood, sweat, effort, and little money into making this film and some of the scenes worked really well (the first gun draw at the beginning, etc..) but the cheese scenes are grade A. I didn't see any wire work and some of the stunts made me cringe as I know they had more then one "ouchee" through this shoot and they used slow-mo a lot so you could feel the pain for yourself.

Watch the end credits to see some for yourself.

A rookie cop and his experienced partner capture a notorious drug lord, but the older cop is killed. The cop joins his sister, a competitive Tae Kwon Do fighter, and a group of athletes to a small village to deliver donated items they need. While they are there, armed men working for the same drug lord (there's a coincidence) invade the village and demand the release of their boss or they'll kill everyone in the village. Initially cowed by the extreme violence visited on them by their captors, the villagers are roused to patriotic action by their national anthem and the cop, the athletes and the villagers strike back at their captors. This is not a clever movie. The plot and the characters are all about the level of sophistication you would expect from a cheap straight-to-video action flick. What this has going for it is some incredible stunt work and fight choreography. The opening action sequence has some great stunt work involving trucks, but that's nothing compared to the last half hour of this film which is one continuous action sequence. The fight choreography is particularly engaging since the athletes ... gymnasts, soccer players, even a one-legged soccer player ... all use the tools of their sports to fight the bad guys. Not a great film, but a joy if you can turn your brain off and marvel at the stunt work.