BKO: Bangkok Knockout

A martial arts stunt team enters a competition to win the chance to work in Hollywood, but instead find themselves part of a gambling event in which they must fight for survival against a variety of foes while rich folk bet on the outcome.

Directed by Panna Rittikrai, the man who gave us Born To Fight and the Ong Bak sequels, Bangkok Knockout delivers more than its fair share of stunning martial arts action and incredible stunt-work, so much so that it's possible to become a bit blasé about the death-defying action that is unfolding before the eyes. With so much jaw-dropping action on display, it's best to keep reminding yourself that these are practical stunts, not the work of a CGI expert with actors performing in front of a green screen.

While there is occasional obvious wire-work used to enhance some of the moves (particularly noticeable in earlier scenes), BKO is still a breathtaking experience for action fans, the relentless fighting just about making up for the extremely weak plot, the terrible acting (especially from the gamblers) and some truly irritating characters (the fat guy with the bob haircut being the worst offender).

I've seen there seems to be a lot of hate for this film and I have no idea why. Its a martial arts films. When has the plot ever been the key element? If you watch martial arts movies then you must have an interest in martial arts. If this is the case then surely it is the fighting that is the key element to it being a good film. For that reason I am rating the story out of 4 and the fight sequences out of 6.

Story: 2/4 Firstly the story isn't as dire as everyone seems to make out. Having said that, it isn't good at all. It's a very weak plot indeed but to be honest with the amount of action there isn't really room for any form of developed plot. the acting is pretty awful especially from the more minor characters but the lead roles managed to come forth with at least passable performances.

Fighting: 6/6 Perfect, best i've seen in a long time. many would say the fights are unrealistic but i disagree. Sure they don't have the "realism" of mma or what ever but this is a FILM, the fighting is varied as hell and to be honest seems pretty convincing to me. I loved the mix of arts, it produced truly engaging and interesting fights. I feel that if the choreographers went to much for realism it'd make for a truly dull experience. The sheer variety and inventiveness of the choreography makes this a standout modern martial arts outing.

Overall however I feel with so little story and so many up and coming martial artists this seemed more like a showcase than an actual film. I personally am not bothered by this but if you are looking for anything with any depth, look else were. The perfect choreography made me completely overlook the weaknesses in the plot and acting and see this film as a triumpth.

My rating: 8/10

A group of fighters are selected, via competition, to go to Hollywood for a project... or that's what they believe. In fact, after winning they are drugged and kidnapped, and forced to fight for their lives in a contest staged for the benefit of some extremely wealthy gamblers.

Bangkok Knockout is a terrible film by most standards - i.e. the story is dumb and the acting is terrible. It does, however, have some of the most extraordinary action scenes ever filmed. The cast are mostly stuntmen and fighters, and the film showcases a range of different styles and techniques going head to head. The level of physical virtuosity on display is amazing, and the scenes are brutal - fights are full contact, and stunts are outrageously dangerous.

For lovers of action cinema it's a must-see... everybody else should probably skip it.

Before, i rarely watch Thai Movies, but since Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong, i became interested in some. Tony Jaa is a man of a new way of martial art in movies for me. Different than American typical fighting movies, or even Asian Kung Fu Movies, the Thai 'modern' martial art movies are fresher on the eyes.

Bangkok Knockout is surely a promising martial art movie if you watched the trailer. The moves and the arts are amazing for me. But...after I watch the whole movie (no skipping or fast-forwarding) I was kinda disappointed. The idea of the story is not so bad, but it's brought kinda poorly. Well, maybe it's intended just for domestic (not international), so there might only be limited budget on it.

The actors, i think, are some martial artists, with little to no acting experience, since it's not an easy task to find people which experts on both. Even the main star is not good at acting, and also not so good looking (sometimes I think the main star doesn't have to be handsome, but has to bee good looking, at least for the good-view for the audience). Luckily, there are two cute and pretty awesome girls. They are good-looking and can do some moves.

Okay, at first, the flow of the movie is kinda slow n little bit boring, there're almost no fighting or action scene, just some drama. But after, maybe about thirty minutes, the fighting begins. Since then, the fighting almost never stop till the end. And those fighting scenes are GREAT because of the choreography and also the skill of the actors performing jumping, kicking, punching, somersaulting, acrobats stunts and moves, and also in a matrix-bullet time-style. Sometimes, after one or two rounds of fighting, there's some stories we need to know about the background of some event etc, kinda lame for me because the foreign actors are also not good at acting, and even bad at speaking English. Btw, some scenes sometimes don't make sense, just enjoy it.

So, if you want to watch fighting a lot, with some new styles and moves and also in slow-mo, this is the right movie. But don't (ever) expect a good story and good acting.

Just my stupid review.... ^^

BKO: Bangkok Knockout (2010) is a movie I recently rewatched on Tubi. The storyline follows a group of friends who has a mutual friend kidnapped by a gangster. Each friend has his won unique fighting style and martial arts specialty. They will have to band together to infiltrate the gang and fight their way to their friend who is being held hostage. This movie is directed by Panna Rittikrai (Ong-Bak) and stars Pimchanok Leuwisetpaiboon (Friend Zone), Sorapong Chatree (Ong-Bak 2), Krittiya Lardphanna (City of Ghosts) and Chatchapol Kulsiriwuthichai (The Man with the Iron Fists 2). The storyline for this is mediocre to bad but the action scenes are outstanding. I loved the choreography throughout. The villain was actually pretty good too and had some good zingers. The random guy speaking English was also...well, random, Overall there are a lot of inconsistencies in this film; however, if you're looking for a fun martial arts film, this may be worth your time. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend giving it a shot.