BKO: Bangkok Knockout

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.... ^^

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).

The story is dubious although it has a twist or two. The acting is horrible from beginning to end. Yet, the action is jaw-dropping like a dropped kick that connects.

I actually saw this movie by mistake at the FantAsia Film Festival. Apparently the usher did not care to verify the name of the movie on my ticket. I think she was too busy eyeing me, or at least that is what I tell myself. So as the movie opened, I thought maybe this is a short film before the feature. When I realized I was in the wrong movie and that this one seemed to be shallow and pointless, I almost left, but my girlfriend said that we already missed the other movie's beginning and that we should tough it out with this Bangkok Knockout.

As painful as the beginning of the movie is, once the action got started, we were both glad we stayed. The scenes kept displaying some of the most stunning stunts and choreography in the industry. Then, there is a bit of comedy, some good editing, hot girls who can do a few moves too and a fitting ending. By that time, we were cheering with the enthused FantAsia crowd and easily put the poor plot and bad acting in the back of our mind.

There are some amazing scenes with cage fighting, blunt or sharp weapons, car, spectacular falls, masked assailants, Terminator-style superhuman, martial arts mastery and then... just when you thought you had seen it all, they bring the fight to the real world and bring in guns, motorcycles, trucks for the grand finale.

This is the martial arts Matrix in a warehouse with no story. Wachowski brothers, watch out. Less guns, more skills, guts and glory.

I don't know what these people are talking about. This movie was badass as far as the action. There was a lot of "parkour" type of stunts, 80% of it was combat fighting and fleeing on construction like broken buildings and wire fences and all over warehouses.

There was a lot of smashing, running, kicking, striking, flipping, rolling, climbing, tumbling, throwing...it was amazing what people can do with their bodies with the right training.

The direction caught every move perfectly. It wasn't shaky or messy or badly angled. The music was energetic and energizing.

I was never bored. I never skipped anything, I only replayed fighting moves.

As far as the acting, the comedy was perfect, and perhaps foreigners don't appreciate it and natives from Thailand who weren't impressed might be easily embarrassed or something but I found it funny at least. There was one scene where the manager, a business partner called Sompong, a fighter on their side, and a female friend are hiding out from an enemy. And in most movies when characters are hiding out they keep quiet and it normally works, then they exhale really loudly in relief and stay alive. Well in this movie one of the guys hiding farted LOL. And he gave their hiding spot away, and they couldn't take the smell of his fart so they ran out and exposed themselves. I'm sorry but that was hilarious, I kept laughing even when the scene was over.

The Thai actors were good and I've seen some Thai movies so I know by now their humor can be on the silly side. But the foreign actors were so cringe. I don't know if the Russian and Japanese actors had accents, or if those were speech impediments... And the Thai- American and the main villain the white guy, they didn't seem to take this seriously at all. But whatever. Their part was to sit and bid on the hero fighters.

There's a love story, some rivalries and grudge matches, girl fighters (their moves were pansy though, I'm waiting for a combat action movie where the girl's martial arts isn't all about agility but power and brutality too...).

I liked it and told pretty much everyone I came across today to watch it.