Another film hitting the street on August 30th is Panna Rittikrai’s hard hitting stunt film, BKO: Bangkok Knockout. I saw this film back in July at the NYAFF and thought the action was unreal. Thanks to Magnet we all have a chance to own this epic Thai film that showcases what real hand to hand combat films should look like on the big screen.
The simple story is as follows: Team ‘Fight Club’ has just won a stunt contest to appear on a show and work for a man in Hollywood named Mr. Snead. What they don’t know is that it’s just a setup for an underground gambling death trap, similar to The Most Dangerous Game. After being drugged and waking up in a rigged warehouse, the stunt crew must fight masked assassins while trying to save both their friends and themselves if they ever want to see the light of day again. This is a film where the stuntmen/women get their chance to be in the spotlight instead of being doubles for those who don’t want to get hurt.
Like I mentioned earlier, this is the second time I have seen the film and my thoughts on it haven’t changed much. The stunt work is, bar none, some of the best I’ve ever seen but the story, dialogue and some of the acting is just plain awful. When the action is going on the film comes off like a Hollywood blockbuster but when there is any dialogue it reverts to a B-rated film and sounds like it was written by a middle school boy. Luckily for us action lovers we are usually able to look past the stupidity of everything else if the action is good, which thank god it is otherwise this film would have been even worse than Rittikrai’s Ong Bak 3.
The reason I wanted this DVD was because I wanted to watch the special features and see how this bad ass flick was made. Everything in the movie is real and all the actors are real stuntmen who do their own work and work hard to make sure the movie feels authentic. The special features contain a trailer, a Behind the Scenes look at the filmmaking process and a featurette on The Making of BKO: Bangkok Knockout which contains interviews with many members of the cast and crew. In total there is about 30 minutes worth of interviews and BTS content.
The Making of BKO is probably the best part of the special features because it shows you just how physically demanding the shoot was and how often people got hurt. Since everyone is really kicking, punching, jumping etc., people are bound to get injured. There were guys who were knocked out, sprained their feet, got concussions, bloody wounds, burns and more. It is pretty crazy to watch how they all worked together and endured a lot pain just to make an awesome piece of action cinema. In the end this was an opportunity to show the world that this new bunch of stuntmen/women are here to stay and that you will be seeing a lot more of them in films to come.
BKO: Bangkok Knockout comes out on DVD/Blu-ray this Tuesday and is worth picking up if you are an action junkie. If you like films like Ong Bak or Chocolate then you have to at least rent this movie just so you can get your fill of Thai action, various martial art styles, and crazy choreography. Just remember, you are watching this movie for the action alone, nothing else is allowed to be relevant otherwise you’ll end up hating it.
Rating: An all out action spectacle that delivers what it promises and ignores every other filmmaking requirement. (Action-10/10; Movie-3.5/10; DVD-7/10)
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