There have been a few instances over the past year where I have expressed my extreme desire to see Panna Rittikrai and Morakot Kaewthanee’s latest stunt heavy vehicle, BKO: Bangkok Knockout. Now if you’ve seen the trailer/promo reel for the film then you know that it looks like one of the most dangerously badass, stunt intensive films ever made.
The story, if you believe this movie even has one, is simple. Team stunt crew ‘Fight Club’ has just won a contest to appear on a show and work for someone in Hollywood. 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 marital artists and everyone must attempt to save both their friends and themselves, all while trying to save the latest damsel in distress. The show is run by a Thai dance doctor and the gambling host/Hollywood man is a cigar smoking American prick (typical). It’s a simple fight to survive story where the stuntmen/women get their chance to be in the spotlight.
In case you couldn’t tell, the story sucks, but I kind of figured that going into the film. The acting is pretty bad, but the guy who plays the American is just plain terrible. The dialogue is probably the worst I’ve encountered in a long time, and the music couldn’t be more cliché during the so called “emotional” scenes. Practically everything sucks about this movie except for one very important aspect, the action. The only reason I wanted to see this movie was because of how crazy the stunts were and the fact that it was directed by Rittikrai (Ong Bak 2 and 3). The leads in the film were the stuntmen used in Ong Bak and most of the films that Rittikrai has either directed or choreographed.
Putting all the garbage aside, the stunts/action in the film were, bar none, some of the best I’ve ever seen. This stuntsploitation flick was the most physically demanding film I think I’ve screened to date and probably one of the most painful to shoot (watch the promo reel). Every battle had some sort of catch to it, like an axe wilding monster that couldn’t be hurt even after being set on fire. Another instance is a guy falling through a trapdoor about 30 feet 
high, survived without injury, and then had to battle two people in a cage. That was probably my favorite fight because of the sheer spider monkey-like acrobatics. It was like a mix between break dancing, parkour and martial arts, a glorious feast for the eyes. There are a few other magical moments like when two guys fight underneath a moving truck, but then there is the climactic large scale battle where about 7 or 8 people fight like 50 other guys using anything and everything to crack skulls and make their way out of the warehouse. It was a great scene to watch that turned a bit comical when a martial arts master with asthma decided to chime in.
Most of the movie, minus every fight scene, was corny and laughable. Story wise, it is nowhere close to being Rittikrai’s best films. In fact, I’m having trouble deciding if it is worse than Ong Bak 3. But when it comes to the action, it’s honestly one of the most enjoyable films I have watched at the festival thus far. It’s a jaw-dropping, death defying, fun film that had audience members constantly cheering after each truly kickass moment. BKO: Bangkok Knockout is a must see for any action junkie.
Ratings: 10/10 for the insane action; 3/10 for everything else
You can catch BKO again on July 9th at the Walter Reade Theater
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