review: BORN TO FIGHT

BCI Eclipse  //  Buy from Amazon.com Daew is a cop who has nailed the evil gunrunner General Yang, but his partner is killed in the case and Daew becomes depressed. However, his sister asks him to join her and some of her athlete friends to a small village to give food and toys to the villagers. What starts out as a trip to help people turns into a nightmare when Yang's men arrive at the village and take over, demanding the release of Yang or a nuclear missile will hit Bangkok. When villagers are killed left and right, Daew and the athletes must start a revolution against the tyranny before it's too late. I loved me some "Ong-Bak" when it came out of nowhere a couple years back, and the main star from that film (Tony Jaa) cites "Born to Fight" as one of his most inspirational movies (in fact, he remade it in 2004.) Well, clearly that's enough of a plug to warrant a release to DVD, which the fine folks @ BCI Eclipse are only too happy to provide! While the quality of the DVD itself is shoddy (too bad), the film is still more than watchable, and includes some very intense action sequences that you know have no wires, CG, or cutaways to stunt doubles -- these are the real dudes performing some real ass-kicking, head-smashing, bone-crunching sequences! (Color me impressed.) The story is weak, and ultimately irrelevant, as all we want to see is flying feet of fury, and that is exactly what this 80s Thai martial arts extravaganza delivers! Video Fullscreen and looking like it was transferred directly from VHS to DVD. Too bad, but given the age and cult-status of this film, not a huge surprise. Audio Your choice of Thai or English dub, served up mono style. Extras interview with Tony Jaa (star of Ong-Bak) interview with producer 2 "Ong-Bak" spoofs "Fearless Maniacs" featurette on the hard-hitting (literally) stunts Closing Thoughts Clumsy film with some hard-core ass-kicking + a solid attempt at extras = interesting glimpse into the early years of Thai action flicks