Thailand seems to be the place for full-on, balls-to-the-wall martial arts flicks, where the level of awesomeness is in proportion to how often the fighters seem about to maim, injure, or murder themselves. I don't know if this is because of Tony Jaa or not, but Thailand has taken over what used to be Hong Kong's place as the land of suicidal stunt men.
BKO: Bangkok Knockout comes at the tail end of this trend, and if the writers had any sense of irony it could be seen as a parody. It's directed by the stunt choreographer for the Ong Bak films, who also directed the largely forgettable second and third movies, so expect lots of cranium-busting, high-jumping, painful-to-watch fight scenes, along with a complete lack of story or characterization.
The plot is even more phoned-in than usual: a group of stunt men is chosen for a "special assignment," which as we all know means that they are drugged, kidnapped, and forced to fight a small army of bad dudes for the laughing pleasure of an (of course) American gambler. They are confined in what seems to be a scaffolding, crate and porcelain factory, and the fighters are paired off into individual or group matches as they try to rescue whoever needs rescuing at the moment.
The movie even does away with the concept of a leading man, instead giving us a band of roughly equivalent fighters, with so little identity that you remember them only as The Guy With The Hair, The Guy Who Likes The Girl, The Girl Who Kicks Ass, The Girl Who Kicks More Ass But Isn't As Pretty, and The Annoying One. Even the women are stunt men, one minute laying the smack down alongside the big boys and the next being ridiculously carted away as damsels-in-distress.
But the plot devices are all plot devices, we're here to see some ass being kicked. The first thirty minutes or so are dull and pointless, but after that it's pretty much non-stop fighting until the end. The best choreography comes early, when some nimble fighters are locked in a cage match, jumping and bouncing and flipping around like this was Thunderdome. And while BKO isn't nearly as good as the original Ong Bak, or the much-superior Chocolate, it specializes in the sort of large-scale group fighting not seen too often anymore. There are lots of two-vs-twos and many-vs-manys (and in one hilarious scene, many-vs-many-vs-car).
The most dangerous-looking sequence has two characters fighting underneath a moving tractor trailer, with no visible harnesses keeping them from being squashed like watermelons. When the bad guy falls, hits the pavement, then grabs a hold of the undercarriage again right before being crushed, you start to wonder just how much of the joy of watching an action flick like this is a delight in the choreography and artistry of the stunt men, and how much is deferred schadenfreude.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The usual behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes, which show just how many of those "That looked like it hurt!" moments actually did.
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"BKO: Bangkok Knockout" is on sale August 30, 2011 and is rated R. Action, Foreign, Martial-Arts. Directed by Panna Rittikrai. Written by Dojit Hongthong, Jonathon Siminoe. Starring Gitabak Agohjit, Speedy Arnold, Supakson Chaimongkol.
