Bangkok Knockout

A decent Thai action flick that lacks the certain punch needed to make it great, but mostly makes up for it by being decidedly fun and silly. It has a lot of fighting and some mild stunt work, but while some of the moves are pretty cool it lacks the impact, choreography and stunts the best of the genre has to offer. Things aren’t helped by forgettable characters, a pretty basic plot and a thick streak of unintentional silliness and stupidity. That being said, it’s still a fun watch, but it isn’t going to be particularly mind blowing.

A group of martial artists/stunt men who call themselves ‘Fight Club’ audition to get a part in a Hollywood action film. They win the audition and have a celebratory dinner, inviting family and friends. However the food is drugged and the next day they wake up in an abandoned factory. By winning the audition they’ve unwittingly been chosen to be part of an illegal violent game for rich degenerates where they have to survive bouts against several fighters trying to kill them. Thus begins a literal fight for survival as the group has to form together, fight, escape and survive.

The fights and choreography are pretty decent and fun, which is good because it’s the backbone of a film like this. One involving a cage of chain-link fences has the fighters clambering upwards to unleash flip kicks and the like. There’s a good mix of styles and weapon-based fighting, including some grappling and katana/axe based kung-fu. The combat itself tends to lack a brutal punch for the most part though, especially considering the supposed danger (for a movie about a death fight club, hardly anybody dies). There are also some noticeable edits and frame cuts in the choreography that indicate second takes. Some actions, particularly involving weapons or big kicks, also have a noticeable delay or miss completely, giving the actors breathing room to perform dodges but making some action feel stilted as opposed to fluid.

There are too many characters to keep track of. ‘Fight Club’ has about six members, but then a bunch of other people join, including relatives, friends and even a comic relief fat guy. It’s way too many to the point where I only knew the names of about three or four of them. The attention is spread thinly amongst them, and none of them really emerge as the focus. There is a character, Pod, who seems like he’s going to become the main hero, but honestly he spends most of the movie being pummelled, has few fights and isn’t particularly impressive.

 

The story is silly nonsense, and it’s the sort we’ve seen a few times before. Any and all attempts at dramatic or emotional moments fall completely flat. Most characters don’t have any personality or characterisation at all so you won’t care. When the silly twists start coming (including obvious betrayals) you won’t care, especially since the movie oddly piles them all on top of each other in a single scene. There’s a five minute stretch that seems dedicated to a few ‘it was me all along’ moments.

The pacing is probably a little too gung-ho after the opening. After a pretty mild, action-less opening, things finally kick into gear and then it is action action action until the end. The finale actually gets a bit exhausting actually – there’s a massive brawl and a final boss fight and it’s seemingly finished, but then there’s another ten minutes of action thrown in (this time with guns). I guess you get bang for your buck, but it is a bit of overkill. Most action flicks have a sort of wave-like structure – slow build up, action, cool-off, slow build-up, action etc. etc. Bangkok Knockout is slow build-up and then action for the rest, with the cool-off period also containing action.

 

 

It’s actually a really silly, stupid film. The evil fighters in particular tend to be ridiculous. One is a flamboyant gay dude with makeup who wears a fishnet shirt and pink underwear. He’s defeated when one of the good guys constantly bashes him in the crotch. One is just a guy with a metal plate strapped to his chest. The most ridiculous is an axe-wielding mask-wearing dude that looks like he wandered off the set of a slasher flick. Increasing the silliness, a fight against a presumably scary, intimidating opponent becomes a battle to cause an asthma attack by preventing him from using his inhaler.

The background villains are goofy as fuck. A cigar-chomping white guy in a tiny room with four really ordinary looking folks who bet on who will win/lose/die make up our villainous cabal, and the film constantly switches to them after every fight to show them either celebrating when they win a bet or complaining when they lose. They all speak in laughable bad English (evil Japanese lady sound like she learnt her lines phonetically). It also has to be the lowest budget evil rich person club I’ve ever seen – they’re in a tiny trailer with small flat screen televisions and two prostitutes.

Bangkok Knockout might not be a knockout, but it is fun. After the slow opening it gets going in a big way and the action scenes are entertaining, and though it does devolve into constant punching it’s still a fun time. The overwhelming silliness also help spice things up, as do some of the weirder fight scenes and villains. Bangkok Knockout’s problems are the competition – there are better Thai action flicks out there. But, by that same token, there are many that are far worse. So with that I’d say it’s worth a watch if you like some Thai action that’s sillier than they probably intended.