Born to Fight (2004) or Bangkok Knockout (2010)?

[One Armed Boxer]

I found myself in an interesting situation the other day, a friend of mine had recently watched 'Ong Bak' & 'Tom Yum Goong' for the first time (they've been living under a rock for the past decade), and knowing I was into the Asian action movie scene, asked me to recommend some others.

Once I explained to him that both movies were choreographed by the same guy...Panna Rittikrai...and that I have his last couple of self-directed movies on DVD that we could watch together, the deal was sealed on what we'd be watching that evening.

The question was of course, which one, 'Born to Fight' or 'Bangkok Knockout'?

In the end I didn't have too much trouble deciding - I went with 'Born to Fight'. A simple but high stakes story, countless stunt based set pieces, the truck stunt (which deserves mentioning by itself), a good mix of gun play and martial arts, and a fierce end fight and jaw dropping final stunt. In comparison 'Bangkok Knockout' piles on the fights, but I felt that 'Born to Fight' delivers the whole package, and Dan Chupong has decent acting chops to top it off.

What I was curious to know was....who here would have also gone with 'Born to Fight', and who would have gone with 'Bangkok Knockout'?

[popsjnr]

I only just saw Bangkok Knockout last week, I've had the Blu-Ray for awhile it just never seemed the right time to watch it...As a film I thought it was pretty mediocre, but in terms of fight action it was excellent, and there was plenty of it (if nothing else...acting etc)

...but if I had to choose between watching it again or Born to Fight again, I'd go with Born to Fight which I enjoyed far more as a movie and as a fight film, Dan Chupong is more skilled than any of Knockout's Yutes (although I think they will improve in time)

[derwood]

Born To Fight wins hands down.

As previously stated it has far superior story & acting. Its grittiness also makes it far more likable than the overly choreographed BKO...even if some find the village takeover scene a little over the top

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Born To Fight.... no question. They are both kind of showreely, but at least BTF has some decent production value, and the semblance of a story. BKO is barely a feature film as such.

[andy338]

Born to Fight for me too, i've watched it 3 times compared to the one viewing of BKO which to be honest I found a struggle to sit through.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Born to Fight all the way!!!!!

[Drunken Monk]

I'm going to go against the grain here. I actually prefer "Bangkok Knockout." While both are simply extended showreels, "Born to Fight" seems like a stunt showreel while "Bangkok Knockout" has the solid fight work I prefer.

Sure, "Born to Fight" has a good bout here and there but for extended, one on one combat it just doesn't quite hit the right note for me.

Granted, "BKO" isn't exactly a masterpiece in film making but I still think the fight in the cage and the kung fu match up with the poles are pretty fantastic fights. And it has the stunt work too.

[jmungus]

yall really seem to like BTF... which i thought sucked rather badly.

Lots of senseless brutal killings its gettin idiotic, mano a mano stuff pales in comparison (to anything decent out there), concept/plot/direction nothing that would make me wanna rewatch or recommend.

some nice gritty flavour and a handful of wicked action bits by the stunt team earn this....

3.5/10

BKO on the other hand has tons of marvellous MA action. the rest is meh or straight up ridiculous. 6.8/10 (ALL thanx to the MA sequences; rest of the movie: zero points)

[andy338]

I don't think that Born to Fight is a particularly good film but I would choose it over BKO, both are just like watching showreels which soon become boring. It's unlikely that i'll ever watch either of them again.

[rdenn]

born to fight is more insane stunts and falls, the fighting is not all that.

[lillippa328]

I enjoyed both movies....

I loved Born2Fight because of a lot of great action and stunts,as well as a decent plot...but when i rewatch it i sometimes find myself cringing at the corny stuff they do in the last scene. I mean some of the ways they edited stuff was hilariously bad and so gimmicky. Jumping off the house doing crazy flips/cut camera to a foot on the head..... it damped some of the awsome stuff, and it had plenty of awsome moments and some damn fine gun work, but when trying to get real and serious at the end, with guns and soccer balls, it kinda didnt pull it off all the way to me...

BKO on the other hand was just another simple plot about people getting kidnapped in Thailand...nothing new here, but just good choreographed fights....just straight action...just dont-need-to-think-to-much action...and in this comparison...id choose this

[blue_skies]

I have to say when I voted I thought I would be the only one that went for Born to Fight.

To my surprise I really didn't enjoy Bangkok Knockout on the whole and compared to Panna's other works over the last decade or so, it really did seem lacking. I know he was director but was he choreographer? I mean there were perhaps a couple of fights I enjoyed by didn't seem up to his standards.

[QueMuchita]

I like both movies but I have to go with BKO, the action is just way better for me, the story maybe not.