A group of athletes helping a poor village must stop an evil tyrant and his men from terrorizing the village. 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. Thai director Panna Rittigrai, best known as the mentor to rising Thai martial arts star Tony Jaa, was behind the camera of 2004's "Born to Fight," which obviously comes from the same martial arts/extreme acrobatics school where Jaa was trained. "Born to Fight" was made in between Jaa's Thai action epics "Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior" (2003) and "The Protector" (2005), so you have to give Rittigrai credit for allowing more Thai action stars to rise.<br/><br/>"Born to Fight" is not a martial arts movie in the sense of what the world has become used to seeing from Thai action movies such as "Ong-Bak" or "The Protector." No. What we get here is a more straightforward action epic reminiscent of America's own "Die Hard" (1988). Bullets, explosions, fight scenes, guns, high body count, Woo-style gun-play, impossible acrobatic stunt-work - "Born to Fight" has it all, and then some more. Throughout "Born to Fight," I savored expert craftsmanship, like what I saw in "Ong-Bak" and "The Protector." No body doubles, no CGI, no wires - I guarantee you, what you see here is real, and people do get hurt. Also, this is the first internationally made action film I've seen that actually tries to rival Hollywood, both in special effects and (dare I say it), patriotism.<br/><br/>Not many films outside of the United States that so blatantly wave their own country's flag will probably get a major theatrical release or DVD distribution deal here. We've become so used to throwing our patriotism in everybody else's faces that it's time to see what somebody else wants us to see. But first and foremost, "Born to Fight" is an action film, one that will give you a lot of bang for your buck - $15.75 in my case after five dollars off in savings.<br/><br/>The film opens as elite government agent Deaw (Dan Chupong) manages to snatch up a renegade general-turned-gunrunner (Nappon Gomarachun) following a sting gone bad. The action culminates in a thrilling truck chase on a deserted stretch of road that leads to one big explosion that kills Deaw's superior officer. Things slow down a little bit, with some stirring scenes in a remote Thai village where Deaw is with his sister and several other athletes as they are there to drop off food and toys for the villagers.<br/><br/>Before you know it, the calm is shattered when gunmen lay siege to the village, killing many villagers and taking hostages. They make their demands known to Thailand's government: release the general or they will have a massacre on their hands. The ultimate plan is to retrieve the general, and then nuke Bangkok with a missile they brought with them. These are some pretty ruthless bad guys, executing innocent villagers without a second thought (I'd like to see Hollywood churn out something like what we see in "Born to Fight"). But Deaw isn't having it. After hearing the Thai national anthem play on a radio and delivering a rousing speech about what they believe in, that's when they decide to rise up against their captors and take back what's theirs, or die trying (that's "Born to Fight's" message).<br/><br/>The whole point of "Born to Fight" in its second half is to showcase impossible stunt-work as many heroic villagers and athletes lead a costly rebellion against their captors. Instead of focusing on Deaw (even though he has some impressive fighting skills of his own), the focal points are the athletes who put their respective talents to use (one, a Tae Kwon Do black belt, manages to best a henchwoman while another uses his soccer skills to kick a soccer ball with pinpoint accuracy at a bad guy shooting from a watch tower) and the villagers who use their own defensive tactics. Many die as a result of the uprising, but it's for a good cause: more than likely, history will remember them as the brave villagers who stood up against a bloody oppressor.<br/><br/>The movie ends with, what I feel, that the world has come to view as the Pyrrhic victory: victory gained at too great a cost, and the ending is properly somber. Many heroic people give their lives by standing up against the forces of evil (how many Hollywood productions would take the time to realistically address the aftermath of a chaotic event similar to what happens here?). But, on the flip side, with its impressive casting of no-name Thai athletes from the Tony Jaa School of Hard Knocks and Rittigrai's skillful direction, "Born to Fight" still serves up one hell of a breathtaking action epic. While certainly a technically well-made film, don't get your hopes up high for much of a plot, since, like most action films, the action is the plot.<br/><br/>8/10 Oh, I have an idea. Let's build a village, put some people there and then some evil men who shoot them. But here is the thing: They have athletes among them who will fight. Oh, and in the end let's blow up the village. That way we don't even have to tidy up a set. Let's call it ''Born to Fight''. If you want to see one and a half hour of people getting killed then this is your movie. They didn't waste time for something called a storyline or dialogue. OK given, the stunts are brilliant, probably some of the best ever filmed. But if I only want to see stunts I watch a broadcast of a martial arts tournament. The ''actors/actresses'' have nothing more than a few lines before the killing starts. No character depth, no development and no acting. There are probably 15 minutes without killing, not even done ''nicely''. You can't even memorize the names before the ''action'' starts. Also, I don't call it fighting but killing, on purpose. The movie is like an ego-shooter, like a scene from Rambo. The basic story was actually OK and you could see that the actors/actresses would have been able to act if given the chance. The characters just didn't interact at all with each other. Everyone says hi and that's it. Bum, bam, shot people falling down, an explosion here and there. The End. What a waste.
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