Review: The filmmakers who made ONG BAK follow up with BORN TO FIGHT, another action flick that will make you sit up and take notice for the outrageous stunts, which could only be pulled off by a stunt team seemingly bent on self-destruction or a self-fulfilling death wish. ONG BAK set the martial arts world on its ear when it introduced the phenomenal talents of Tony Jaa (Panom Yeerum). This time around, the fight choreographer (Panna Rittikrai) directs and the director (Prachya Pinkaew) produces. BORN TO FIGHT moves to an ensemble cast of athletes to execute the stunts, with tributes to John Woo, GYMKATA and Jackie Chan's POLICE STORY.

BORN TO FIGHT's premise is amazingly simple and the film is, at times, very bloody and violent, as it introduces machine guns, mercenaries and drug lords to a remote Thai village. The screenplay is really just an idea stretched wide and barely fleshed out and only adequate enough as a framework on which to hang the stunts. Director Panna Rittikrai, who provided the hard-hitting choreography for ONG BAK, goes with total out-and-out chaos. There is no subtlety in BORN TO FIGHT.

While there are martial arts in this flick, they take a back seat to the stunt work. Though the athletes do perform martial arts moves based on their specialty, such as the uneven parallel bars or gymnastics (think back to 1985 and Kurt Thomas in GYMKATA). BORN TO FIGHT contains some of the most amazing motorcycle, and other moving vehicles, stunts to be filmed since THE ROAD WARRIOR. I don’t know if anyone died making this film, but there were plenty hurt on the set (see outtakes and rehearsals during the closing credits). The filmmakers understand that some of the best thrills exploit the ordinary everyday occurrences, and that excitement can be generated without relying on CGI (CGI is used with the nuclear missiles), wires, or nets in the execution of the stunts (e.g., a flaming 2” x 4” to the head). Director Panna Rittikrai takes advantage by removing all thresholds to common sense and amping up the action to 11. “Reckless” and “crazy” would be accurate ways to describe the stuntmen. The universal language of pain is used to tell the story, and like its predecessor, ONG BAK, no subtitles or dubbing necessary, just a lot of wincing in acknowledgment: “oh, that must have hurt.”

The two sides are sharply defined: the bad guys are really evil and the villagers and athletes are noble and heroic. The major problem is the script, which doesn't provide enough back-story for the athletes, while treating the villains as blood-lusting sadists. When the village is invaded, each member of the cast is left to fend for his or her self. The crucial scene missing is the one in which the athletes come together to formulate a plan of action. This would have provided some sympathetic link between the cast and the audience. When the villagers and the athletes try to overtake their captors, the melee that ensues is unfocused. The movie slinks into a symbolic venue as the villagers sing the Thai national anthem before storming the guerillas. One villager literally waves the Thai flag for the last 15 minutes of screen time, which may set you off laughing, groaning, or possibly even celebrating along with nationalistic spirit, depending on your particular mood while watching BORN TO FIGHT.

While waiting for the next Tony Jaa flick, TOM YUM GOONG, BORN TO FIGHT is a nice distraction, and at 97 minutes, the film does breeze along at a good clip. Your fingers will get a major workout as you hit the return button on your remote control, going back time and again to view the jaw-dropping action set pieces, like a semi-truck plowing through a shanty town (ala POLICE STORY); a bad guy getting knocked from atop a moving semi, bouncing off a van onto the hard-dirt ground; a motorcycle hits a stationary object at high speed, throwing the driver into the air through a burning wooden structure, from which he crash exits. The list goes on. BORN TO FIGHT isn't great drama; just a series of viscerally painful stunts that will leave you shaking your head in disbelief long after the movie is over.