ActionFest 2011: Bangkok Knockout (2010)

One of the best action films at ActionFest 2011 was Bangkok Knockout! Fans of Tony Jaa and the Ong-bak films get ready for another 105 minutes of action extravaganza! The man behind Ong-bak, Born to Fight, Chocolate and mentor to Tony Jaa, Panna Rittkrai has made another film. This time instead of having one main character run around and kick ass, he put his whole stunt team in the film Bangkok Knockout creating one crazy fun action film!

A stunt team is celebrating a competition win when they suddenly wake up to find themselves trapped in a building. One of the team’s female pals has been kidnapped and they have to fight a large group of baddies in order to save the girl and themselves.

None of the plot stuff I just said really matters. The story is bad, the acting is worse, but the action is absolutely fan-freakin’-tastic! There is maybe 15-20 minutes of plot setup and poor attempts at humor and then it gets to the good stuff. Once the action starts it doesn’t stop. There are approximately nine team members of the stunt team all fighting their own battles. They perform their own stunts and exhibit several different fighting styles like Muay Thai and Capoeira, utilizing some unique sets for the fights and excellent use of props. At one point two guys are fighting in a cage and climb across the wire like flaming spiders! The end battle has every single good guy and bad guy involved in fighting in the same room at the same time earning the ActionFest award of Best Fight Scene.

I was extremely pleased with the female characters. Even though the two of them are kidnapped at some point, they get in on the action defending their self several times. They weren’t the helpless females seen many times.

Bangkok Knockout is crazy, action packed fun. Watch it!

Action Rating: 5 Flaming Spiders, out of 5.

This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!