Thailand, 1984: Born to Fight

**Conde Koma** · Posted On: 7/19/2010 1:43pm

Kerd Ma Lui
Thailand, 1984
Genre: Pulp Action
93 minutes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566530/

Panna Rittikrai, the man behind Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong, directs and stars in Born to Fight, one of his earliest films. A Hong Kong lawyer uncovers an embezzling plot and must flee to Thailand seeking protection from a fearsome gang of enforcers.

Marketed as the film inspiration for Tony Jaa’s own stunt career, Panna’s work is easily recognized in this piece of history. Panna himself was heavily influenced by the films of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, and numerous references to both action stars make their way into the movie (try counting how many times Panna swipes his nose). Still, this piece represents a landmark in the development of Thai action cinema, and pioneered many of the stunt techniques seen later in his films with Tony Jaa.

While the production quality is definitely reflective of the low budget and undeveloped photography skills, the movie is rather entertaining for what it had to work with. The acting is unsurprisingly wooden and melodramatic, but the dialogue is genuinely clever and humorous at times. Panna relies on a number of classic slapstick gags for comic relief, which doesn’t always feel appropriate for the moment, but the talents of his comedic co-star help sell the cheesiness of the jokes.

Like his protégé, Panna uses the film to demonstrate his numerous skills in stunt performance and choreography. Fast paced fight scenes and full-contact strikes became the cornerstones for his wild success with Ong Bak, and his use of a variety of martial arts styles would be seen again in Ong Bak 2. Leaps off cars, over dirt bikes, into flames, and through floorboards make up rest of the stunts and illustrate Panna’s still rough style of choreography.

While Born to Fight obviously can’t compare with the far more polished works made more than twenty years later, the movie is still very much worth checking out. Taken for the 70s era B-movie that it is, Panna directs a fun romp through rural Thailand, with spit-takes, motorbike chases, and fights against a team of ninjas. Choppy and clumsy at times, Born to Fight represents the first in an amazing legacy of hard-hitting Thai action films.

**gregaquaman** · Posted On: 7/19/2010 1:47pm

the best bit of that movie is watching the special features and seeing how the stunts were done.
Mostly It involves throwing people into really dangerous places and hoping they dont die I assume it is a unique Thai attitude to stunt work.

**ChenPengFi** · Posted On: 7/19/2010 2:06pm

Wth? I have this dvd and i don't remember any HK lawyer or ninjas.
The lead was an undercover cop and he was chaperoning his sister on a humanitarian trip when they are taken hostage by terrorists seeking the release of their imprisoned leader..
Umm, iirc.
The stunt outtakes were impressive indeed, one guy almost gets his head run over by the trailer, good times!
Oh and one legged soccer players are not to be messed with!

edit: Just realized mine is from 2004, same director and title, not the same movie... lol carry on.

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 7/19/2010 2:24pm

A re-release? Time for another review! :D

**Conde Koma** · Posted On: 7/20/2010 3:31pm

Yeah, Panna did a re-make back in 2004 with Dan Chupon, who he was hoping to mold into another action star like Tony Jaa. Chupon didn't really catch on, though, so was relegated to playing second fiddle to Jaa in Ong Bak 2 and 3.

I actually prefer the older version. The re-make is a lot dumber and not nearly as entertaining. Better stunt work, obviously, but the gimmick of a bunch of athletes fighting trained soldiers got old really quick.