Review of BKO: Bangkok Knockout

Cruddy Thai action flick. Actually, the action isn't half bad. There's a fight in a cage early on that's just spectacular, and the rest of the action sequences, of which there are a lot, are nothing to sniff at. But the director has no idea how to make a film, and the writing (to which the director contributed) is beyond awful. For most martial arts movies, that's easy enough to overlook, but Rittikrai keeps making the mistake of letting the story intrude on the action. The story involves a "fight club," a group of mostly teenage martial artists, who are roped into a survival competition. A group of rich gamblers watch their progress and make bets. The worst part of this film is that these scenes with the gamblers keep popping up and lasting far too long. Not to mention that the whole "game" never makes any sense. The heroes of the film are photogenic and athletic, but they're also pretty dull. Frequently the villains are more interesting.