Born to Fight

I'm sweet on Thailand, which is weird because I've never been there. Nevertheless, everyone I know who has been there has raved about it. My father lived in Bangkok for a while and raves about the food and the incredibly friendly, easygoing nature of the people in the Land of Smiles. My sister-in-law went to Chiang Mai on a missions trip and liked it so much she moved there permanently. She raves about the food, the beautiful scenery in her part of the country, and (again) the incredibly friendly and easygoing nature of the people in the Land of Smiles. My friends in the Navy mostly rave about the cheap beer in Phu Ket; but hey, there's a lot to be said for cheap beer served with a smile!

After delighting through BORN TO FIGHT, I realized why Thais are known for being so friendly: since they can kick your butt three ways to Sunday, they don't need attitude. Further, I realized why their beer is so cheap: they need the alcohol to numb the pain that results from having a complete disregard for personal safety. BORN TO FIGHT is like an '80s-90's Hong Kong action-fest, only moreso. Where the masterpiece POLICE STORY features a car chase through (and I mean through!) a shantytown, BORN TO FIGHT drives its vehicles through a shantytown and adds explosions. Where HARD BOILED features Chow Yun Fat shooting it out and rappelling with a baby in one arm, BORN TO FIGHT features a guy doing gymkata with a baby strapped to his back. It's just plain awesome.

Let me run it down for you: this movie has Tae Kwon Do, Muy Thai, Gymkata, Gunkata, Little Girlkata, Old Mankata, Hot Chickkata, Soccerkata, Rugbykata, Motocrosskata, Semi Truckkata, and, oh, yeah, lots and lots of TNTkata. Didja like that CGI flaming motorcycle in GHOST RIDER? In BORN TO FIGHT, they light an actual motorcycle on fire, put an actual guy on that motorcycle, then have him drive up an actual ramp, crashing the motorcycle into the windshielf of a semi while the guy flies over the trailer and lands on what I can only hope are a couple of mattresses buried in the ground and covered with dirt. Didja like the ferry explosion that kicked off DEJA VU? In BORN TO FIGHT, they blow up an entire village real good. I mean, c'mon! What more do you need? Toss in a little Buddhism, a lot of Thai nationalism, even some actual character development, and you've got yourself an action picture that puts this summer's American pixelfests to shame.

If America had more movies like this, we'd be a Land of Smiles, too.