Wednesday, 31 August 2005

Born to Fight (2004)

I'm not sure what this Thai martial arts film was doing in a festival of fantasy and horror, but very enjoyable it was too.  I've not yet seen "Ong Bak" which is meant to be in the same genre and something of a treat insofar as there is no reliance on wire work or CGI -- just real athleticism.  This film is by the same director and stars the second lead of the earlier film (one Choupong Changprung -- so I can't say remember his name) as an undercover cop who has just lost his partner while capturing a mean drug lord.  He travels with a group of athletes to a border village where they are attacked by terrorists looking to free the baddie.  After that it is free-for-all mayhem, both bloody and spectacular.

There was a second Thai film shown called "P" (2005), directed by a westerner but otherwise thoroughly foreign.  This was about a poor village girl who goes to the big city and becomes a "hostess" to earn money to send home.  Because she is versed in magic, she begins to misuse her powers and a dark, evil second self emerges.  I somehow doubt that this will ever make it to British screens, but who knows.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I do like most of the Martial Arts films............better with sub titles though, they never seem to dub exactly right and it makes a mockery of some of them.  I grew up with the Water Margin though so I think my interest was deep routed. Some are quite blood and guts maybe that's why they were there.xxRache