The Thai movies Ong Bak and The Protector signaled the rise of Tony Jaa as a charismatic action star. Using fighting styles that originated in Thailand, Jaa dazzled action fans with running knee kicks and elbow blows to the tops of his opponents’ heads. Undoubtedly, Jaa’s no-nonsense brutality developed a cult following even here in North America, so the Weinstein brothers made a deal to release Born to Fight on DVD via their Dragon Dynasty label.

Born to Fight was directed by one of the creators of Ong Bak and The Protector. The movie opens with an extended prologue that is short on exposition but heavy on people climbing on top of moving trucks and then falling off of the same moving trucks. In one sequence, a flaming truck crashes through shacks built on a hillside--an obvious reference to the opening of Jackie Chan’s Police Story. The rest of the movie follows a group of athletes to a small village, where the athletes donate food, toys, and other provisions to the impoverished. A guerilla group takes the village hostage, and when the guerillas’ leader decides to shoot a nuclear missile into the heart of Bangkok, the villagers decide to fight for the survival of their country’s capitol.

Born to Fight reminded me of Hong-Kong action movies from the Bruce-Lee era. Bruce Lee was in a wave of movies that demonstrated Chinese patriotism via the nationalistic practice of kung fu. Born to Fight features Thai athletes who often compete on behalf of their country, including Olympic gold medalist Somrak Khamsing (boxing). At one point, the athletes stand up and sing the Thai national anthem before fighting the bad guys. As the movie proceeds to its non-stop-fighting finale, most of the athletes are showcased utilizing their unique skills in fighting. Some of them kick balls that knock out enemies, and some of them use gymnastics routines to outfox the guerillas.

The use of athletic skills for fighting could’ve been acceptable to some degree, but the level of incorporation is rather low. Born to Fight is meant to be understood as a “realistic” street-brawling thriller, not a supernatural martial-arts fantasy. Therefore, the stunts are mostly silly and unbelievable despite the fact that the performers probably spent hours preparing their moves. When the camera observes a gymnast doing routines on parallel bars, the movie basically stops dead in its tracks. I watched this movie with my dad, and he and I just kept laughing at the movie despite its dead-earnest seriousness. Instead of being awed by the commotion, we rolled our eyes at over-choreographed nonsense.

Unlike most action movies, Born to Fight doesn’t really even bother to have a story. What you get is a lame premise, a main character who disappears for long stretches of time, numbingly repetitive techno-music, and action choreography that induces disbelief rather than awe or admiration. With Tony Jaa, at the very least you get a fighter fighting for real instead of athletes kicking balls at men with guns.