Aug 7
Chatchapol Kulsiriwoottichai - BKO: Bangkok Knockout (2010)
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Angola
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from South Korea
seen from Greece
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Greece
seen from United States
seen from Maldives
seen from China
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
Chatchapol Kulsiriwoottichai - BKO: Bangkok Knockout (2010)
Bangkok Knockout (2010)
Poonyapat Soonkunchanon, Tanavit Wongsuwan - BKO: Bangkok Knockout (2010)
Puchong Sartnok - Bangkok Knockout (2010)
Panna Rittikrai got his big break as stunt coordinator on Ong Bak. He was solely responsible for that new wave of Thai films that focused on bone crunching bumps and blows. If you’ve seen Chocolate, for example, he was the fight coordinator for that film too. He later moved on to direct the troubled Ong Bak 2 (Tony Jaa walked off set and disappeared for a few weeks) and the not-quite-as-good-as-the-first-two, Ong Bak 3.
After the failure of the third film, most people forgot about Panna. He severed ties with Tony Jaa too, which I’m sure was a pretty harsh blow to his career. However, he did direct the movie this scene is from, Bangkok Knockout. Put simply, Panna gathered a handful of stuntmen and put them in their own film. The result is a plot-less mess with really, really good action scenes.
The finale is basically a stuntman free-for-all. There are trick-kicks, smashed vases, a car running people over and an invincible dude in a mask a la Jason Vorhees. The whole thing is a massive mess but it’s bizarrely entertaining Even the shoddy special effects give it a weird “workshop” vibe. Like they shouldn’t really be filming because it’s all a rehearsal.
Rittikrai went on to make one last film (Vengeance of an Assassin) before he passed away in 2014. In his short career, he single-handedly gave us a brand new style of action. A style that’s still around today (even if it is a little played out). The dude’s a legend of the genre. Tony Jaa will go down as one of the iconic names of martial arts cinema, alongside the likes of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. And it was all due to one man: Panna Rittikrai.
You can buy Bangkok Knockout on DVD for $6 or Blu Ray for $13 here. you can also rent it on Prime Video, if that’s your thing.
Bangkok Knockout (2010)
Bangkok Knockout (2010)