Born To Fight review

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No wires. No CG. No mercy. It's Ong-Bak meets Shaolin Soccer meets Delta Force.

Opening with a gun battle atop moving lorries, insane Thai actioner Born To Fight sees a team of gymnasts, sportsmen and athletes using their skills to save a Thai village from the heads of a brutal militia aiming to nuke Bangkok. Ridiculous? Abso-fucking-lutely. Directed by Ong-Bak choreographer Panna Rittikrai, Born To Fight doesn't raise the bar so much as set it on fire and start smacking people with it.

A baffling whisk of shaky, blood-on-lens realism and banzai insanity (a footy player taking out a sniper with a swerving 40-yard free-kick), Born To Fight is pure, balls-out stunt-reel cinema. By the final 40-minute traffic-jam of slo-mo skull-cracking, full-contact balletics and operatic ka-booms, you're left marvelling that they didn't hold the wrap party in a morgue.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

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