5/5 Don't Bring the Popcorn
  by A. Pearson
Because if you're like me you'll spill it all as you stand up to shout for the action sequences. I came into this movie wanting an action thrill ride with little to no expectations for story. I got what I wanted. My brother-in-law and I could not have been happier. If you want an action movie with stunts, explosions, and crazy fight scenes, this is your stop. If you want a story, check out something other than a Thai movie titled "Born to Fight." It really says it all right there in the title.

I would watch this movie again right now if I didn't just lend it out for someone else to watch.

2/5 dismal
  by N. Place (middle east hawaiian internment camp)
don't get this. just watch the fight scenes on youtube or something. a big fat waste of money.

2/5 Nothing you haven't seen before
  by Travis (los angeles)
This movie is really stupid and silly. The worst part is that this film is just plainly boring. It was a struggle to get through. I am surprised Dragon Dynasty released this.

Skip it.

1/5 Born to fight
  by SANDMAN
Um... you people are way too kind in your reviews of this film. I am a huge movie collector and my vault contains hundreds of martial arts films alone. People, this movie is awful! Dan Chupong is no Tony Jaa. If you like On-Bak or the Protector and are under the impression that this is like, or even as good as those movies, you will be dissappointed. You WILL find yourself saying "this is stupid" the entire time watching this movie. As far as the stunts go, some are pretty decent, but there is nothing that we havent seen before. The martial arts in this movie are sloppy and sub standard. SKIP IT!

3/5 Born to Fight (Gerd Ma Lui - 1986 release)
  by Curtis G (OC, CA, USA)
If you're looking for the recent "Born to Fight"--the one with the terrorists--let me warn you: this is not it. Evidently director Panna Rittikrai liked the title enough to reuse it, but only that and a couple of stunts connect this movie and his 2004 so-called remake. (There's not even an IMDb.com listing for this movie.)

On the surface, BTF appears to follow a very simple plot, but it gets so complicated that I still have no idea what was going on. There's some stuff about a lawyer and a notebook, and then some guys in matching jackets beat someone up. (It takes so long to get to the title sequence that a buddy I was watching it with thought it was over and said, "Is that it?")

We meet the main character, P'Tong, practicing martial arts with his son and daughter. The Matching Jackets Gang shows up to fight him and he beats them all. I have no idea what the point of that was, because then some guy P'Tong knows (his former boss, I guess) gets out of his car and tells P'Tong he needs to go to the city to find someone.

P'Tong makes it to the city, but everywhere he goes, some new gang tries to beat him up. He meets up with the inescapable comic relief; they find Uncle Jam and then fight some more. Guys in black coveralls and ski masks jump around in the dark and get P'Tong blamed for something or other. There's some nonsense about mistaken identity, but I was never clear on who the bad guys were or why they needed to kidnap Samsung or Sampan or whatever that guy's name was that P'Tong was looking for. At the end, suddenly the ski-mask ninjas show up again. Finally we get a fight scene worth waiting for (and a bunch of painful-looking stunts that Rittikrai recycled for Tony Jaa). But no terrorists.

The comic relief was mostly irritating, but there were a couple of genuinely funny moments. The girl was cute, but absolutely worthless. The one time when I thought she was actually going to fight, she stood up, clenched her fist...and then stepped back and started cheerleading for P'Tong. She deserved the beatdown she got a few minutes later.

I applaud the effort, but for the most part, the experience is like watching any no-budget early-80s cookie-cutter Chinese kung fu movie. In some regards, it's downright primitive: the acting is terrible; people and vehicles obviously start from dead stops at the beginning of takes; and the vehicle chases take place at about five miles per hour. But hey--this movie led to another, and another, and the rest is history.

Overall, "Born to Fight '86" may be worth a look if you really like old school martial arts movies, but for technical proficiency and sheer jaw-dropping stunt work, see the remake.