Basketball was always one of my favorite sports growing up, both to play and to watch. After a visit to Europe in 1995, where we missed almost the entire playoffs, my interest in the sport began to taper off. I still watched occasional games but not with the same level of dedication as I once had. This year’s Fantastic Fest brought us a film which featured basketball that immediately raised the bar on a sport I already loved, as well as provided one of the most entertaining action films I’ve seen in a long time. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Fireball !

The story centers around Tan ( Preeti Barameeanat), freshly released from prison by his brother, who earned the money for his release at the significant cost of being put in a coma. Tan decides to adopt his brother’s identity and get revenge on whomever it was that beat his brother so badly. It turns out his brother had been competing in the Fireball Tournament when he suffered his grievous injury so Tan sets out to join a team. The team that accepts him is a hastily thrown together group of thugs whose trust issues and personal quirks create a volatile mix, led by a brand new yakuza boss who recently took over after his old boss’ demise. It’s not too long before Tan figures out who did the damage and has to advance throughout the tournament to get his hands on the miscreant, yet how can a team of misfit mercenaries put aside their personal issues and gel as a team to even win a game?

A note on Fireball’s rules: it begins as a typical basketball game, 5 players on each team. The object is to put the ball in the hoop; first team to score wins. That’s it. Some adjunct rules apply as well. If neither team can score, whichever team has the last man standing wins. If a player is crippled or killed during the course of the tournament, you must play with whatever is left; no substitutions allowed. Thus begins a tournament of FULL CONTACT COMBAT BASKETBALL! Weapons, stiff kicks, dudes flying all over the place, forearms and superior kung-fu, all in the name of winning the cash prize (and in Tan’s case, revenge for his brother).

This action-filled film delivers some excellently choreographed fight sequences, to which the basketball is secondary, with short dramatic bridging sequences that further the sparse plot. And when I say action I mean it. The cast is mostly stuntmen (from whom some surprisingly good acting is culled ) which allows director Thanakorn Pongsuwan to create some of the most hard-hitting and brutal tournament games he could deliver and he does so in spades. The action in some cases is so devastatingly fast it becomes hard to tell who is beating the hell out of who, yet this is a minor quibble compared to what you’re seeing on screen. The film progresses at a rapid clip; for example, one of the best sequences is a practice session where Tan’s team has to go from the top of a building to a street-level court, which becomes a parkour treat as the players battle for the ball through apartments and backyards, after which the film runs straight to the next tournament match without missing a beat. Fans of basketball will be a tad disappointed in the actual lack of basketball itself but fans of relentlessly powerful fighting by multiple opponents all occurring simultaneously, which is the backbone of Fireball , will be thrilled and amazed by the brilliant execution and compulsive watchability of this excellently made movie.

Apparently, Fireball was a hugely sought-after festival film this year but the promotional department had determined that it would only play one North American Festival and that was Fantastic Fest so unfortunately, had you not been at either showing, this film will not be getting a theatrical release yet it seems that it is available on DVD in Thailand with an expected U.S. release date TBA so it should be easily obtainable very soon, and I suggest you check it out. The fast-pace, tremendous fight sequences and surprising acting make this a must-view and the door is open to a second film, which I hope definitely happens. This was one of my most-enjoyed films of an already tremendous quality Fantastic Fest this year so, needless to say, comes Highly Recommended!