K.O. (2025) Movie Review – A sleeper hit for Netflix?

A sleeper hit for Netflix?
Another week rolls around and, of course, another Netflix action thriller hits the platform. Like a well-oiled machine, the streaming giant doesn't look like it's about to stop pumping out these hits any time soon.
There are already plenty of options in this field, with bigger-name titles like The Old Guard, The Gray Man, and Extraction mixed in with under-rated hits like Burn Out and Badland Hunters. Trying to stand out is not easy.
That unenviable task falls to French director Antoine Blossier. For the most part, K.O. is quite happy to revel in its mediocrity—offering little in the way of originality, but playing things competently enough across its 85-minute runtime to make for an enjoyable watch all the same.
The premise of K.O. clings to all the usual tropes you'd expect from a flick like this, jumping straight into the action. Here, we follow aspiring MMA fighter Bastien, who finds himself in the ring with his bitter rival, Enzo. The pair go toe-to-toe in a relentless and pretty brutal sequence that immediately sets the tone and mood for the rest of the movie.
Bastien's fight ends in tragedy when he counters a triangle hold into a full-on slam to the mat. Enzo's head crunches against the canvas, and unfortunately, he passes away as a result. Guilt-stricken, Bastien hangs up his gloves and disappears into exile.
Fast-forward two years, and our reclusive hero is called back into action by Enzo's widowed wife, Emma. Her son, Leo, has gone missing after getting mixed up in the drug trade, and it seems he may be the target of some particularly nasty gangsters. With a bullseye on his back, Leo is in big trouble—and Bastien feels a moral obligation to do right by Emma.
Bastien is thrown into the investigation alongside a detective named Alaoui, and together they work to find Leo and stop the gang before it's too late.
It's all rather simple stuff. The first half of the movie follows a standard formula of investigative groundwork to establish the stakes. Of course, we also get some action scenes thrown in for good measure—including a particularly impressive nightclub fight (which seems to be a staple of action movies recently, for some reason) and a tense chase across an apartment complex.
Like clockwork, the midpoint of the film tightens the screws, with Bastien and Alaoui's backstories explored while the search for Leo closes in, leading to a climactic fight at the police station.
K.O.'s story is very by-the-numbers, and there's really not a whole lot to write home about here. You'll see most of the big plot beats coming a mile off. The action is gritty and visceral enough to keep you watching, but even when twists arrive, they lean into genre clichés too heavily to really land.
The characters are archetypal almost to a fault, with both Alaoui and Bastien following straightforward arcs but lacking in original personality. Bastien is your typical 'tortured hero looking to make amends,' while Alaoui is the 'tortured hero looking to get vengeance.'
There's certainly potential for a tighter bond between Leo and Bastien in the midst of all this, and perhaps leaning heavier into a guardian/protector dynamic could have given the story some much-needed emotional energy. However, K.O. never really seems all that interested in going down that route. It's a shame, because with a runtime of under 90 minutes, even an extra 10 minutes to develop this relationship would have helped.
The saving grace of the film, beyond its perfunctory story and underwhelming character writing, comes from the action. The camerawork and general choreography are solid, and there are natural pauses in the combat where the fighters catch their breath. It's a detail we've seen in titles like John Wick, and it adds a welcome layer of realism that works well for this genre.
Although it does offer some well-executed action, it's not enough to make K.O. a knock-out hit. Instead, this one feels more like a 10-round pummelling session—landing a few clean strikes but ultimately feeling ineffective when the final bell sounds.

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