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| THE FOUL KING. Starring - Song Kang-Ho - Chang Jin-Young - Chang Han-Sun - Park Sang-Myun. Director - Kim Ji-Woon. 2000. Dae-Ho an inept bank clerk finds himself being bullied by the deputy branch manager time and time again. He tries to appease his boss but everything always seems to turn out badly for him, usually ending up in a headlock at the hands of his tormentor. Fed up with his treatment Dae-Ho decides his best course of action is to follow in the footsteps of his hero the infamous ‘Ultra tiger mask’ a wrestler who gained recognition for his cheating ways. Dae-Ho finds himself mysteriously drawn to Jang’s Pro wrestling gym and immediately suspects Jang of being his idol, but Jang seems unimpressed with Dae-Ho and pays little attention to Dae-Ho’s accusations and desires. That is until Jang is paid to train a cheating wrestler in order to throw a fight to the legendary Yubiho in order to impress the onlooking Japanese Wrestling federation scouts. Don’t believe the hype! The Foul King did exceptionally well at both the Korean and HK box office and has garnered glowing reviews from all over the place citing it’s cutting comedy and breathtaking fight scenes as being the reasons behind this movies success. Now whilst the comedy is funny at times it is no better than your average episode of Friends or some other similar TV comedic trash. The big problem with The Foul King is that it has tried to make an entertaining movie surrounding a sport that is as entertaining as American football. I know I have probably just alienated half of my readers, but be honest with yourselves, how entertaining is a sport where the action stops more than it starts and the players are surrounded by more padding than a Tampax sponsored female basketball team at THAT time of the month? Speaking of American football, The Foul King moves along at roughly the same pace, it’s kind of like watching a 25k slug race where all the competitors are encased in cement and shot full of mind altering drugs beforehand. Not everything here is totally bad though, as I said before the comedy is mildly amusing and the fight scenes are actually really well shot and choreographed, alas these fight scenes don’t generate any kind of atmosphere and you wont get that Rocky Balboa feeling but technically they are very well done. My children love watching the over hyped spandex clad pantomimes that the WWF/E has spewed in this direction for too long now and would probably love this film, but my mind seems to have developed slightly further than theirs. I simply refuse to accept wrestling as a serious and credible sport. I did not however allow my feelings towards wrestling cloud my judgement towards The Foul King and I went into this movie with an open and willing mind. Unfortunately within 30 minutes I was so bored I found myself wishing I had inserted something more intriguing into my player instead, like a piece of raw sewage for example. I struggled to understand exactly what the fuck was going on at times as well, yes I understood the mouse that roared storyline surrounding Dae-Ho but I just couldn’t understand why the director decided to offer us two love interests for Dae-Ho but then never explored either avenue. Also along these lines, we are introduced to Dae-Ho’s friend Choo Doo-Shik early on in the film, he too is inept and finds himself in the hands of the bullish deputy manager’s mercy as he is coerced into aiding in embezzling funds from the bank. This subplot also disappears into the background like a fading Bee Gee (obscure Maurice Gibb reference, sorry) and left me wondering as to why this or any of the love interest scenes were ever mentioned in the first place. For some reason The Foul King is touted as being a comedy, but whilst containing a tiny amount of mildly amusing scenarios this movie is nothing more than a Rocky wannabe albeit without any passion. I really wanted to like this movie but I struggled to keep these old eyelids of mine open as it lumbered disjointedly from one scene to the next. 4****stars. |
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