|
 ere's a secret about the
low-budget Korean martial arts movie "The
Showdown" -- it starts off poorly, proceeds even
worst, but by the halfway point the film starts to
morph into something respectable. Not a great
movie by any stretch, mind you, but nevertheless
strangely enjoyable. Sort of. If you've heard that
"The Showdown" is the Korean version of Ryuhei
Kitamura's breakthrough hit "Versus",
it is -- and it isn't. Yes, the two films share
similar pedigrees, but whereas Kitamura opted for
a 2-hour gorefest and martial arts combat drowned
in throbbing techno, Jin-sung Kim goes the 90
minute route with comedy, healthy doses of
fisticuffs, and what can generously be called a
stab at a life lesson or something thereabouts.
The film stars a bunch of
people you've never heard of, shot on a moderate
budget by a first-time director, and has all the
visual appeal of your average low-budget zombie
movie shot on a shoestring budget. Except it's all
in Korean. Which is to say, the film doesn't look
very good. In fact, it looks downright dreadful
for most of its running time, owing in no small
part to lack of resources and unexceptional talent
behind the camera.
The film is about a group of
martial artists who are members of a popular
website where the members spend their time
discussing martial arts theory. Having tired of
online chatter, eight of them are invited by a
mysterious member name Geochilmaru to visit him in
his mountain retreat, where he promises to prove
his mettle in person. Among the group hoping for
the fight of their lives are: mild-mannered
Tae-sik, a dojo instructor; a pretty female
kindergarten teacher who goes by Iron Palm; a
gangster name Killingsmile with a huge chip on his
shoulder; (sorta) hippie guy Mohican; a hip-hop
kid named Beatbox; a Muay Thai kickboxer who is a
stock broker by day; a loudmouth stuntman itching
for a bruising; and finally, a slightly overweight
Judo wrestler.
Although it eventually
becomes something worthwhile for the undemanding
viewer, "The Showdown" is handicapped by a first
act that is all poor camera angles, bad acting,
stilted dialogue, and 30 or so minutes of
pointless meandering, basically consisting of the
would-be fighters boarding a van that shuffles
them off to Geochilmaru. Along the way, the
fighters argue (mostly the result of the loudmouth
stuntman being, well, a loudmouth), show each
other their moves, and generally suffer the
rudeness of bellicose street fighter Killingsmile.
A thug by trade, Killingsmile considers all this
martial arts theory pointless, and is itching to
prove it. One wonders, then, why he's there at
all, or how such an uneducated, uncivilized thug
ever figured out how to turn on a computer, much
less chat online.
But wait, there's a hitch. By
the time the group reaches their destination, they
are informed that only one of them may have the
privilege of fighting Geochilmaru, and it's up to
them to decide to who gets the honor. Unable to
choose, the fighters embark on the only course
left -- fight it out, with the winner bestowed the
right to face Geochilmaru. But does Geochilmaru
even exists? Stuntman Everafter doesn't think so,
and spends most of the movie getting beaten by the
other fighters and wondering if one of them is
really the Geochilmaru they've come to do battle
with.
One of "The Showdown's"
selling points is its casting of real fighters in
the roles, although I suspect the actor playing
gangster Killingsmile might be an actor by trade.
Although there are fights aplenty, the film also
indulges in comedy, some of which are a tad
odious. Most of this comes from a bumbling cop
whose attempts to pick up a delivery girl are
thwarted when the fighters arrive in his country
town. The cop follows the fighters into the
mountains, where, as they say, hilarity ensues.
Well, not actual hilarity, but some stabs at
comedy.
I find myself unable to fully
recommend "The Showdown", as it completely fails
to live up to expectations. Most viewers who
actively seek out the film will be approaching it
as a Korean version of "Versus", and indeed, even
Jin-sung Kim seems to understand that he's doing a
film very similar to Kitamura's own low-budget
kickfest if the sudden bursts of techno during the
fights are any indication. Unfortunately Kim
doesn't fully embrace Kitamura's high-voltage
style, and as a result most of the fights in "The
Showdown" are all down-to-Earth and realistic.
It's also easy to accept the filmmaker's premise
that real martial artists were cast in the roles,
as their abilities do in fact come through
onscreen (again, with the exception of the actor
playing Killingsmile, who I contend is actually an
actor, and not a real fighter).
The second half of "The
Showdown" proves that this is a good, if not
extraordinary first effort by Jin-sung Kim, but
the first half will have most viewers wondering if
they should cut their losses before the 30-minute
mark. Even action junkies won't completely embrace
"The Showdown", because although it has a lot of
action, they're not of the stylish variety lovers
of the genre usually associate with similar
entries. Don't watch "The Showdown" if you want
wild, "out there" fighting; there are some good
matches (the Muay Thai boxer pitting his brute
strength against the agility of the hippie's fluid
kung fu is a keeper), but just keep this in mind
if you decide to seek out "The Showdown": It may
sound like "Versus", but it ain't. |
