SpuffyWeb
Sadly Over-hyped
Aubrey Hackett
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Ava-Grace Willis
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Vultural ~
Alright fight fans! Meek, lower tier bank clerk enters the glamorous world of arena wrestling. He finds a gym, an old wrestler, now disgraced trainer. Clerk learns dirty tricks, and wears the mask of the villain! By turns funny and sad, the latter involving his depressing workplace and the way others view him. Once that mask is donned, though, beware the tiger. Laugh out loud film with outrageous, no holds barred, final act. Early film of Kang-ho Song whose profile swiftly climbed in the West thanks to Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, The Host, The Good, The Bad, And The Weird, most recently Snowpiercer. Suggested double feature pairing - Andy Kaufman's I'm From Hollywood.
Jon Sturgess
As a long term wrestling fan in Australia I viewed this movie with some trepidation based on the description in our cable movie guide. I was pleased to find the 'blurb' was nothing like the real thing and my interest was well rewarded.As others reviewers have commented, this film is a mix of two themes interwoven with action/comedy sequences and the boringness of being in banking.My only disappointment was the ending. Perhaps because I am not Korean I may have missed the significance of some key things along the way.This is a great film for those who enjoy a good laugh, some great wrestling action wrapped in a cultural gentleness which could teach us in 'the west' something about life.For me, 8.5 out of 10.
uncleseven
I purchased this movie based upon the recommendations of many people from different websites. Most of them claiming that the movie works well because its comedy is cross cultural.I don't disagree that when the comedic elements are present - they work well. However, and this is a big however, they are few and far between. The movie fails for me because of its pacing. There is nothing really fantastic going on between the comedic moments. It's just filler material that tries to tell a story about the blandness of a man's life, and his interactions with his environment. It succeeds in showing why he would go into wrestling, but also succeeds in putting the viewer to sleep. I watched it once myself, and watched it again with friends. During the second viewing I had multiple requests to fast forward through dull, drawn-out scenes.Don't get me wrong, I repeat, there are spectacular moments, but they are few and far between. Rent this or just don't even bother.
vanrosss
This outrageous comedy was a box office smash in Korea for a reason. It was hilarious and poignant! The direction was terrific as the tone was always right on, and placed every event into the evolution of the story. The absurd slapstick humor hides the statement about barriers of social status and changes to one's life. The performances make this film even more outstanding.
