Alright, I've seen over 3 dozen martial arts movies in my life time and this one is a good one, but I'm sorry to say...the acting doesn't deliver.
The plot to the movie is VERY good on paper. The world's Tae Kwan Do championship is coming up and a team of 5 different Americans is chosen to face the reigning champions from South Korea. The Americans led by Coach Couzo (James Earl Jones) has to face themselves before facing their opponents, in more ways than one.
We get your 80's character cliché of The best fighter but with troubled past: (Philip Ree), your guy who looks like a geek but could snap your neck in two (John Dye) your resident a-hole (Chris Penn), your supporter guy just to fill out the roster (David Argresta) and your leader who happens to be the star of the movie (Eric Roberts). We also got your female trainer who happens to care more about the fighters than their training (Sally Kirkland).
Like I said, the on paper storyline development is phenomenal and James Earl Jones does a hell of a job in his role. Unfortunately other than Chris Penn, the rest of the cast leaves a lot to be desired. Sometimes Eric Roberts was a little too melodramatic in his role of Alex Grady and just looking at David Argresta in his role of Sonny made me laugh every time he appeared on screen.
Now, as the movie progresses we learn that Tommy Lee (Philip Ree) happens to be pulling his punches because its discovered the leader of the Koreans Dae Han (Philip's real life brother Simon) had killed Tommy's brother years ago. Tommy doesn't want to hurt anyone but he's forced to literally knock out Virgil (Dye) to prove he can beat anyone. We also learn that Alex has a son who's injured in a car accident, and James Earl Jones comes off as a complete jerk to get Alex's mind off it. However in the end, James shows mercy and drives home the fact he is the best actor of the cast and his scenes later in the movie only prove it.
Now for the plot holes....and there are a few. Apart from the shoddy acting, there's a scene where the 5 fighters are forced to run 20 laps around an outdoor track, which is 5 miles. We're supposed to believe Chris Penn....the fat guy from Reservoir Dogs and To Wong Foo....can run 5 miles without dropping dead? Also he supposedly does 165 sit-ups in a row, HA! Don't get me wrong, Chris Penn in his prime could play the antagonist as well as anyone but they really stretched the character's limits by having him cast. The next part is the bar fight where Team USA cleans house of the rednecks in the bar, how they didn't get arrested is what I'm trying to figure out.
The ending is a little cheesy but it actually set up a "we're all winners" touching moment that even I thought was good. I won't give away too much but I'll get to the point and say the martial arts were good, James Earl Jones was good, the storyline itself was good, the ending was touching....but the acting was mostly ridiculous.
My favorite highlight is actually something you'd miss it if you blinked. Wade (Sally) is getting Team USA to stretch and Travis (Penn) simply lays down, puts a towel over his eyes and goes to sleep while everyone else stretches and struggles.
Overall its a very watchable movie with great fight scenes and Chris Penn and James Earl Jones delivering the goods. The rest of the cast...ugh.
6 out of 10
The plot to the movie is VERY good on paper. The world's Tae Kwan Do championship is coming up and a team of 5 different Americans is chosen to face the reigning champions from South Korea. The Americans led by Coach Couzo (James Earl Jones) has to face themselves before facing their opponents, in more ways than one.
We get your 80's character cliché of The best fighter but with troubled past: (Philip Ree), your guy who looks like a geek but could snap your neck in two (John Dye) your resident a-hole (Chris Penn), your supporter guy just to fill out the roster (David Argresta) and your leader who happens to be the star of the movie (Eric Roberts). We also got your female trainer who happens to care more about the fighters than their training (Sally Kirkland).
Like I said, the on paper storyline development is phenomenal and James Earl Jones does a hell of a job in his role. Unfortunately other than Chris Penn, the rest of the cast leaves a lot to be desired. Sometimes Eric Roberts was a little too melodramatic in his role of Alex Grady and just looking at David Argresta in his role of Sonny made me laugh every time he appeared on screen.
Now, as the movie progresses we learn that Tommy Lee (Philip Ree) happens to be pulling his punches because its discovered the leader of the Koreans Dae Han (Philip's real life brother Simon) had killed Tommy's brother years ago. Tommy doesn't want to hurt anyone but he's forced to literally knock out Virgil (Dye) to prove he can beat anyone. We also learn that Alex has a son who's injured in a car accident, and James Earl Jones comes off as a complete jerk to get Alex's mind off it. However in the end, James shows mercy and drives home the fact he is the best actor of the cast and his scenes later in the movie only prove it.
Now for the plot holes....and there are a few. Apart from the shoddy acting, there's a scene where the 5 fighters are forced to run 20 laps around an outdoor track, which is 5 miles. We're supposed to believe Chris Penn....the fat guy from Reservoir Dogs and To Wong Foo....can run 5 miles without dropping dead? Also he supposedly does 165 sit-ups in a row, HA! Don't get me wrong, Chris Penn in his prime could play the antagonist as well as anyone but they really stretched the character's limits by having him cast. The next part is the bar fight where Team USA cleans house of the rednecks in the bar, how they didn't get arrested is what I'm trying to figure out.
The ending is a little cheesy but it actually set up a "we're all winners" touching moment that even I thought was good. I won't give away too much but I'll get to the point and say the martial arts were good, James Earl Jones was good, the storyline itself was good, the ending was touching....but the acting was mostly ridiculous.
My favorite highlight is actually something you'd miss it if you blinked. Wade (Sally) is getting Team USA to stretch and Travis (Penn) simply lays down, puts a towel over his eyes and goes to sleep while everyone else stretches and struggles.
Overall its a very watchable movie with great fight scenes and Chris Penn and James Earl Jones delivering the goods. The rest of the cast...ugh.
6 out of 10