Yau doh lung fu bong

Anyone who watches a Johnnie To movie only for the fight scenes is rather missing the point by a few country miles. This is a director with an impeccable dramatic sense, for whom the violence is purely a by-product of the fallibility of his characters. How on Earth can anyone watch a movie in a language they do not understand, without subtitles, and expect to come away with any feeling but disappointment? It would be like watching The Godfather in Croatian. The point with Throwdown, as with most of Johnnie To's movies, is the CHARACTERS! This may not be his all time greatest film (I would still go for All About Ah - Long), but it is still a great piece of drama. I would recommend anyone to check this out, the subtitled version, not the mainland Chinese pirate version, which is all they sell in Pacific mall, and enjoy a very entertaining piece of film making from one of Hong Kong's masters.

First impression... directorial tour de force, if (dont kill me for saying this) light on character development. I suspect Johnnie To did a minor miracle getting what was (or may have been) fairly thin stuff on the page via other writers to be far more (dare I say) poetic and lyrical (and even innocent) vibe than it would be in the hands of a Journeyman. This flows much more like a something Id actually expect to see in, I dont know, an animayed feature than live action, like from the fluidity of the tracking shots and movements of the camera as well as the slow motion.

It's the work of a dedicated Smuggler, bringing something deeper about how some of us out there - like the Gambling addict nightclub owner, more clear-eyed and pragmatic (would be) Nightclub singer, and ex Judo champion who may or may not find redemption as the plot summary says - are in an exiential rainstorm and its hard to run fast enough to find shelter or what to do. If I even tried to break down "story beats" it would sound silly, and rightfully so. Its an expressionistic experiment first, kick-ass action-crime thriller second.

Maybe a little too much sappy synth music for my taste to lift up the mood, maybe one or two flourishes that I didn't love (the guy singing mournfully during the nightclub fight, hmm gotta sleep on that). But this is often sumptuously directed, which is not what I was expecting, albeit I think my exposure to To has been the Election films and not a lot else (shame I can hear you crying), and I'd love to analyze the lighting and shots with a class or a film club or something. If it ever plays Alamo or the like, count me in.

And when I say To did a lot with the direction here, I also can tell he worked with the actors - Kwan and Ying but Ko especially in the kind of expressive/tortured masculine role Mickey Rourke could've crushed 20 years prior- and I felt depth from them in the style. If nothing else, it makes Judo fighting seem the most like a calling I've seen in any other film I can think of (even more than the directly cited Sanshiro Sugata by AK).

Raise my rating or lower it by tomorrow? Place your bets.

This movie was lots of fun. If you were expecting an all-out fighting movie I can see why you'd be let down. I actually only heard about this movie last week when I borrowed it from a friend. It didn't disappoint at all. If you are a fan of early Kurosawa films (Sanshiro Sugata in particular) you'll love this. It's kind of a modern re-telling of it. Like that film, and this film, there is a sort of suspension of reality. The characters are common archetypes - the has-been master, the wayward girl, the up-and-comer, the bad guy. The film doesn't intend to be a serious drama. Even the "bad guy" really isn't bad. It's more about the spirit of competition and getting back on your feet after you've been knocked down (no pun intended).

To me the film excels in its visuals. The film is shot beautifully with vivid colors that set the mood perfectly for each scene. And the finale? A duel in the wind-swept grass! How old-school is that?! Throw Down is a great film if you go in with little or no expectations of what it's "suppposed to be like." Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

For some reason this year, Johnnie To has hired actor that rarely or even be seen in his dark artistic movie. Just like Breaking News, this movie start Louis Koo (who work with him in Love FOr All Season, great movie BTW), Aaron Kwok, Cherrie Ying and Tony Leung Ka Fai.

In this movie he prove he can make a bad actor act good in this, has for the case of Aaron Kwok. Louis Koo unlike most of his film, rarely smile, has he portray a dark character he done a decent job. The movie contain the same moody feeling of late his other night hong kong like The Mission, PTU etc. The film revovle around the character, like those film and the judo was a prop. The judo fighting was film pretty impressive and enjoyable. Cherrie Ying for some reason, does not look hot in this movie, but her appearance scene (where she eating noodles and the owner keep throwing her stuff out the house) was special. I believe Louis Koo doesn't want to fight because he lost his passion. Nothing satisfy him anymore, not even money or booze.

I have to say this movie was better acted and the ending is better than breaking News.

Director/writer Johnnie To throws down lots of HK movie clichés: The Heist, The Young Challenger, The Fighting, The Master, The Rival, The Gangsters, The Gambling. But all of it's entertaining nonsense used to set up his usual innovative scenes and a little drama.

Give Director To credit for parodying these clichés to a fault.

This movie is challenging. This is not easy to digest chop sockey flash bang action.

So what is this movie about? A lot: Rediscovering relations from happier times, rediscovering oneself, and a director having fun and dropping references to Kurosawa's "Sugata Sanshiro" (1943).