Yau doh lung fu bong

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).

I have gone into this film very excited as I have become a Johnnie To fan only recently. After seeing both Election movies and PTU, I have been totally amazed at the quality of director he is and how good his films can be. Throw Down continues my fan-ship of Mr To in style. I have always felt that wires and stunt doubles ruin films, no matter what the genre, and this is something Mr To seems to share with me. The fighting style of Judo is perfect for the physical aspect of the film. The actors can get close and throw each other to the ground without need of propelling themselves over bamboo trees, which is great.

The three main leads, Sze-To, Tony and Mona are pretty good. Though Mona seems to aimlessly wonder through the film and really only serve as a third wheel at times, she is a nice enough support for the muscle of the film. Louise Koo is amazing as Sze-To, the former champ turned club owner. His drunken and dazed, followed by angered and determined emotions are all portrayed brilliantly. I was even surprised by Aaron Kwok, who is great as the eager Judo fighter, travelling from fight to fight, and spurring Sze-To into his renewed sense of fight.

The photography is spot on. The massive fight in the club is so perfectly filmed and cut with the Japanese vocal that it was a joy to watch. Even the simple scenes of clubs, night life, computer games room, restaurant, are all magnificently shot. And then, as if the film were not good enough already, the soundtrack, sound editing, production design (such as the Ext Judo Championship scene) and the screenplay are all as good as you could want. The first hour and ten minutes had me on the edge of my seat. The following twenty minutes had a more mysterious, what can happen now, feel, but it is all just perfect.

If you haven't seen a Johnny To film, this might be a good starting point, but be warned, he makes no excuses and feels no obligation to explain anything about anything, it's often left to the viewer to determine the why and the how. This, for me, is what film-making is all about.

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.

When I saw Throwdown at the video store, I didn't think it would be that great. However, I had never seen a judo movie before, so I decided to give it a try.

First of all, the action scenes in the movie are great. I think people who are knowledgeable about ground fighting (eg Brazilian jiujitsu or judo) will appreciate the fight scenes. The fight scenes display both take-downs (throws and trips) when the fighters are standing up and ground fighting (joint locks and chokes) when the fights go to the ground. The transitions between the judo moves also flow very well. The actors in the movie even demonstrate proper techniques to break their falls when they get thrown to the ground.

In addition to the fight scenes, I love how the characters all have obstacles in their lives that they must overcome. I love how judo is used as a metaphor for the lives of these characters. When practicing judo, a person will fall many times and find it hard to continue. To be successful, the person must get up after falling down and continue to train. Similarly, a person will experience hardships in life and often find it difficult to continue living. Despite these hardships, one must put in his best effort and continue doing what he has to do.

If you're expecting this movie to have actors flying in the air like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, you might be disappointed. But if you want to see a movie with more realistic fight scenes and an inspirational message about perseverance, I recommend this movie.

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.