Ko-ri-a

Now the plot and direction of this movie is pretty darn generic when it comes to sports/drama movies. But it's still a entertaining and tear jerking movie. Even if this movie goes in a very predictable direction, it just wasn't boring and is fun to watch most of the way through. The generic story of team members not getting along but putting there difference aside, become friends or at least respect each other and put there efforts to try and defeat there opponents team has been done many times. But it's the bond between the characters and because all the characters become so darn likable and cool by the end I ended up enjoying this generic flick. Now this is based on a true story but has kinda irrelevant subplots in it but it didn't get to the point where it got annoying or anything like that. Ha Ji-Won and Bae Doo-Na's characters are based on actual athletes and they make a dynamic team. They are both so cool and likable in this movie even if Ha Ji-Won's character in this can be a bit of a goody two shoes. The side characters was likable and was enjoyable to see on screen, especially Choi Yoon-Young. I don't know how much of this movie is CGI and real ping pong players taking the place of the actresses when it comes to the ping pong scenes. But everything was believable and I bought into these actresses really being professional ping pong players and it was just hot to see them play. Overall this is a exciting and entertaining sports/drama that is worth a watch despite the plot lacking invigorating elements.

7.2/10

This movie is amazing! The first half hour is a bit 'meh', but after that, the story really kicks in and it is absolutely stunning. I have to admit, I purchased this film because I love Table Tennis, but even if you don't love Table Tennis, you will enjoy this film. The acting of the main, and secondary characters is astounding. I absolutely recommend this film. Just remember to have a box of tissues handy.

Sports is universal.

That's what brought the two Koreas together. Its a touching re-telling of the actual success and hardship of having two Korean teams come together to win the biggest ping-pong match ever. Hats off to the actresses who trained hard from being total noobs to credibly skillful table-tennis players. They were extremely convincing on-screen. I had no idea it was possible for actresses to play like pros in just a few months.

Love the true story. Deeply touched by it. Shed tears of pain & joy watching it. Worth it!

Hmmmmm. Bae Doo-na and Ha Ji-won together in an underdog sports based film that's based on a true story & set against a political backdrop. Yeah, I'm down with that. Let's get it on!

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Frankly, it would be pretty hard to mess up this combination of talent and story even if you tried. It's almost guaranteed to be at least above average, and if done right, it should be outstanding. Anything resulting in less than a solidly watchable film would be unacceptable!

To be fair, I should preface this review by stating that Bae Doo-na is one of my favorite actresses. She has a unique ability to consistently deliver on screen excellence regardless of whatever she is asked to do. She's somewhat unconventional and quirky as well (in both her performances and appearance), but I think that actually works to her benefit. Oh, and I find her "unconventional" looks to be highly attractive. Ha Ji-won, on the other hand, seems to be more of a cookie cutter type of pretty girl actress that eventually worked her way up through the Korean movie making system. She's always been super easy on the eyes, but, I didn't initially think of her as being a great (or even good) actress when she first started out years ago. To her credit though, she clearly has worked very hard over the years to shed her image of being nothing more than a "beautiful Korean actress dejour", and, she has developed some pretty good acting chops along the way. In all honesty, I would've likely given any film starring these actresses a positive review, even if the two of them just stood around discussing various bibimbap recipes for 2 hours.

So, what we're basically talking about here is two A list superstar Korean actresses, paired together in the prime of their careers, to retell a 20 year old story that is almost too unbelievable to be true if it didn't actually happen; North and South Korea working together, seemingly on a moment's notice, to form a united team of athletes prior to the '91 world table tennis championship. The purpose of forming this unified team was twofold; A) to ease tensions and further help the efforts of the two Koreas to work towards a potential future reunification via "ping-pong diplomacy"; and, B) to finally beat that damn invincible Chinese table tennis team once and for all.

Unless you live under a rock, you're probably aware that Korean reunification hasn't happened nearly 20 years after the events depicted in this movie occurred (and, almost 60 years after the Korean war). Tensions and talks regarding the same have risen and fallen both long before & long after this tournament, and that's kind of a shame really. But, I'm not here to talk about global politics or modern Korean history; I'm here to talk about this movie. And, although the political backdrop of the time is a hugely important part of this movie, it doesn't detract from the fact that this makes for one fine sports themed film all on its own.

Both actresses acquit themselves well here, but I would expect nothing less. Doo-na plays the North Korean's team leader, and Ji-won fills the same role for her southern team. Clearly, each actress trained very hard for this film to learn the sport, and to realistically portray their historical counterparts as accurately as possible. Doo-na, in particular, is given an almost impossible role to pull off; in addition to what both actress have to do in general, she also has to learn to speak in a northern dialect and learn to play table tennis with her non dominant hand, and she pretty much nailed it all as far as I'm concerned!...Ji-won matches her performance step for step throughout.

As the movie unfolds, the North & South teams are brought together to live and train "as one". Neither team likes this arrangement though, as they've been rivals for years, and resent being used as political pawns by their own countries. This union only serves to deepen their dislike for one another, and they appear to have little in common; the north team is icy and reserved and always under the watchful eye of their government, and the south team is a mirror image which is accustomed to enjoying much more freedom in every aspect of life. As such, the two teams clash from the get go, don't trust one another, and simply cannot seem to overcome their differences.

Over time, the teams gradually come to understand and respect each another more and more, and, they eventually get down to the business of working together to accomplish their mutual goals. Along the way, they ultimately become inseparable friends and teammates, even though they realize they likely won't be able to remain so forever.

Overall, this is a pretty decent flick. Aside from the leads, the secondary cast does a capable job in their individual roles. There are a couple of side stories that work well enough too; the most amusing of which being the efforts of one of the south team girls trying to woo one of the north team boys. There's a fair enough amount of table tennis sports action throughout, but make no mistake; this is primarily a Korean melodrama about people coming together to overcome the differences that separate them due to a line on a map & a mountain of political ideologies. The film's table tennis action scenes do look quite good when they're focused on however.

Bottom Line: this is pretty much an international version of "Hoosiers" (or any similar "nice" underdog sports story based on real events), with a side order of Korean political history. I'll give it 7 stars solely on its merits as a movie; it's an effective and entertaining tale, with solid acting, direction, and production. I'll give it an extra star because of its significance in regards to its "real world" context.

8 out of 10 stars!

This is simple yarn about the North and South Korean table tennis teams reluctantly joining forces to beat the (evil) Chinese team.

The plot is very basic and the characters are fairly simplistic, yet it all works very well. The characters appear a bit foppish but having spent a little time in Eastern Asia I discovered that the youth (despite having more responsibilities than their Western counterparts) tend to have more of a child hood and are not afraid to be naive.

The 'kids' in this film have great energy and their uncomplicated outlook is refreshing when most young people in recent films (especially UK movies) tend to be drug dealers, murderers or possessed by an evil spirit. This was very refreshing.

It takes a stab at dealing with the division of Korea but this film is not equipped to handle such issues; like expecting 'Bring it on' to grapple with race relations in the U.S.

Don't expect too much depth but expect a few grins and a general sense of well being.