Hwasango

Volcano High

By Greg Ursic

Being the best at something is great (or so I hear): you get to bathe in the limelight, be adored by legions, and quite possibly get loads of cash. But whether you're the heavyweight boxing champ or king of the tiddly-winks set, there's one annoying downside - someone is always trying to knock you off your throne. Throw superpowers into the mix and things get even more complicated.

Expelled yet again for fighting, Kyeong-su Kim is transferred to Volcano High, a cross between Hogwarts and Xavier's school for gifted children: the students possess a stunning range of martial and mental skills. Unfortunately for Kyu, who has sworn off fighting, he finds himself caught between warring sports clubs vying for control of the school and a secret book of magic. And as the powerful new kid everyone wants Kyeong-Su on their team or out of the way. And you thought your high school was tough.

From the opening sequence with its pounding score and action teaser you know that this film is going to be a lot of fun. Boasting a retinue of strutting characters with pompous sounding names, hilarious slapstick, physical humor, strong female roles, leather clad villains, intricate, over-the-top Matrix-style wire work and great CGI, this film offers the martial arts aficionado everything they could want. There's even a fleshed out subplot that addresses the rote style learning and nonconformist obedience typical of old-style Asian schooling. But I digress. The fight sequences are carefully parsed out, leaving the viewer wanting for more, but the payoff is well worth the wait - the final showdown has the best combination of choreography/visual effects/mood/scoring that I've seen in a film in this genre.

My only concern was that the subtitles were very dim and placed low on the screen making them difficult to read. Unless you're trying to make notes like I was, this won't be a big problem.

If you like your martial arts films loud and flashy (and who doesn't?), this is one you definitely want to see on the big screen. I'm already waiting for the sequel.

P.S. I hear that Resurrection of the Little Match Girl is even better!

You have to remember, there are two versions, one dubbed and one with the original sound. I haven't heard the dubbed one, but come on, since when has a dubbed film ever sounded or looked right? Check out the original, and you might enjoy it. As for me, it's one of my favorite Korean films, and I think of it as a kind of kung-fu Harry Potter goes to a new high school. It's like anime, but live-action, and very strange.

But it's fun. It's funny, it's silly, and it's meant to be that way. It has nothing to do with the gangsta rappers on the poster above, either. It's really unfortunate that someone dubbed this, and I hope that the original actually is available in North America. If not, make a trip to your local Chinatown and see whether they have the original version. It's worth it, take it from me.

The main problem with Volcano High is that it is half an hour too long. I felt that the first half of the film worked pretty well. The plot was incoherent, but there was a sense of movement, and the tension was building well. But when the evil teachers turned up, and that naughty kid Ryang got beaten up (repeatedly), the film suddenly stopped moving.

For the first part of Volcano High's the action sequences were amiably ludicrous, but also fairly understated. People flew around but no one really cut loose. At the final confrontation, we were ready for a bit of visual hyperbole, and I was expecting something as mind-blowing as the finales to Storm Riders, or Swordsman II, but instead the film closed with a protracted and very dull punch-up.

Visually, though, Volcano High is tremendous. While the action was derivative of the Matrix, it struck me that the camerawork and choreography had more life and grace than in that film. The comedy was amiably goofy, and the actors were charismatic.

So, not a bad film, but I think that any other persons wishing to make wu xia high school comedies can improve the formula by applying more care and attention.

Volcano High tells the story of Kim Kyung Soo, a high school student who has super natural powers, after he is expelled from his last school he is sent to 'Volcano High' a place where he thinks he'll be able to control his abilities with other students who have similar powers such as he.

Soon he locks horns with the school bully Jang Ryang while he tries to win the affections of the most beautiful girl in school. the gorgeous but deadly Jade, but another problem for Kim presents itself in the form of the five lords of discipline, five teachers who travel from school to school controlling the most unruly of students oh and they all have super natural powers also.

I LOVED this movie, I got such a kick out of watching it. Everything about this movie is great the acting,the action and sometimes even the script.

Watching this you'd think it was based on a Japanese manga comic but it isn't, the director Kim Tae-Gyun was heavily influenced by these comics and animated movies and set out to do a live action japanime movie and he was successful in every aspect.

Jang Hyuk who plays Kim does such a wonderful job in this role he is able to be a serious hard-ass one moment then straight away making himself look like a total goof.

A great highlight in the movie are the fight scenes, in my opinion they make good use of wire work and visual effects which is very reminiscent of movies such as 'The Storm Riders' or 'The Avenging Fist' The humour is some times lost in the translation which is to be expected if you don't speak Korean. This movie is one of the few which has been making Korean cinema more and more prolific over the past few years its up there with such other Korean gems as 'Friend' 'Bichunmoo' 'Musa' and 'Guns n Talks' I recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of Andrew Lau f/x laden fantasy epics or Japanime, you will not be disappointed.

I also recommend you try and pick up the Region 2 Premiere Asia DVD as it contains the best version(The 95 minute one) and also contains the cut footage and the second disc full of great extras.

I can understand why this film splits viewers into those who either love it-to-death or those who despise it. To properly enjoy Volcano High, you will need to relax, loosen up and dig up some old skool memories.

Considering this is primarily a fun film, main and periphery characters are well portrayed, and there's a lots of subtle comedy and bombastic drama to keep anyone with a developed sense of humour happy.

However, if you love martial arts movies, you will be disappointed - the martial arts is spread pretty thin. Although Volcano High is Korean, it appears to have gone the way of recent Hong Kong kung fu films, in that choreography is either obscured or entirely replaced by CGI effects. However, the special effects and acting are top-notch, Hyuk Jang especially evoking both sniggers and respect.

Well made and good fun if you don't take your movie-watching too seriously. If, however, you want something a bit more substantial from Korea, try Musa or Shiri.