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Rating:

4

AKA: Throwdown

Year of release: 2004

Genre: drama

Director: Johnnie To

Action director: Yuen Bun

Stars: Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok, Cherrie Ying, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Jordan Chan, Cheung Siu Fai, Choi Yat Chi, Lo Hoi-Pang

Rated IIB for language

VCD Information

Company: Panorama

Format: widescreen

Languages: Mandarin, Cantonese

Subtitles: Chinese/English (electronic on lower black bar)

Extras: trailer

Notes: There is some pixellation visible during the darker scenes, but the sound mix is done well.

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Throw Down

Johnnie To is one of my favorite directors, so it was really hard for me to give such a low score to one of his movies. However, Throw Down offers so little to the viewer that it becomes an exercise in tedium at times. From start to finish, Throw Down doesn't feel like it's going anywhere. To has been accused at times of basically throwing things on-screen just to put them there -- Throw Down is the first time that I have agreed with that criticism.

In the film, Louis Koo plays a former judo champion who now spends his days drinking at a bar he owns and his nights gambling away what little money he has. A stranger (Aaron Kwok) comes into the bar and wants to challenge Louis, but he's can't fight anymore due to the booze. During the same time, a pretty singer looking for her big break (Cherrie Ying) starts working for Louis. The trio eventually form a strange friendship, which leads to Louis once again training to become a champion in order to honor his sensei, who has passed away.

As I said before, Throw Down is just a dull movie. There's a lot of scenes with people just sitting around talking without saying much of anything. Oh sure, there's an attempt to jazz things up with "quirky" dialogue, some odd side characters (like a video game-obsessed dai lo that Louis keeps trying to rob) and lively cinematography. But in the end, even if the movie is technically done well, there's nothing to it. I can appreciate a good character study, but you need strong actors for that, and the talent here simply isn't up to the job. Louis Koo fares the best here, but that's not saying much when he's going against prettyboy Aaron Kwok, who's better known for his lousy fashion sense and hawking Pepsi than being able to act. I noticed that Kwok had both a personal hair stylist and make up person credited to him on this production -- perhaps he should invest in an acting coach as well.

Johnnie To has been on a tear as of late, directing, writing and/or producing many films over the past year. Unfortunately, when you're involved with so many projects, some of them will end up being less than stellar. Maybe To should take a vacation, lest he follow the path of other Hong Kong producer/directors like Tsui Hark, who over-worked himself into thinking stuff like Legend of Zu and Knock Off were good movies.