The Foul King

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  • Movie: The Foul King
  • Revised romanization: Banchikwang
  • Hangul: 반칙왕
  • Director: Ji-woon Kim
  • Writer: Ji-woon Kim
  • Producer:
  • Cinemotagraphy:
  • Release Date: January 29, 2000
  • Runtime: 111 Min.
  • Language: Korean
  • Country: South Korea

[edit] Plot

In a world where individuals become demographics and you're only worth as much as your car, there's something awe-inspiring about those who choose to drop out of the rat race and become professional wrestlers. Not WWF style glamazons, but the kind who tour the cornbelt circuit, performing in gymnasiums and county fairs, bringing the starchy blood, and high-protein ooze of pullulating, pulsating entertainment to the folks back home. Entertainment at its most skull-punching primal, this is Planet of the Apes territory. And into this land of warring megadons, masked behemoths, tights-clad titans, and caped combatants comes Song Kang-Ho. A bank-teller whose boss keeps the employees in line with mortifying applications of his inescapable headlock, Kang-Ho has been humiliated within an inch of his life.

Making a beeline for the gym he demonstrates that he has an awe-inspiring lack of talent, but like a rayon ROCKY he has guts, and he trains, and he trains and he trains and trains and trains. Quietly. Secretly. Relentlessly. Weeks later, he's still completely untalented, and he'll never be the hero of the ring...but maybe he can be the villian. Picking up the mantle of the foul king, the bad guy who can win only by cheating, Kang-Ho becomes a villainous masked wrestler who uses forks, folding chairs, crutches and itching powder to bedevil the wrestlers audiences come to cheer. He's the villian they all love to hate and as his reputation grows he feels that one day he can assume the mantle of his hero....Ultra Tiger Mask!

[edit] Notes

Have you seen the movie titled 'Looking For Mr. Goodbar'? Did you sympathize with the contradictory character of the teacher who turns into a love-seeking gigolo at night? Why? Why do we see ourselves in this contradictory character of an unlikely combination? Maybe its because of our desire to deny what we are now.Director KIM Jee-Woon brought us his second film The Foul King, an extraordinary work. The leading character, whose nickname is the same as the title, is an ordinary bank teller by day and a wrestler by night. Not just a wrestler, he's the Foul King (an unlikely combination)! KIM hasn't changed his way of dealing with characters that dont go along with the status quo, but has become smarter and more composed while overthrowing the audiences expectation. He (the Foul King) turns down a colleague's begging to accompany him to the bar saying "I'm going wrestling". When we are expecting him to confess his love to the wrestling studios daughter, he suddenly says, "Will you take a body slam?". The directors wit makes a comedy out of a miserable situation. It inspires our nostalgia, and takes us back to the time when we watched black and white TV, when we were watching and cheering the wrestling star KIM Il. The best thing about this movie is the main actor SONG Kang-Ho. He seemed to lose his type cast when he strred in Swiri. But he regained it in The Foul King and gives his full range to show his brilliant talent.For the time being, no other word than actor would be able to describe him, like Margo Channing from All About Eve. By the end of the movie, you may feel like SONG Kang-Ho is going to sneak up to you while walking out of the theater, and say, "Shall we wrestle?"

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