4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Underlying lesson is growing up, don't give up., January 7, 2007
Almost every movie I've watched from South Korea embodies their pride, no matter, what I mean by that is that you feel it, and as if you were Korean yourself and proud. Movies like Shiri, Tae Guk Gi, etc.
This movie was good right out, people like past reviews may say, oh, they didn't display true boxing technique and ring strategy....neither did Rocky, but you can't compare that movie to this either. This was based on the life of the famous korean national lightweight champ Kim Dook Koo. He grew up much like most boxers before him around the world, dirt poor, with their fists and body to make money after hustling on the streets for so long.
It was good in that the only pure thing to happen to him was meeting his future wife, btw she's so pretty. He became the Korean national champ, then the Pan-Pacific Asian champ, then went to face off with Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini for the international championships. The both were the same height, same weight, and even the same weight class. So skill and brute power came in. He dies after going head to head slugfest after the coma-inducing 14th round. His coach, is a strict guy, a former boxer himself said the most impressive thing when Kim Dook Koo kept showing up late for practice. "Look at yourself, in the mirror, you're not a kid anymore so I don't want to hear you story. Boxers spend more time in the mirror (shadowboxing) than Ms. Koreas." You see Kim go through all the changes, his ego shooting up after becoming champ. His friend going, "Tadpoles die out of the water, but you're a frog now in a different world. So why would you turn your back on the tadpoles who helped you when you were in the water?"
The lesson is really about fighting spirit. Don't let yourself get down.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This brings some finality to this dark chapter of sports., July 26, 2008
So many of us grew up knowing of Kim Deuk-Gu as a part of history but little about the man, seeing such things as his picture in Sports Illustrated and the talk of his last match. That picture has been a haunting image for the past few decades.
This movie from 2002 brings to light and energizes this champion of the ring, this fighter with a good foreign flair to it by being a Korean made movie.
It is innovative in it's camera shots, story telling and filmed almost entirely in South Korea and done in the Korean language, one watches and reads the subtitles translated. It is very moving and brings a triumphant finality to the story of Kim Deuk-Gu. The word Champion may often be overused to the point that I don't know when it is proper, but here it applies.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
No English subtitles, April 25, 2010
I wasted my money renting this title and it is entirely in Korean with no English subtitles.
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