[KFCC] Champion Review

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Champion

		Country :	South-Korea
		Year:	2002
		Genre:	Drama
		Format:	DVD
		Running Time:	1H56x
		Distributor:	Korea Pictures
		Date reviewed:	04/28/03

		Producer:	Yang Jung-Gyeong
		Director:	Kwak Keung Taek
		Cast: Yu Oh-Seong, Chae Min-Seo, Yun Seung-Won, Jeong Du-hong, Kim Byeong-Seo, Ji Dae-Han, Shin Jeong-Gyun

Story: Champion is the true story of Korean boxer Kim Duk-koo who rose from poverty in the late ‘70s, and through the Korean boxing ranks, onto his fight against Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini in 1982, which ended in tragedy.

Review: Boxing. Whether you view the sport as barbaric or balletic, there is no escaping the fact that it provides the perfect setting for powerful ‘zero to hero’ movies. Champion is no different.

Being an Biopic, this is no action-packed ‘Rocky’ wannabe, and those looking for ‘Rocky’ style fights, and action packed boxing will be disappointed. In the hands of director Kwak Keung Taek, ‘Champion’ is a Heavyweight drama, and weighing in at an emotional 116 minutes, is involving, powerful, and emotive stuff. For a movie about such a violent and testosterone fuelled sport, it really tugs at the heart strings, and may even make the most hardened viewer shed a reluctant tear by the film’s tragic conclusion.

Overall, this is a quality piece of Korean drama. It is beautifully directed, every frame could be held up as a quality image, and the performances are excellent, especially from the excellent Yu Oh-Seong, who is enchanting, powerful and likeable throughout. The soundtrack also works in its favour, using an eclectic mix of sounds, from an epic orchestral main theme, through to a Korean rap/rock song, and even ‘Jingle Bells’. The only real criticism is common among biographical films – despite a lengthy running time, trying to fit a lifetime into two hours is hard work, and some areas of the fighter’s life seem a little rushed. For instance, the romantic sub-plot seems to skip a whole episode involving his girlfriend’s strict parents.

Those who are already familiar with Kim Duk-koo’s story should instantly add a point to the KFCC score given here, but either way, this is a solid and effective drama which tells a human interest story, a biographical tribute, and raises some interesting questions on the nature of this sometimes controversial sport.

DVD Premier Asia [ PAL , Region 2 ] :

The people over at Premier Asia have decided to do the right thing and put together a strong two-disc release for CHAMPION. The film itself looks and sounds great, with a clear and fairly sharp picture and a choice of 5.1 Dolby and 6.1 DTS mixes for the original Korean soundtrack, as well as an English dubbed version. The subtitles for the film are also very good, signs and writing are all translated and clear. There’s the inclusion of a commentary track with Bey Logan and Mike Leeder discussing the production and although it’s an interesting chat-track, it’s not their best as Bey Logan shows a tendency to constantly refer to Hong Kong films which doesn’t always seem appropriate as CHAMPION is of course a Korean film.

The second disc is where you will find interviews with the lead actress Chae Min-seo, CHAMPION’s action-director Jung Doo-hung and as well as Jack Massarik who was a former boxing correspondent with ‘The Guardian’ newspaper. These manage to give a good background to the film, as well as a focus on the boxing world itself. The forty-eight minute long ‘Making Of Champion’ is very good indeed and is supported by two very short featurettes based behind the scenes of the film. A ‘Promotional Archive’ section houses the usual trailers and a music promo for the film and finally there is a section with film notes and a few biographies of the filmmakers.
Although a little more input from director and lead actor would have made this package feel a little more complete, this is still a very impressive and recommended two-discer.

DVD Reviewed by Martin Cleary

DVD Korea Picture [ NTSC , Region 3 ] :

2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound, or DTS 6.1ES Surround sound.
A well presented disk. Lovely looking animated menus, and plenty of features. Picture quality is superb, as is the audio, but unfortunately the subtitles let the disk down, as they seem to skip some pieces of dialogue completely, and the grammar is sometimes shaky. The disk contains the Main feature, a trailer, a ‘TV spot’, and a large selection of short ‘making of’ features. The ‘making of’ features do not have English subtitles, which is a huge shame.

Reviewed by Russ Houghton

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Story Cast Entertainment Subtitles Overall

4 4 3.5 2.5 3.5