This is horrible. And, of course, even if the film does have a message, the message doesn't overshadow the choppy editing, exaggerated fight sequences, unrealistic performances, cheesy dialogue, ineffective humor, and predictable plot. This film is the worst example of martial-arts filmmaking I've seen in years. It does not even come CLOSE to Rocky or The Karate Kid. Those movies are MUCH better not JUST because of the message, because from a filmmaking perspective, those films are excellent.
Underdog Kids uses the aesthetics of martial-arts filmmaking and butchers it-somehow, Philip Rhee is actually being unintentionally satirical when using the aesthetics of classic boxing/martial-arts films.
However, this makes for good entertainment, I guess, because it's so terrible-THAT terrible, it's actually funny.
Now, what's this film about? Well, you won't find many differences from this film's plot and other classic karate film plots. This film follows the same basic concept of good-kids-versus-bullies-and-ruthless-Cobra-Kai-like-team. Nothing new, just your typical martial-arts storyline that doesn't have much originality to it. But, hey, Rhee doesn't care, 'cause as long as he's getting that cold, hard cash at the end of the day, he doesn't care that he just made the worst martial-arts movie of all time. The story follows a group of kids who are trained by Philip Rhee's character, a martial-arts expert who understands the art and teaches them how to fight not only the other side (which is a Cobra-Kai-like team with your typical angry instructor), but to fight their struggles. However, the message doesn't matter, 'cause everybody gets lost in the meaningless editing techniques used throughout the film.
Particularly, its choppy cuts. The cutting and transitions don't seem to mix well, and the editing, as a result, doesn't exactly add to the excitement of the action scenes due to its choppiness. The cutting just doesn't work, but you know what also doesn't work: the slow-motion.
Apparently, Philip Rhee hasn't watched The Matrix, and should know that you don't need fast editing and camerawork, or even slow-motion, to create an exciting action scene. The Matrix doesn't just have exciting action scenes, it has a good story.
Philip Rhee, however, seems to focus on using exaggerated slow-motion techniques that just look dumb and don't even mingle well with the action scenes. Rhee relies on this slow-motion technique to propel the action scenes of Underdog Kids.
But this is where Rhee really fails-the fight scenes. Nothing looks realistic-even the moves which are mastered by the kids are moves that even Bruce Lee wouldn't be able to do. They include crazy flips, all kinds of kicks, and certain movements that make us wonder if we're just hallucinating or if this is actually real life. These moves are so exaggerated that the fight scenes suffer as a result of the terrible choreography. Especially the reactions of the victims don't feel genuine either. The victims' reactions are terrible and feel like the actors are just acting and not actually bringing realism to the screen-like this is even the way people react when fighting.
Oh, and yes, don't get me started on the ending. We all know the team of good kids are gonna win against the ruthless team, so I don't even need to put up a Spoilers! alert for that one. And, yes, they do win at the end-and also, to make the opposing sides reconcile, Rhee decides to cram in an inept conclusion to both teams' feud by having the villains instantly change their ways, abandon their instructor, and apologize to the opposing team. And WOW! That's just...that's just...well, that's very good writing.
And, yes, let's not forget the dialogue. Corny discussions are frequent throughout the film, which include dialogue like "That was mean, man" and "He calls that the fart of death" (in one scene I will later discuss). This dialogue is low-budget, lowest-rate, and just dumb. If only Rhee watched The Social Network as well.
Not only does Rhee includes this kind of dialogue, but the film has terrible humor as well. One scene, in particular, is ineffective in adding to any humorous effect intended by Rhee, in which a boy, pinned to the ground by his fighting adversary in a martial-arts fight, uses flatulence to win the fight. Is this even considered funny? That's because it isn't: it's cheap laughs. And, of course, we need commentary on the boy's flatulence as well ("He calls that the fart of death")
Overall, Underdog Kids shouldn't even be a movie: it is so dumb and terribly made that it seems to be one of the movies you watch to laugh at just because it's so bad. Watch this as a guilty pleasure.
Now, what's this film about? Well, you won't find many differences from this film's plot and other classic karate film plots. This film follows the same basic concept of good-kids-versus-bullies-and-ruthless-Cobra-Kai-like-team. Nothing new, just your typical martial-arts storyline that doesn't have much originality to it. But, hey, Rhee doesn't care, 'cause as long as he's getting that cold, hard cash at the end of the day, he doesn't care that he just made the worst martial-arts movie of all time. The story follows a group of kids who are trained by Philip Rhee's character, a martial-arts expert who understands the art and teaches them how to fight not only the other side (which is a Cobra-Kai-like team with your typical angry instructor), but to fight their struggles. However, the message doesn't matter, 'cause everybody gets lost in the meaningless editing techniques used throughout the film.
Particularly, its choppy cuts. The cutting and transitions don't seem to mix well, and the editing, as a result, doesn't exactly add to the excitement of the action scenes due to its choppiness. The cutting just doesn't work, but you know what also doesn't work: the slow-motion.
Apparently, Philip Rhee hasn't watched The Matrix, and should know that you don't need fast editing and camerawork, or even slow-motion, to create an exciting action scene. The Matrix doesn't just have exciting action scenes, it has a good story.
Philip Rhee, however, seems to focus on using exaggerated slow-motion techniques that just look dumb and don't even mingle well with the action scenes. Rhee relies on this slow-motion technique to propel the action scenes of Underdog Kids.
But this is where Rhee really fails-the fight scenes. Nothing looks realistic-even the moves which are mastered by the kids are moves that even Bruce Lee wouldn't be able to do. They include crazy flips, all kinds of kicks, and certain movements that make us wonder if we're just hallucinating or if this is actually real life. These moves are so exaggerated that the fight scenes suffer as a result of the terrible choreography. Especially the reactions of the victims don't feel genuine either. The victims' reactions are terrible and feel like the actors are just acting and not actually bringing realism to the screen-like this is even the way people react when fighting.
Oh, and yes, don't get me started on the ending. We all know the team of good kids are gonna win against the ruthless team, so I don't even need to put up a Spoilers! alert for that one. And, yes, they do win at the end-and also, to make the opposing sides reconcile, Rhee decides to cram in an inept conclusion to both teams' feud by having the villains instantly change their ways, abandon their instructor, and apologize to the opposing team. And WOW! That's just...that's just...well, that's very good writing.
And, yes, let's not forget the dialogue. Corny discussions are frequent throughout the film, which include dialogue like "That was mean, man" and "He calls that the fart of death" (in one scene I will later discuss). This dialogue is low-budget, lowest-rate, and just dumb. If only Rhee watched The Social Network as well.
Not only does Rhee includes this kind of dialogue, but the film has terrible humor as well. One scene, in particular, is ineffective in adding to any humorous effect intended by Rhee, in which a boy, pinned to the ground by his fighting adversary in a martial-arts fight, uses flatulence to win the fight. Is this even considered funny? That's because it isn't: it's cheap laughs. And, of course, we need commentary on the boy's flatulence as well ("He calls that the fart of death")
Overall, Underdog Kids shouldn't even be a movie: it is so dumb and terribly made that it seems to be one of the movies you watch to laugh at just because it's so bad. Watch this as a guilty pleasure.