Hwasango

With its comic-book style, eye-candy cast, spectacular visual effects and incredible martial arts wire-fu trickery, Volcano High is a disposable piece of action cinema that, if anything, never fails to be entertaining.

In a Korean high school in the near future, where gangs of students battle against each other for supremacy, the principal supposedly owns a secret manuscript which bestows upon the owner unlimited martial arts skills; naturally, there are those who wish to lay their hands upon the document.

Kim Kyung-soo is a delinquent student with incredible power and fighting skills who is transferred to Volcano High after being expelled from 8 previous schools. He is courted by the top gangs, but refuses to join them, preferring not to fight.

When the principal is poisoned, the school's top martial artist Song Hak-rim is framed for the deed. In fact, it is the Vice Principal who, along with Jang Ryang, leader of the weight-lifting club, has planned to dispose of the principal in order to get his paws on the manuscript; however, they are unable to find what they are looking for, so they call in reinforcements in the form of five leather clad teachers with supernatural powers.

Only Kim Kyung-soo has the power to stop the bad guys from completing their task, but will he join the fight and save the day? A little overlong at 122 minutes, Volcano High is nevertheless a stunning piece of cinema that possesses little in the way of emotive storytelling, but looks fantastic. Viewers are best advised to ignore the lightweight and nonsensical plot, but instead sit back and revel in the top-notch visuals: comic style transitions, lavish CGI enhanced fights, beautifully lit rain drenched settings and a good looking young cast.

*** This review is of the original uncut Korean version of the film. ***