Volcano High

I can understand why this film splits viewers into those who either love it-to-death or those who despise it. To properly enjoy Volcano High, you will need to relax, loosen up and dig up some old skool memories.

Considering this is primarily a fun film, main and periphery characters are well portrayed, and there's a lots of subtle comedy and bombastic drama to keep anyone with a developed sense of humour happy.

However, if you love martial arts movies, you will be disappointed - the martial arts is spread pretty thin. Although Volcano High is Korean, it appears to have gone the way of recent Hong Kong kung fu films, in that choreography is either obscured or entirely replaced by CGI effects. However, the special effects and acting are top-notch, Hyuk Jang especially evoking both sniggers and respect.

Well made and good fun if you don't take your movie-watching too seriously. If, however, you want something a bit more substantial from Korea, try Musa or Shiri.

The main problem with Volcano High is that it is half an hour too long. I felt that the first half of the film worked pretty well. The plot was incoherent, but there was a sense of movement, and the tension was building well. But when the evil teachers turned up, and that naughty kid Ryang got beaten up (repeatedly), the film suddenly stopped moving.

For the first part of Volcano High's the action sequences were amiably ludicrous, but also fairly understated. People flew around but no one really cut loose. At the final confrontation, we were ready for a bit of visual hyperbole, and I was expecting something as mind-blowing as the finales to Storm Riders, or Swordsman II, but instead the film closed with a protracted and very dull punch-up.

Visually, though, Volcano High is tremendous. While the action was derivative of the Matrix, it struck me that the camerawork and choreography had more life and grace than in that film. The comedy was amiably goofy, and the actors were charismatic.

So, not a bad film, but I think that any other persons wishing to make wu xia high school comedies can improve the formula by applying more care and attention.

I felt kinda disappointed when I first saw this, but must admit after seeing it a second (and third) time, that it is actually relatively consistent, in the same way that a manga comic might be utterly confusing, but in the end, after thorough investigation make sense.

The argument evolves around this though, whether it is relevant to make an action fling that requires for you to see it two or three times, before grasping the basic content. Hak-rim is falsely accused of poisoning the head-master of the school, but actually it's Jang Ryang and the vice-head-master (is it called that, I haven't got a dictionary here) who conspired to put Hak-Rim and the head-master out of action in a devious and cunning stroke, because they want the scroll for them selves.

The entire story evolves around this secret scroll, that will end something by doing something which is never quite clear, but the box for the scroll is empty. Suspense! and then enters the school-fiver, five awesome guys who have real ultimate power. and their leader says: "tell a lion that has never seen a mouse, that the mouse is dangerous, and he will lie sleepless. But it will be a weak lion that scares that easily." So, what he says is that there is no scroll. But then he says that there IS a scroll, and then they all fight.

The first 4/5 of the film is great fun. Monumental scenes, for example Jang Ryang getting on his knees for icy jade, to the sound of cheesy '60 rockabilly, will stand till kingdom come, but there are major holes, and basically the storyline is to badly told, though interesting if you take your time. last 5th is too long. like this comment.

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. ***

You have to remember, there are two versions, one dubbed and one with the original sound. I haven't heard the dubbed one, but come on, since when has a dubbed film ever sounded or looked right? Check out the original, and you might enjoy it. As for me, it's one of my favorite Korean films, and I think of it as a kind of kung-fu Harry Potter goes to a new high school. It's like anime, but live-action, and very strange.

But it's fun. It's funny, it's silly, and it's meant to be that way. It has nothing to do with the gangsta rappers on the poster above, either. It's really unfortunate that someone dubbed this, and I hope that the original actually is available in North America. If not, make a trip to your local Chinatown and see whether they have the original version. It's worth it, take it from me.