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.

this is for all intensive purposes the rival schools / project justice movie. remove the numerous schools and consolidate them into one school with student group factions, you have the setting for volcano high. this film is not to be watched if you exclusively want to see an action film. there is no way around the fact that the action sequences are lacking. on the other hand, as a comedy, this film is a great success. if you take the fight sequences as something intended to make you chuckle, you will find that they are indeed quite enjoyable. the casting for the supporting characters was good, but i would say that the vice-principle and the protagonist were both excellently cast. the main character is a treat on screen. i highly recommend this movie for people able to laugh at silly things. if you are able to laugh at production elements, you would probably also appreciate this movie. as for myself, silly things + silly production elements = awesome. this film is a gem.

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.

Volcano High

By Greg Ursic

Being the best at something is great (or so I hear): you get to bathe in the limelight, be adored by legions, and quite possibly get loads of cash. But whether you're the heavyweight boxing champ or king of the tiddly-winks set, there's one annoying downside - someone is always trying to knock you off your throne. Throw superpowers into the mix and things get even more complicated.

Expelled yet again for fighting, Kyeong-su Kim is transferred to Volcano High, a cross between Hogwarts and Xavier's school for gifted children: the students possess a stunning range of martial and mental skills. Unfortunately for Kyu, who has sworn off fighting, he finds himself caught between warring sports clubs vying for control of the school and a secret book of magic. And as the powerful new kid everyone wants Kyeong-Su on their team or out of the way. And you thought your high school was tough.

From the opening sequence with its pounding score and action teaser you know that this film is going to be a lot of fun. Boasting a retinue of strutting characters with pompous sounding names, hilarious slapstick, physical humor, strong female roles, leather clad villains, intricate, over-the-top Matrix-style wire work and great CGI, this film offers the martial arts aficionado everything they could want. There's even a fleshed out subplot that addresses the rote style learning and nonconformist obedience typical of old-style Asian schooling. But I digress. The fight sequences are carefully parsed out, leaving the viewer wanting for more, but the payoff is well worth the wait - the final showdown has the best combination of choreography/visual effects/mood/scoring that I've seen in a film in this genre.

My only concern was that the subtitles were very dim and placed low on the screen making them difficult to read. Unless you're trying to make notes like I was, this won't be a big problem.

If you like your martial arts films loud and flashy (and who doesn't?), this is one you definitely want to see on the big screen. I'm already waiting for the sequel.

P.S. I hear that Resurrection of the Little Match Girl is even better!

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. ***