Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I was also at this screening of Ball of Fury at Comic-Con. I'll have my review soon, but let me say that I really wanted to love this movie and ended up thinking it was okay. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen most of the funny gags. However, you will not be able to resist the power of the Walken! Enjoy the review!
Hi. Long time reader...etc. I was at Comic Con 2007 in San Diego, CA. this weekend, and was one of the 450 let into the theater to see the "world premier" of "Balls of Fury" The Thomas Lennon (Reno 911), Ben Garant, Kung-Fu/Ping-Pong comedy. The theater was extremely hot and filled to capacity. I am a casual Lennon fan, and like his work, but knew next to nothing about BOF. Before the film started, Thomas Lennon, Ben Garant, and Dan Folger briefly took the stage, merely commenting on the "heavy, deep" journey we were all about to take. Then the film began. The film begins "heralding" young teen Ping Pong phenomenon, Randy Daytona (Brett Delbuono)as the "great white hope" that will take the gold at the '88 Seoul Olympics, and quickly shuffles to his make-or-break match with German Ping Pong ace Karl Wolfschtagg (Lennon). Here is where the films first plot devices awkwardly kicks in. Apparently, Daytona's father and military man (Robert Patrick) has a gambling problem, and is seen consorting with a scary Asian gang in the stands (a common occurrence at the Olympics), and young Randy is rattled. He loses the match before it begins and his father is promptly carted off by the Feng Gang and murdered. The film then segues to 18 years later and Randy (Dan Folger)is a washed-up, disheveled, and out of shape has-been, making a living by performing ping-pong tricks (no, not THOSE kind of ping-pong tricks) to a sleazy Vegas audience for peanuts. Just as Randy is fired from that job and flirting with rock-bottom, he is approached by lowly FBI agent Ernie Rodriguez to help uncover a venomous plot of murder, gun running, and Ping Pong; all initiated and master-minded by reclusive, eccentric Asian mob boss: "Feng" (Christopher Walken). This is where the movie kicks in. Daytona begrudgingly comes out of retirement to infiltrate the tournament and bring down his father's killer, but first he has to regain his form. Rodriguez takes Randy to the ping pong dojo of Master Wong (James Hong): a family honored school of ping pong, forbidden to outsiders. Daytona earns the respect of Wong and his sexy daughter (Maggie Q) to the chagrin of the Asian community who banish Wong from their community. Only infiltrating and winning the famed ping pong tournament can restore Randy's self-worth, avenge his father, pacify the FBI, and restore Wong back to his community. What ensues is a parody of both "Fist of Fury" and "Enter the Dragon", as rival Ping Pong players emerge on Feng's South American compound to compete in Feng's deadly tournament. WHAT WORKS: Folder, Hong, Patton Oswalt (a ping pong competitor), and Lennon all turn in above average performances, and Walken is, well, Walken (as advertised). The ping pong action is really good and there are some decent martial arts fights. There is a LOT of physical comedy here, and much of it works. Let's face it... if you are someone willing to pay to go see a kung-fu/ping-pong movie... well, you probably won't be disappointed. WHAT DOESN'T WORK: The unbelievably/shamefully rushed romance between Daytona/Maggie Wong. The failure to properly capitalize on a "Rocky-esque" rise back to top form in Wong's gym (there is significant time devoted to this, and it just didn't work. Maggie spends time trying to get Randy to play ping pong with a wooden spoon, like Rocky trying to bounce the ball or catch the chicken. I can't remember is Randy ever did hit the ball with the spoon... but they shoulda shown him ripping it w/ spoon to let the audience know he had advanced his game. One minute he's awful and Maggie Wong hates him... three minutes later he is winning the local tournament and Maggie is kissing him.) I really wanted this part to be so much More than it was... they really dropped the ball... but then I think, uh, I'm watching a comedy about ping pong/martial arts... should my expectations have been any higher? The actual tournament starts really good, but gets progressively worse, and the end game between Daytona and Feng failed to draw a response from even the hard-core crowd I was with. The rejuvenated career of the soldered secret agent was also trite and predictable. Robert Patrick coulda been anyone as his character was never given a chance to do anything, but die? (that was a "Flash Gordon" type question mark for those of you playing at home) The iconic "Def Leppard" track didn't get our audience going. THE VERDICT: If a movie about ping-pong and matrial arts, with Christopher Walken in it sounds fun... then you will probably have fun. This is a really stupid movie, but mostly stupid-good. Sure there are cheap ethnic jokes and mass buffoonery... but, that's why it's a comedy. If you see the trailer and think to yourself: "This looks stupid... I'll hate it." Then DON'T WATCH IT!!!! If you look at the trailer and say to yourself: "This looks stupid... I wanna see it!" The GO! In a stupid contest, I'd have to give this movie an 8.3, in a good way ("The Jerk" being 10) If you use this...call me, SIRVALENCE.
