A former Judo champion (Louis Koo) who walked out on his biggest fight for no apparent reason soaks himself in booze and misery as the owner of a small nightclub until a Judo fighter (Aaron Kwok) bent on challenging him and a nightclub singer inspire him to finish what he started.

Throw Down is Hong Kong director Johnnie To’s self-described homage to Japanese film master Akira Kurosawa. Through long takes, textured atmosphere and minor references to Kurosawa’s first feature film, the Judo biopic Sugata Sanshiro (1943), To has created his own Judo film with realistic action and a stylized narrative to drive home what unfortunately becomes a rather obtuse message.

Johnnie To is certainly one of Hong Kong’s better directors who pushed the film industry to knew heights of visual and narrative style with PTU (2003), a film that could be said to have been inspired by another Kurosawa film, Stray Dog (1949). But where PTU retained a clear focus with minimal dialogue and off-center plotting, Throw Down gets muddled by these same techniques, while To’s romanticized theme of perseverance fails to resonate.

The story revolves around Sze-to (Louis Koo), an apathetic and alcoholic nightclub owner reduced to gambling stolen money away in vain hopes of paying off debts. He was once a champion Judo fighter who walked out on a championship fight with Kong (Tony Leung), a local Judo club owner. Why he did so gradually becomes clear as two people enter his life. Tony (Aaron Kwok) is a rising Judo fighter who feels compelled to challenge this former champion. Though disappointed to see Sze-to’s sorry state, he’s willing to hang around until his challenge is met. Mona (Cherrie Yong) is an endlessly optimistic lounge singer with no real talent who gets a job at Sze-to’s nightclub. The enthusiasm of both characters eventually inspires Sze-to to face the cause of his breakdown and rise up to challenge Tony in a rematch.

Let’s start with what works. To’s direction from a technical standpoint is nothing short of brilliant. Dark streets and interiors are dramatically lit from overhead to create a moody atmosphere thick with smoke and richly-colored texture. The editing and camera work is some of To’s best to date with long takes for the actors to breath in, bookmarked by measured cuts and pans that perfectly capture slowed action and complex character interactions. To delivers an incredible scene midway through where Louis, Aaron and Cherrie each engage in tense conversation with a different person while seated near each other. To mixes the conversations together as the camera bounces back and forth with dialogue or body language occasionally overlapping. Though a little confusing from a general audience perspective, it’s one of those unique scenes that film students will most likely be studying for years. No doubt, when it comes to rich visuals, To is a master craftsman.

The action scenes are good and bad. Johnnie To captures them well and there is plenty of Judo-style takedowns to witness. It’s quite entertaining to see bodies flung down on bar tables as arcs of beer spew out of flying glasses in slow motion. Yet for all of the stylish martial artistry on display, To keeps it mostly hectic, partially obscured or distant. Some of the ground-level fighting where locks and tumbling occurs is quite clear however, especially between Louis and Aaron. There are no real villains in the film so the action never reaches a fatal or crippling level, although combatants do frequently walk away with dislocations. There are not a lot of films that feature Judo prominently so it’s nice to see it done in a relatively realistic manner (i.e. no wires or doubling), but To’s main interest lies with his moody narrative so anyone looking for a lot of action will be disappointed. The film does end with a climatic fight between Louis and Tony Leung in a field of tall grass. Johnnie To was intent on using this setting to contrast with the surrounding city of Hong Kong, but I don’t see how it makes the fight any better. Rather, the fight is anti-climatic, perhaps because Tony’s role is so small, or perhaps because it’s short and not shot that well.

Tony Leung looks great in this film and has incredible presence, but it’s wasted in all but one or two scenes. There is no comparison with Cherrie Ying and Aaron Kwok who are neither that good in their roles. Louis Koo does a better job, but his character is such a stereotype with his drinking and gambling excess that he doesn’t stand out as he should. In fact, he’s so low key for most of the film that it’s hard to attach any connection or interest in him.

Throw Down seems to be a polished, yet unsuccessful experiment by a director who is arguably at the peak of his ability. Johnnie To nails the visuals and shoots some quality action scenes, all of which are accompanied by distinctive and complimentary music, but something is still missing. In his attempt to send a message about not giving up in the face of adversity and in drawing on Kurosawa for creative inspiration, he’s neglected the characters’ emotions and motivations which only leaves the viewer starring at a nicely shot, but vacuous drama with no real message after all. The central conflict that Louis Koo’s character struggles with is never openly discussed and To puts him and the rest of the characters in an excessively insulated worldview where dreamers never have to face their limitations and a handful of Judo matches can wash away two years of self pity and binge drinking. This story could have been as inspirational as the director had intended it to be, but not as it is.

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