Review of Balls of Fury (2007) by Dawdlingpoet — 28 Nov 2021

This movie is basically (as my review title indicates) one massive long parody or p-take on movies such as the Karate Kid, whereby a (fairly) young and out of shape guy (Randy) is taken under an old, wise Asian mans wing and somehow is miraculously trained so that he can compete well and stand up for himself against much more competent looking people. Of course there's the token attractive lady, Maggie, who Randy wants to impress but who initially has no interest in him whatsoever and yes, I'd say if I continue you can probably guess the majority of the movies plot by yourself, its hardly rocket science.

There's little point in being very serious as far as reviewing this movie is concerned because the movie is so silly, I think silly is about the best way to describe it generally. Its basically scene after scene of corny visual jokes, similar to the Police Academy movies and other such spoof movies. In this movie, the jokes/comedy are all pretty basic, their not particularly clever or original really. That's not to say that you can't laugh at any of it, just its rather over the top I feel. Of course with Christopher Walken in it, you should expect it to be rather over the top and indeed he does play the most extravagent character, the evil villain Feng but its not just him thats over the top and silly, just about all of the characters are in their own way. In fact, I'd compare the movie to a comic book, in that I could imagine kids reading the story in a comic book format, that would probably work quite well.

To be honest, it depends on what you enjoy, what kind of comedy you like and what you expect from the movie, as to whether or not you'd like it or find it entertaining. I knew roughly what it was about from the outset, having enjoyed a similar movie called Blades of Glory, so I wasn't too disappointed because I knew what to expect and I hadn't paid anything to see it anyway (it was recently shown on TV). Partly because of that, I did actually enjoy it - I wouldn't say I found it really hilarious, its pretty corny but I still thought some scenes were amusing and laughed a few times out of the absurdity of the story, I suppose. Of course its not believable but some of the characters are so silly, I guess I did feel a bit attached to them and I thought it was entertaining enough to see how they reacted to the different, over the top situations they found themselves in, so it kept me watching. I can't deny that I watched it right through to the end and I thought overall it was fairly amusing in parts and entertaining enough to pass the time. Basically it was what I expected of it, a zany, over the top parody with some funny characters and some laughs but thats about it. If it weren't for Walkens portrayal of the token bad guy, I don't think this would be anything like as memorable as it is - which isn't greatly memorable to start with but his character stands out most for the fancy costumes he wears.

Its all just a bit too silly I'd imagine and plenty of people who may sit down and watch the first half hour should it appear again on TV would roll their eyes and want to switch over but I'll guess that the target market, presumably teenage boys, would get a few laughs and find it entertaining enough for them, if it interests them - its good to pass the time if its the sort of thing you like and you know what to expect, otherwise don't bother.

All in all, no I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to purchase this, although as I say if you're interested in it, you know what to expect and its on TV again then by all means, catch it as you may get a few laughs from it and find it entertaining enough to pass the time (its a fairly short movie at an hour and a half long).

Given the kind of movie it is and how its marketed etc., its not awful, its just perhaps a bit too basic for some, yet I still felt I enjoyed watching it, so its up to you to decide whether or not to bother catching this or not. I don't feel its a really poor movie, it doesn't claim to be anything other than a spoof/parody comedy movie, which is what it is, so fair enough, if you know what I mean, so I'll go with a 5 out of 10 rating for this movie.