Life is busy so more lame reviews from the past! Sorry about this, but I should get back into the groove of things once all of those social foibles iron themselves out and things start to hop along at a regular jolt. Until then, enjoy my 2002 self! ***
When you watch the starting of a movie, you can usually tell how it’s going to turn out from the first 15 minutes. (That’s a really biased statement, but it’s the truth!) Whasango drops the viewer into the action without a pat on the back or even a “Hey Guy’s get ready for this”.
A teacher is writing with his back turned to his students. Clenching his teeth he spins around screaming “No sleeping in class!” while throwing his chalk like a lighting bolt across the room. And when I say ‘Like a lighting bolt.’ I mean it in a in the literal sense. The piece of chalk leaves a spinning bullet like trail as wavers wildly toward its intended target. Inches away from making contact it stops…Our hero (Jang Hyuk) looks up from his desk. The piece of chalk is frozen inches from his face. Jang gives it a really nasty glare which spins the chalk around and throws it directly into the teacher.
Freeze on Jang’s face.
Like a Polaroid shot the image turns black and white and a red stamp comes down reading “EXPELLED!”
That’s the plot. A kid who’s been at the unlucky end of the stick since he was young gets his final chance at passing high-school. He’s not a bad guy or anything; it’s just the godly power he foolishly possesses keep getting in the way of him leading a normal life. Plus his new school “Volcano High” (International Name of the film) is a haven for energy ball throwing, power hungry maniacs. To try to wrap up some kind of ending for the film we also have a “Secret Scroll” that everyone is after except Jang.
The directors wisely chose to use less widely known stars here. He obviously had the backing to have the great of the great, but he decided to go with littler known actors. There facial expression will remind you of a live-action cartoon. Which in the context of the movies is a good thing…and funny as hell!
Since “The Matrix”, every action film with its characters doing wild things is compared to it.* Whasango with its extremely fun premise and its gravity deifying action scenes has suffered because of the M franchise. Other than the use of slow motion, how can you make a comparison?
Any action during Whasango (until the end) resolves itself within 1 to 2 minutes. When the final twenty minute showdown arrives…We witness one of the most mind-blowing spectacle of people wearing black cloaks dodging energy balls in the rain!
Oh wait. Don’t think I’ve seen that before.
On a final note:
This film isn’t for everyone. It’s ‘style over substance’ or as my brother put it after the whole movie in one sitting:
'My eyes HURT!’
DVD: (Cinema Service)
This package is the DELUXE two disc UNCUT (MUST STOP WRITING IN CAPITALS!) edition of the film. The colours are a bit faded but it was intended (CGI enhanced as I recall). The second disc packs a wallop with it’s seemingly (In other words. I have no freaking idea) two hour long documentary. No subtitles are offered for these features but they mostly contain the set up for wire work, or bloopers and cuts. There aren’t any sequences with cast members sitting in front of a camera talking. That’s the job of the other documentary on the disc. Plus we get Story-board to film comparison, Music Videos, Audio Commentary, and CGI making of….
Another disc that's available is the Hong Kong "International" cut of the film...It supposedly comes with everything else that it's cousin contained, including the deleted scenes on the second disc.
* The French “Brotherhood of the wolf” poster’s tagline was “16th century matrix"
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