Balls of Fury
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Balls of Fury |
| Original title | Balls of Fury |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2007 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 12 JMK 8 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Robert Ben Garant |
| script |
Thomas Lennon Robert Ben Garant |
| production | Thomas Lennon Jonathan Glickman Gary Barber Roger Birnbaum |
| music | Randy Edelman |
| camera | Thomas E. Ackerman |
| cut | John Refoua |
| occupation | |
| |
Balls of Fury is a sports comedy with Dan Fogler , Christopher Walken and Maggie Q from the year 2007 , when Ben Garant directed by.
action
Randy Daytona is a promising table tennis talent who made it to the semifinals of the Olympic Games '88 and meets Karl Wolfschtagg there. His father made a bet on his son on the mysterious Mr. Feng. But when he loses the semifinals because he stumbles over a gang and can no longer play, his father is murdered by Mr. Feng's men.
19 years later Randy occurs in matinee shows, but was released because a man he repeatedly with a table tennis ball alludes, a cardiac arrest suffered. Shortly thereafter, FBI agent Rodriguez asks him to take part in a secret table tennis tournament that Mr. Feng is hosting. Randy is supposed to find out his plans on the side. However, he needs an invitation in the form of a golden table tennis bat. To get Mr. Feng's attention, he competes against a regional champion, but loses high. Rodriguez's last hope is Chinatown's best table tennis teacher, Master Wong. He is blind but has excellent hearing. At first he refuses to train Randy, but changes his mind when he hears Feng's name.
Then he gets to know Wong's niece Maggie, but she makes it clear to him that he will not tolerate any sexual advances towards her. Eddie, another student of Wong, tries his luck anyway and is expelled from school by Wong. Wong takes his bat from Randy and hands him a wooden spoon. When Randy protests that it is impossible to play with, Maggie teaches him better. During the night Eddie devastated the school and Wong was unable to continue teaching. He calls on Randy to face the council of elders and defeat the "dragon", a little girl with an incredible talent for table tennis. Although the "dragon" is very good, Randy can defeat it after Master Wong's training and receives the invitation to the tournament from a scout Fengs.
Arrived at the tournament venue, Feng welcomes the guests, including several champions, including Karl Wolfschtagg. When Feng discovers his old master and Randy, he complains that they are late. In the evening Randy gets a visit from some courtesans, but he limits himself to a few games of Boogle, a board game, as he is secretly in love with Maggie. The next day the rules of the game are explained: The game takes place in the " Sudden Death " mode. First, Randy has to face 'Fingers' and wins the game. When he is then killed, it is clear that "Sudden Death" is to be understood literally.
After this game, Randy tries to escape from the island, but it is impossible to escape. He is invited by Feng for a guided tour, which also gives him an insight into Feng's business. Feng has developed firearms that cannot be detected by metal detectors and a ping pong table that gives the lagging player electric shocks. Back at his friends' house, he tells Rodriguez about Feng's plan. Rodriguez then alerts the reinforcement. When he returns, there are only two players left, Randy and Karl Wolfschtagg. Rodriguez leaves again to prepare "Plan B", the escape. Karl provokes and insults Randy and so Randy decides to fight him. Before he can inform Rodriguez, Rodriguez breaks his arm so they can leave the island.
But Randy still has to take part in the final. Memories of the '88 semi-finals come over him on the record. Karl wins the first point and knocks the bat out of Randy's hand. Before he can pick it up, Karl destroys it. Master Wong hands Randy a racket with the words that it belongs to the greatest table tennis player he has ever seen. Randy recognizes his own bat in the bat.
When Randy makes the next statement, Feng interrupts this and explains that Maggie is now playing against Randy. Karl, who protests, is killed. Maggie is ready to sacrifice herself for Randy, but Randy doesn't want to lose her. When it looks like an endless game, Feng orders the two to be killed, but they manage to incapacitate the killer. Rodriguez meanwhile comes into possession of a machine gun. In the prevailing confusion, Randy and his friends try to escape, but Randy still wants to free the "courtesans". When he returns from the basement, Feng is already waiting for him. Randy asks him to compete with him to find out who is Wong's best student, and Feng accepts on the condition that the game takes place on his special record. Meanwhile the others get to safety. Feng changes the rules during the game: the ball can now land anywhere. So both leave the building and find themselves on a bridge. When Randy breaks in and has to accept another point loss, Master Wong calls out to him that Feng has only completed half of the training. When the latter mocks Randy, he hits an unreachable ball. Feng, who tries to reach him, leans over the bridge, but misses the ball. Surprised by the electric shock, he loses his balance, falls into the water and dies.
Two months later, Randy's arm healed and Master Wong opened a new school. When the “dragon” presented Randy with a present and then kicked him, Master Wong told him to swallow the pain, because a ping-pong player had to keep an eye on his surroundings. No sooner has he taught Randy than he stumbles through an open hole in the wall.
publication
The world premiere of Balls of Fury was on August 29, 2007. The start date for German cinemas was July 10, 2008.
Reviews
"With the means of ping-pong as absurd as originally designed parody of the martial arts genre with well-crafted punchlines and some rousing sidekicks."
“What's a Jack Black comedy worth without Jack Black? Nothing, as 'Balls Of Fury' proves - at least not when the audience is sold a Dan Fogler as Jack Black. "
“Despite many stolen set pieces from better works such as Zoolander, Blades of Glory or Kentucky Fried Movie, the film never really gets going and mainly suffers from its uncharismatic leading actors and a story that repeats all their gags endlessly, including the many that already weren't funny the first time. "
Web links
- Balls of Fury in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Release for Balls of Fury . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2008 (PDF; test number: 114 181 DVD).
- ↑ Age rating for Balls of Fury . Youth Media Commission ( DVD).
- ^ Balls of Fury. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ FILMSTARTS.de
- ↑ Oliver Lysiak (Batzman): Film review on moviepilot.de. moviepilot , accessed January 6, 2010 .