Shamo - The Ultimate Fighter
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Shamo - The Ultimate Fighter |
| Original title | Shamo / 軍 雞 |
| Country of production | China |
| original language | Cantonese |
| Publishing year | 2007 |
| length | 101 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Pou-Soi Cheang |
| script |
Izô Hashimoto Kam-Yuen Szeto |
| production |
Jun'ichi Matsushita Shin Yoneyama Tak-Sam Leong |
| music | Patrick Lo |
| camera | Yuen Man Fung |
| cut | Chi-Leung Kwong |
| occupation | |
| |
Shamo - The Ultimate Fighter ( Chinese 軍 雞 / 军 鸡 , Pinyin Jūnjī , Jyutping gwan 1 gai 1 ) is a Chinese martial arts film by Pou-Soi Cheang from 2007. The film is an adaptation of the manga Shamo by Akio Tanaka (draftsman) and Izō Hashimoto (story). Hashimoto also participated in the script of the film.
action
Ryo Narushima is sent to a reformatory after he was convicted of murdering his parents. His fellow prisoners are hard on him and rape him on the first day. He cannot expect any help from the prison administration, who would like to see him dead. His sister Natsumi also turns away from him and explains that since he has brought shame on her family, she is now forced into prostitution. Ryo makes a suicide attempt, which is stopped by the karate teacher Kenji Kurokawa. The man, who was sentenced to life imprisonment after a failed attempt to murder China's prime minister, teaches him karate, and after a short time Ryo becomes his best student. However, Kurokawa is hired by Kensuke Mochizuk, the head of the reformatory, to kill Ryo. Ryo survived the fight and was released after two years.
Ryo works in freedom as a gigolo and is looking for his sister Natsumi, who now works as a prostitute . So he gets to know another prostitute with whom he befriends. He gets into a conflict between two karate schools and finally joins Kensuke Mochizuk , who lets him compete in front of cameras against his best fighter, a Thai kickboxer . The TV appearance ends when Ryo accidentally hits his opponent's eye with a kick. The now one-eyed fighter is forced to retire and Ryo is forever banned from martial arts.
However, Ryo is not deterred and continues to try to find a career in martial arts. He tries to challenge the champion Sugawara Naoto. To this end, he fakes a rape of Sugawara's girlfriend in order to lure the fighter out of his reserve. With the help of his old trainer Kenji Kurokawa and steroids , he prepares for the fight. In a final test, the terminally ill Kenji lets himself be killed by his student. At the hospital, where Ryo tries to steal steroids, he meets his sister again, who was admitted with an overdose. The two make peace again.
The fight against Sugawara ends with a knockout from Ryo. In flashbacks it becomes clear that Natsumi killed the parents and that Ryo only took the punishment to protect his sister. When Sugawara is announced as the winner, Ryo stands up again.
background
The film is based on volumes 1 and 2 of the manga Shamo . The film title and at the same time the nickname of the protagonist is the name of a Siamese fighting chicken breed . The film produced by Johnnie To and funded by Media Asia differs in a few places from the original. For example, in the original, Ryo takes revenge for the rape by biting off the penis of one of the perpetrators.
The fight scenes were choreographed in Ong-Bak style by the studios Art Port Inc. and Same Way Production Limited and are very fast and hard cut.
I-On New Media released an uncut German DVD version on February 26, 2010.
criticism
After Dog Bite Dog , the controversial debut film by Cheang Pou-Soi, the expectations for Shamo - The Ultimate Fighter were very high, especially since the original was a very popular manga of its kind. In the opinion of most critics, however, it could not do justice to the template.
"It is interesting that despite the fighting theme, the" Martial Arts "insoles can not really inspire. These are choreographed too repetitively and simply, although it should also be noted that they do not serve as a tool for suspense. Anyway, one often asks oneself what is all this about? You often feel alienated by "Shamo" and thrown into an abstract comic world in which nothing really makes sense. "
Web links
- Shamo - The Ultimate Fighter in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Review of Shamo. Wicked Vision, accessed May 13, 2011 .
- ^ Astrid Saldanha: Film review for Shamo. Maslohs.de, accessed on May 13, 2011 .
- ↑ Review of Shamo. Asian Movie Web, accessed May 13, 2011 .