Once Upon a Time in High School (Maljukgeori janhoksa, 말죽거리 잔혹사 -2004)

AKA: "Spirit Of Jeet Keun Do"


Starring:
Sang-woo Kwone ... Hyeon-su
Jeong-jin Lee ... Woo-shik
Ga-in Han ... Yu-jin
Hyo-jun Park ... Hamburger
Jin-ung Jo
Won-kwon Kim ... Jiksae
Jong-hyeok Lee ... Jong-hun
Dong-won Seo ... Seong-hun
Byeong-chun Kim
Bu-seon Kim
Han-seok Yang
Nae-sang Ahn
Ho-jin Cheon
Yeong-im Kim

In the spring of 1978, Hyun-soo transfers to Jungmoon High School in Kangnam where his mother thinks the land price will skyrocket due to the development of the area. Yet, Jungmoon High School is notorious for its severe corporal punishment by teachers and power struggles between school gangs. On the first day, he gets spanked with an aluminum baseball bat for violating the school¡¯s dress code. Then, one day, he plays basketball with his classmates and brings his team a victory, which allows him to become chummy with Woo-sik, a kingpin of the school. Before long, they find out that they both are huge fans of Bruce Lee and become best friends.

After school, on the bus, Hyun-soo and Woo-sik see a girl who resembles Olivia Hussey, the most popular foreign actress in Korea at that time. Her name is Eun-ju, a senior at a nearby girls¡¯ high school. Both fall in love with her at first sight. Hyun-soo is gentle and kind, while Woo-sik is tough and charismatic. Knowing Woo-sik is so different from her, she can¡¯t help but becomes attracted to him.

Hyun-soo endures the pain of his secret love for Eun-ju. However, Eun-ju and Woo-sik begin to bicker over petty things. While she¡¯s in pain over Woo-sik cheating on her, Hyun-soo sees a chance to win her heart. In the meantime, Woo-sik and Jong-hoon, a student patrol captain, get into a fight. In the duel, Jong-hoon cheats and beats up Woo-sik, who leaves school in the aftermath of his defeat. With Woo-sik gone, Jong-hoon abuses his power as student patrol captain and bullies whoever gets in his way. Hyun-soo falls into an Inferior Class, and Jong-hoon keeps bullying him. The corporal punishment and favoritism by the teachers gradually become worse. To make matter worse, Eun-ju chooses Woo-sik over him. Driven to the wall, Hyun-soo explodes. With nunchakus tucked in the back of his pants, he goes up to the roof after Jong-hoon.



OMG! Another freakin' good movie. I wasn't all that impressed with the ending...kind of left me with a "WTF?" But 99% of the movie rocked. OMG! Watch out for Kwon Sang Woo training for his big fight. I'm still in a dizzy after seeing him able to do some reverse crunches from hell that a normal person in their right mind could or would never do. I wanted to reach out and touch that stomach. OMG! I'm falling in love............

I was happy to see Lee Jong Hyuk (Powerful Opponents). Okay, he wasn't a good guy in this one...KSW kicked his butt and took some names. Whew!

This wasn't really a comedy by far. Definitely serious but some cute parts especially when they imitated Bruce Lee. This movie was inconjunction with Bruce Lee's life. Not a movie about him but about his famous martial artwork. Really good.

Lee Jeong Jin