Balls of Fury (2007) movie review

I've always said the world needs more ping pong movies. The dark underbelly of the sport hides evil beyond imagination. OK, I've never said that but it sounds like something I'd say. I say all kinds of stupid shit.

Balls of Fury is a satire of the old Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon, substituting ping pong for Kung Fu. These people are pretty savvy when it comes to hitting the right buttons. They've obviously spent time with the Kung Fu genre picking out the cliches. They included the old teaching master who dispenses fortune cookie wisdom and the romance between his daughter and hero. The outsider who wants to learn Kung Fu to extract revenge for the murder of a family member leading to the final showdown with the evil boss.

The movie turns it upside down. The blind master walks into walls and falls down elevator shafts. The hero begins as a fat, out of shape loser and after an extreme Rocky style training finishes as a fat, out of shape loser. The evil villain, Feng (played by Christopher Walken in his patented crazy style) is an effeminate sleaze hitting on the men. Pretty much all the cliches are touched in some fashion.

The ping pong matches are a hoot. Five against one on a single table with balls flying at the speed of sound. Matrix style camera angles with freeze frame and movements that defy all laws of physics. This is some inspired stuff. The final showdown with Feng has modified rules that allow the ball to be bounced off anything, not just a table. Soon they're outside bouncing it off trees and dirt, moving through the woods in the most whacko action I've seen in a long time. I thought all the ping pong matches were a riot.

The rest of the movie wasn't nearly so inspired. It's hard to make fun of something thats stupid to begin with. A lot of the things they poke fun at are subtle too, requiring intimate knowledge of specific movies to appreciate. There are low key scenes that seem to go nowhere and last too long. I'm pretty tired of Walken's nonsense too.

If you're immersed in the world of cheap ass Hong Kong Kung Fu movies and don't expect a home run every scene, the movie has some good points. I think everyone will appreciate the ping pong matches. Most of the movie isn't very good and will leave you bored. It's extremely stupid.