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+---- Thread: Throw Down (2004) (/showthread.php?tid=8355)
Throw Down (2004) - Drunk Monk - 04-07-2025
An overlooked Johnny To film. What I didn’t know was this was To’s homage to Kurosawa after his death.
A former judo champ is a drunk guitar player in a bar and gets challenged by another judo aspirant who only uses one technique, who also plays sax. There’s also a gal singer. The three steal some money from a loan shark who runs a video arcade who is also a former judo player. And there’s a dying judo dojo, run by an old sensei who is caring for a mentally addled person with a deformed thumb.
Set in a Hong Kong ghetto, this film is surprising. It’s 100% To tipping his hand to show what he poached off Kurosawa, twisting it to his own style. A great judo film tackling the martial aspiration to be the best and the nature of dueling with honor. Some fine cinematography coupled with a story of flawed characters trying to make it, and the redemptive nature of a martial quest.
It motivated me to rewatch Sanshiro Sugata which I did right away. Made me wish I watched that first because this film is such a clever homage - completely different story, characters and settings, yet some tribute echoes and well tucked Easter eggs. I’ve always enjoyed To’s action films, and this is one of those, but it’s so much deeper. Raised my opinion of To considerably.
D00M recommended.