Balls of Fury

Definetely not your classic sports hero movie, Balls of Fury brings new light to a game we have all played at some time or another. Ping pong's underground life is revealed for all of us to see, and I couldn't be happier. I have played my fair share of table tennis over the years, but I wouldn't consider myself in anyway a ping pong enthusiast (hopefully not many people are) but this movie still hit me in spots that I didn't think a paddle and some tiny balls could reach.

Unlike many of the sports movies out there, Balls of Fury doesn't require any knowledge of the game for the audience to feel a part of the action. Other than a few references to "forehand" and "backhand," the flick never gets too deep in table tennis strategy. All in all the matches were as unrealistic as the Matrix Ping Pong match from the Japanese New Year's talent show that I've seen over and over on Youtube, and that actually adds to the flavor of the show. As intense as ping pong matches get (and we all know they do) this movie finds away to keep the humor flowing.

Balls of Fury has a couple of weapons that really makes this a great comedy. A strong list of stars makes for good appeal, for starters. Christopher Walken may in fact make the best comedy villain ever. You can't help but laugh at this man's outrageous clothing and sometimes feminine actions and body language, and of course remembering that inside he is dying for more cowbell. But at the same time, you are never quite sure that he won't spontaneously kill every single person in the movie and even jump out of the screen and kill you for no reason at all. All of the characters in this movie bring their own something special to it. And of course, Thomas Lennon (Reno 9-1-1)has to insist on wearing tiny shorts every time he appears on screen. This movie would also be nothing without the Asian characters, especially Master Wong, making the whole thing seem like a more expensive knock off to the old kung fu movies.

All things put together made for a great show. I enjoyed every minute of it. So that this whole thing doesn't seem too biased towards the movie, I will rate it an A- saying that as great as it was, some parts seemed a little too unrealistic. There weren't many, so do not let that stop you by any means. Go and see this movie, you will enjoy yourself the entire time.