Twitch

One of the eduring sub-genres of the martial arts world is the clash-of-cultures film. You know the one: brash, young moderner has to learn respect for his elders and their ancient ways on the path to enlightenment and copius butt-whupping. Arahan falls firmly into this tradition, but with a comic twist. It tells the story of a group of ancient, and very well preserved, martial arts masters - we're talking hundreds of years old here - living down and out on the fringes of a modern society that has passed their ways by. Their skills are still intact, but have by and large become irrelevant. They spend their days dreaming of ways to attract young pupils, but have only one of the masters' daughters to teach until, one day, she fells a largely incompetent beat cop with an errant 'Palm Blast'. The cop, of course, wants to learn martial arts for all the wrong reasons and, of course, just happens to possess an immense amount of chi - spiritual energy - and may be humanity's only hope against an ancient awakened evil.

Okay, the basic elements of Arahan's story are nothing new, but they seldom are in martial arts films. What matters is not so much originality of concept as originality and style in execution and Arahan's got both in spades. The film opens with Eui-Jin leaping between high rise rooftops in pursuit of a motorcycle riding purse snatcher in a sequence of increasingly extreme, heavily wired and CG'd stunt leaps that borrow obviously and liberally from The Matrix. When Eui-Jin makes her final death defying leap - one that purposely mimics Neo's failed jump test other than that she completes it successfully - she goes as far as to strike Trinity's suspended-in-mid-air kick pose. It's as though Arahan's film makers are throwing down the guantlet. "Sure," they're saying, "You stole all of these moves from Asia. Well, we're stealing them all right back." It's a fantastic sequence, one that sets the giddy, borderline ridiculous tone for what is to come. Arahan's not at all about reality, it's about one-upmanship.

Following that initial chase sequence the film quiets down for the first hour. It takes its time introducing character and scenarios, quietly watching as Sang-Hwan - the inept cop - struggles both in his training and in his overtures towards Eui-Jin, lulling the audience into a sense of complacency until the introduction of Heug Un, the evil master trying to take control of the world. If there's a serious knock on Arahan it's that this first hour is a bit slow - and it ironically fails to add much depth to the characters - but once the film gets rolling in hour two, it really gets rolling. When Sang-Hwan is recognized in a restaurant by some gangsters who beat him up earlier in the film all hell breaks loose as he simply abandons any attempt at self control and effortlessly lays the beating of their lives on the mobsters. This scene in particular is a masterpiece of choreography and pacing. Absolutely flawless, with more than a few moments that will have your jaw dropping to the floor one minute and then have you laughing out loud the next. The first encounter between Sang-Hwan, Eui-Jin and Heug Un - perfectly played by the film's fight choreographer and trainer - is no less effective despite a much heavier reliace on CG effects, and the film just builds from there, finally climaxing in a twenty minute three way battle.

It's not a perfect film - the characters and relationships are a little bit flat and it falls into the trap of trying to layer a serious message into all the madness - but Arahan's got a rare sense of style and energy that lifts it well above the crowd. The spiffy special edition - housed in a hand made paper box - is all sold out but you can get the regular version here.