{"id":29637,"date":"2024-09-28T00:14:11","date_gmt":"2024-09-28T07:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=29637"},"modified":"2024-09-28T00:14:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-28T07:14:11","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-champions-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=29637","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE CHAMPIONS (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment is currently\navailable for purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While sports movies are extremely popular, there is one\nspecific kind of film that doesn\u2019t often get the cinematic treatment. Oddly\nenough, it\u2019s soccer, which is the world\u2019s most popular game. There definitely\nare a handful of titles, like Victory, Shaolin Soccer, Bend It Like Beckham,\nThe Damned United<\/em> and more recently Early Man<\/em> and Next Goal Wins<\/em>,\nbut you\u2019d expect there would be more than the limited 20 or 30 titles out\nthere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One picture that flew under the radar for most is The\nChampions<\/em>. It\u2019s a 1983 Hong Kong production that was popular in its\nhomeland, but didn\u2019t really travel beyond Asia. To be frank, there are\ncertainly reasons why the sports action\/comedy didn\u2019t attain an international\naudience. Mainly because it\u2019s absolutely insane. But at least Eureka\nEntertainment is now giving the picture the Blu-ray treatment so that the rest\nof the world can catch up with it and enjoy the bizarreness of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story isn\u2019t all that different from a typical underdog\ntale. It follows Lee Tung (Biao Yuen), a country bumpkin from a small village\nwith dreams of expanding his horizons. He\u2019s frequently bullied by the obnoxious\nand cruel King (Dick Wei), a skilled soccer player who enjoys beating the\nprotagonist up. After one notable confrontation, the two go their separate ways\nand Lee leaves for Hong Kong with best pal Suen (Kwok-Keung Cheung).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The pair end up playing an extremely rough and tumble game\nof soccer with locals, and decide to try out for a major league team. Lee\nimmediately comes face-to-face with King, who is the star striker on the squad.\nThe two newbies are turned down, but a misunderstanding finds Lee being hired\nas ball-boy and assistant. He is regularly abused by King, but hones his\nskills. Eventually, Lee leaves the club and he and Suen join a rival team. They\nbegin winning, leading to a bizarre private match with King\u2019s team that could\nhave devastating results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This title features all of what you would expect from a\nmovie using performers with a background in martial arts. All of the games\nfeature outrageous kicks and flips that are impressive to witness. It\u2019s quite\namusing, as fouls for bone-crunching acts during the game rarely get penalized\nand are often unseen by the ref. The way it is presented is almost like a\nwrestling match. There\u2019s plenty of humor as Lee and his pal get into wacky\nsituations, both when they are getting hit by balls while trying to learn how\nto play, as well as after they\u2019ve found some degree of success (viewers see\nsome of Lee\u2019s dreams of fame and fortune). As the professional rivalry grows\nbetween Lee and King, there is a very entertaining sequence where the heroes\nattend a nightclub and discover the villain is there too. Lee and King begin to\nknock each other down while they are on the dancefloor with ladies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s all very silly\u2026 except when it isn\u2019t. The fight scenes\nare actually more violent than expected and a lot of blood is shed when Lee and\nhis pals are bullied by King. The movie also deals with corruption in the game,\nas the team owners seem more than willing to throw games for payments, or\nliterally \u201cget rid\u201d of rival players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As the intensity builds, there\u2019s one incredibly brutal fight\nin which Lee and Suen are attacked by thugs. The fight becomes remarkably\ngraphic and culminates with one character lit on fire and another being thrust\ninto the broken glass of a car window. The body hangs limply as the heroes race\naway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The finale involves a private match set-up between the two\nclub owners on an empty country field. The stakes are outrageously high. If\nKing wins, Lee will have one of his legs amputated on the spot. The reverse is\nalso true if the villain fails to beat the hero\u2019s team in the match. The\nfootage of the players throwing punches and performing moves on the field make\nthe iconic overhead kick look simple by comparison. And it is a blast to see.\nYet while the tone is comedic, it\u2019s strange that someone at the very least is\ngoing to lose a leg by the end of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So yes, the bloody martial arts and soccer combo is\nextremely entertaining, if occasionally bizarre beyond even my expectations. At\ntimes, I couldn\u2019t quite believe what I was watching. This is especially true of\nthe finale in which the horrific fate of a character is delivered in a\nlighthearted manner, with giant smiles present on the faces of the characters.\nI suppose that\u2019s why it took some time for this movie to reach audiences in the\nwestern world. But I have to admit, the surrealness of it all makes it a\nfascinating and even jaw-dropping watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, the disc comes with entertaining bonus\nfeatures. There are two commentary tracks. The first, from two Asian film\nexperts, delivers a ton of background material about the cast and crew, as well\nas explanations of some story elements that might not translate to western\naudiences. It\u2019s enjoyable, although at times they do appear to be defending the\nweird tonal shifts. They make the claim that Stephen Chow basically remade this\npicture as Shaolin Soccer, but that this picture is far more \u201cgrounded\u201d,\npresumably in reality. I debate that there\u2019s anything about this film that\nisn\u2019t over-the-top and exaggerated in the extreme. Chow\u2019s movie goes all in\nwith humor, making the tone far more consistent throughout (which is why it was\nan international hit). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The second track, from two action cinema experts, is very\nfun and full of humor. They aren\u2019t nearly as certain about Chow copying this\ntitle. The pair are extremely aware of the surreal twists and one of them still\neven struggles to get his head around the tone of the wacky yet extremely\ndisturbing final moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also an interview with a film critic who shares\nsimilar thoughts about the movie. It\u2019s clear he enjoys the title, but does note\nall of the liberties taken with the soccer games, the offbeat staging of the\nclimax (that doesn\u2019t feature a crowd) and the film\u2019s other eccentricities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A curious fact that is revealed is that the movie spawned a real team of Hong Kong celebrities who would regularly get together and play charity games. Yes, star Yuen, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and just about every other male Hong Kong star would play on this team at some point over the next couple of decades. Thus, another extra involves a critic going through everyone who played at one point or another and picking out a \u201cdream team\u201d. A trailer is also included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, on the first 2000 copies, you\u2019ll get a\nreversible sleeve with original poster artwork, a booklet with new writing\ntrying to explain this picture, and a slipcase cover with new art for the\nmovie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As a fan of the game, I had a good time with The Champions<\/em> and the Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray. The picture is nice and clean, and while the movie isn\u2019t a classic (like, say, Shaolin Soccer<\/em>), it is entertainingly absurd with a couple of unforgettable moments. It\u2019s great that it is being made available and those who enjoy soccer or sports movies can now finally enjoy this oddity and potentially add it to their sports-themed movie collections. The Champions<\/em> scores a few goals along the way and isn\u2019t something that you\u2019ll likely forget anytime soon after watching it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment is currently available for purchase. While sports movies are extremely popular, there is one specific kind of film that doesn\u2019t often get the cinematic treatment. Oddly enough, it\u2019s soccer, which is the world\u2019s most popular game. There definitely are a handful of titles, like Victory, Shaolin Soccer, Bend It Like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[115,697,2683,2923,2928,4660,5853,7100,9288,11955,13304,18626,20255,20256,24688],"class_list":["post-29637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-115","tag-action","tag-biao-yuen","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-comedy","tag-dick-wei","tag-eureka-entertainment","tag-hong-kong","tag-kwok-keung-cheung","tag-martial-arts-soccer","tag-soccer-movie","tag-the-champions","tag-the-champions-blu-ray-review","tag-yuen-biao"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}