Balls of Fury Film and DVD Review

Balls of Fury DVD Review

“This movie looks vile”-Noted Sci-Fi Film Author Bill Warren on seeing the trailer for the movie in a post at Classic Horror Film Board.

Film: Despite this pronouncement from Bill Warren, Balls of Fury is an excellent comedy about an evil international ping-pong/crime syndicate, even more so when you consider the people behind the film. First, you have Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garret of Reno 911 as the writing team for this film and Garret directing it. Lennon is a huge martial arts movie fan and his script for The Pacifier was actually originally written with the hope of Jackie Chan being in it.

The film is actually a wonderful parody of Enter the Dragon replacing Kung Fu with ping pong and boasts a hilarious cast and ample cameos (Reno alumni, comedians, Robert Patrick, Jason Scott Lee and even Shang Tsung aka Cary Hiroyuka Tagawa ). James Hong stills the show though as the blind master who much teach Randy Daytona (played by Dan Fogler) the skills of ping-pong along with Hong Kong and American starlet Maggie Q. Hong is a joy to watch as much as he always is and shows that Big Trouble in Little China was not his final word on the martial arts genre (or at least that most Americans know). I would say if you’re even just a fan of James Hong it’s a reason enough to buy this film. Martial arts fans should also check the film out as it truly is a wonderful and loving tribute/parody of Enter the Dragon and other classic Martial Arts training films, and even James Bond (look for a parody of the electro-game from Never Say Never Again). Fogler’s character is not so much a Bruce Lee initially but the prodigal son who must truly become a master. George Lopez although I’ve never seen or plan to see his sitcom is very funny too and acquits himself quite well. Christopher Walken is somewhat of a you love him or hate him and even if you love him you can still sometimes hate him. Luckily Walken does an ok job, but one can’t help but wish James Hong (who Garret mentions his role as the teacher was specifically written with him in mind) had been playing a dual role as teacher and evil master. Still Walken does fine with his role nonetheless. The film is a slam bang laugh and action fest that will appeal to fans of comedy, martial arts films, Reno 911, and heck anyone who can enjoy a great action comedy. Balls of Fury is defiantly a comedy you’ll watch more than once.

Video: The video is 16X9 anamorphic widescreen and in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1. The movie is by and large a bright and colorful film, which is accurately represented in the transfer. The compression seems fine and no digital or source defects were apparent during our watching of the film.

Audio: The DVD comes with a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix in both English and French and serves perfectly fine, there are no examples of hiss or audio defects. The mix is powerful for the action scenes with the right amount of punch and separation and works for any comedy gags that depend or are enhanced by sound.

Extras: Although the film lacks a commentary track there are still some decent extras on the disc. One is an alternate ending that is a very nice follow up on a running gag in the film. There are also numerous deleted scenes which feature more of Robert Patrick. There is a 13 minute making of feature, which actually has an interview with Jason Scott Lee (who is rocking a look that Ari the original Jason Voorhees has) and clips from Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, James Hong, Cary, Maggie, and others. There is a lot of mention of the kung fu side of the film which is very nice. There is a also a parody feature of about the life of a “ball wrangler” It’s a cute five minute short about the person who must take care of all the balls on set.

Overall: Balls of Fury is a wonderful action/comedy from some of the geniuses behind Reno 911 and comes to DVD (and HD-DVD) with some great features and excellent a/v quality. The only possible complaint would be a lack of a cast/crew comedy track, but Universal puts together an excellent DVD, that fans should pick up.

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