THROW DOWN is unquestionably filmmaking of the highest caliber and Johnnie To is one of those filmmakers whose movies deserve much more attention than they ever seem to get here in the west. Like John Woo, To has a very distinctive voice, although I think that To is a tad more versatile. There are echoes of Kurosawa throughout THROW DOWN, as one might expect from what amounts to a homage, but To doesn't simply emulate the greatest filmmaker of them all: he tips his hat while at the same time infusing this moving martial arts drama with its own distinctive feel. It's about blindness of all kinds: the characters seem to be trapped each in their own particular vacuum and, while running away from, say, their past, they are at the same time running TOWARD their future(s). There's an amazing three-way conversation that takes place in a nightclub, with overlapping and intertwining dialogue, that has to be seen to be appreciated. THROW DOWN is as much about blindness and transcendental beauty as it is about judo. As someone pointed out to me years ago: one must first learn to fall.

Period. I intended to write no more, but it seems I must submit at least ten lines, so I will write the ten lines, but nothing more of interest shall be added. Many times Johnnie To's movies are masterpieces, for example PTU is an involuntary masterpiece, Dung fong saam hap, (The Heroic Trio) is an all-out masterpiece, Breaking News is a crafty self-conscious masterpiece, Yau doh lung fu bong, that is this movie, a serene, and a little facetious, masterpiece (salute to Master Kurosawa included). I don't know Whom but I want to give thanks for the existence of Johnnie To. Still I am short a couple of lines, so I must keep typing my in-praise-of-johnny-to palaver until I don't receive the message saying I did not reach the ten lines I'm required. There is a reviewer who wrote he went back to his Judo after he saw this movie, he also stated he planned to visit Japan in order to know Judo's homeland. Well, I will not resume my Judo training since I never practiced but I will travel to Hong Kong in order to know movie's new homeland, and pay tribute to Sensei To.

I just watched the version that's dubbed in Mandarin, and found the film to be a disappointment after hearing so much high praise about it. So I would advise everyone to try the original HK version or better subbed version instead. Hopefully you would have a better experience.I enjoyed the last two films I saw by the same director (PTU and Breaking News, both subbed), but I found this particular one to be incoherent and the characters hard to relate to. The film hardly makes me sympathize with its main characters, and without that connection, their life and action holds no interest to me, and all the cinematic sequences director employs become only distracting gimmicks (ie the dialog/bathroom scene involve 3 leading characters in the night club, the chasing sequence with female lead, money, a shoe...) The performance by all the actors are great, but the story presents those characters in a way that I don't see enough explanation to how they got to the situation they are in and why they chose to take certain action over other. The pace of the film is all wrong for me, some of the cuts seems to be placed at all the wrong places, On the plus side, the film is beautifully shot. Hopefully all the problem I have with this film is due to bad dubbing, which is entirely possible. But I have no intention to find out after already wasting over an hour of my time.

Award-winning director Johnnie To is back in action with his recent release Throw Down, which stars heart-throbs Aaron Kwok and Louis Koo in judo-flopping scenes. Ex-judo champion Sze-to (Louis Koo) mysteriously retires from the sport and becomes a pub manager until "Leather Jacket" Tony (Aaron Kwok), a spirited judo fighter, revitalizes his fighting desires and challenges him to a match. But there's more to win than just the champion title; Mona, a Taiwanese girl (Cherrie Ying) working at Sze-to's pub, charms both fighters with her singing and dancing skills. Pub manager/band leader Sae-To was once the greatest Judo fighter around until he unexpectedly gave up the sport for no apparent reason. Nowadays Sze-To lives the life of an alcoholic gambler with no hope for the futre, until cocky Judo enthusiast Tony shows up at the door and challenges Sze-To into a due; Old foe Kong demands finishing the match that never took place years ago; Sze-To's mentor Master Cheng ask him to man age his rundown Dojo...