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14 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :- Sheer brilliance from start to finish, 22 October 2004 Author: himboy32 (himboy32@yahoo.co.uk) from Newcastle, England
Volcano High tells the story of Kim Kyung Soo, a high school student who has super natural powers, after he is expelled from his last school he is sent to 'Volcano High' a place where he thinks he'll be able to control his abilities with other students who have similar powers such as he.Soon he locks horns with the school bully Jang Ryang while he tries to win the affections of the most beautiful girl in school. the gorgeous but deadly Jade, but another problem for Kim presents itself in the form of the five lords of discipline, five teachers who travel from school to school controlling the most unruly of students oh and they all have super natural powers also.I LOVED this movie, I got such a kick out of watching it. Everything about this movie is great the acting,the action and sometimes even the script.Watching this you'd think it was based on a Japanese manga comic but it isn't, the director Kim Tae-Gyun was heavily influenced by these comics and animated movies and set out to do a live action japanime movie and he was successful in every aspect.Jang Hyuk who plays Kim does such a wonderful job in this role he is able to be a serious hard-ass one moment then straight away making himself look like a total goof.A great highlight in the movie are the fight scenes, in my opinion they make good use of wire work and visual effects which is very reminiscent of movies such as 'The Storm Riders' or 'The Avenging Fist' The humour is some times lost in the translation which is to be expected if you don't speak Korean. This movie is one of the few which has been making Korean cinema more and more prolific over the past few years its up there with such other Korean gems as 'Friend' 'Bichunmoo' 'Musa' and 'Guns n Talks' I recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of Andrew Lau f/x laden fantasy epics or Japanime, you will not be disappointed.I also recommend you try and pick up the Region 2 Premiere Asia DVD as it contains the best version(The 95 minute one) and also contains the cut footage and the second disc full of great extras.
12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :- It Sure Beats The High School I Went To!, 11 February 2003 Author: Jordan-M (jammastajordan@aol.com) from Sunny, Southern California
"Volcano High" takes every Anime high school cliche ever made and slaps them all together in a two hour extravaganza of amazing special effects, side-splitting humor, and an intentionally overacting cast. The result is cinematic perfection.The main story is about Kim Kyeong-Su, a young man who seems to get into fights no matter where he goes - causing him to be kicked out of 8 schools previous to Volcano High. This is his ninth and final chance at success, so he can't afford to mess up. Unfortunately for Kim, Volcano High is a school that thrives on fighting - and Kim, being the new guy, is prime choice. Because of this, he spends a lot of the time getting his hindside handed to him. Once a conspiracy to overthrow the principal and introduce capital punishment to the student body comes into play, Kim realizes he can no longer stand by and let things unravel this way. Therefore, he decides to join the other students in a battle against the newly hired teachers designed to wipe out all of the fighters at Volcano High...Which is where we, the unwitting audience, bear witness to some of the most insane battles ever displayed on film. The final battle has to be seen to be believed - but that's all I'm going to say! I leave it up to you to watch the movie for yourself. Trust me, it's hard to find, but worth the effort... Especially Hyo-jin Kong as So Yo-Seon!"Volcano High" ranks up quite high in my list of favorites. See it for yourself, and discover if you feel the same way!
5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :- Good fun for the fun-loving, 24 June 2004 Author: Mike Paines from Portmouth, UK
I can understand why this film splits viewers into those who either love it-to-death or those who despise it. To properly enjoy Volcano High, you will need to relax, loosen up and dig up some old skool memories.Considering this is primarily a fun film, main and periphery characters are well portrayed, and there's a lots of subtle comedy and bombastic drama to keep anyone with a developed sense of humour happy. However, if you love martial arts movies, you will be disappointed - the martial arts is spread pretty thin. Although Volcano High is Korean, it appears to have gone the way of recent Hong Kong kung fu films, in that choreography is either obscured or entirely replaced by CGI effects. However, the special effects and acting are top-notch, Hyuk Jang especially evoking both sniggers and respect. Well made and good fun if you don't take your movie-watching too seriously. If, however, you want something a bit more substantial from Korea, try Musa or Shiri.
5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :- My kind of martial arts movie, 2 October 2002 Author: Shiva-11 from Vancouver
Volcano HighBy Greg UrsicBeing the best at something is great (or so I hear): you get to bathe in the limelight, be adored by legions, and quite possibly get loads of cash. But whether you're the heavyweight boxing champ or king of the tiddly-winks set, there's one annoying downside - someone is always trying to knock you off your throne. Throw superpowers into the mix and things get even more complicated.Expelled yet again for fighting, Kyeong-su Kim is transferred to Volcano High, a cross between Hogwarts and Xavier's school for gifted children: the students possess a stunning range of martial and mental skills. Unfortunately for Kyu, who has sworn off fighting, he finds himself caught between warring sports clubs vying for control of the school and a secret book of magic. And as the powerful new kid everyone wants Kyeong-Su on their team or out of the way. And you thought your high school was tough. From the opening sequence with its pounding score and action teaser you know that this film is going to be a lot of fun. Boasting a retinue of strutting characters with pompous sounding names, hilarious slapstick, physical humor, strong female roles, leather clad villains, intricate, over-the-top Matrix-style wire work and great CGI, this film offers the martial arts aficionado everything they could want. There's even a fleshed out subplot that addresses the rote style learning and nonconformist obedience typical of old-style Asian schooling. But I digress. The fight sequences are carefully parsed out, leaving the viewer wanting for more, but the payoff is well worth the wait - the final showdown has the best combination of choreography/visual effects/mood/scoring that I've seen in a film in this genre. My only concern was that the subtitles were very dim and placed low on the screen making them difficult to read. Unless you're trying to make notes like I was, this won't be a big problem.If you like your martial arts films loud and flashy (and who doesn't?), this is one you definitely want to see on the big screen. I'm already waiting for the sequel.P.S. I hear that Resurrection of the Little Match Girl is even better!
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- Fun comic book action from Korea., 25 May 2006 Author: BA_Harrison from Hampshire, England
With its comic-book style, eye-candy cast, spectacular visual effects and incredible martial arts wire-fu trickery, Volcano High is a disposable piece of action cinema that, if anything, never fails to be entertaining.In a Korean high school in the near future, where gangs of students battle against each other for supremacy, the principal supposedly owns a secret manuscript which bestows upon the owner unlimited martial arts skills; naturally, there are those who wish to lay their hands upon the document.Kim Kyung-soo is a delinquent student with incredible power and fighting skills who is transferred to Volcano High after being expelled from 8 previous schools. He is courted by the top gangs, but refuses to join them, preferring not to fight.When the principal is poisoned, the school's top martial artist Song Hak-rim is framed for the deed. In fact, it is the Vice Principal who, along with Jang Ryang, leader of the weight-lifting club, has planned to dispose of the principal in order to get his paws on the manuscript; however, they are unable to find what they are looking for, so they call in reinforcements in the form of five leather clad teachers with supernatural powers.Only Kim Kyung-soo has the power to stop the bad guys from completing their task, but will he join the fight and save the day? A little overlong at 122 minutes, Volcano High is nevertheless a stunning piece of cinema that possesses little in the way of emotive storytelling, but looks fantastic. Viewers are best advised to ignore the lightweight and nonsensical plot, but instead sit back and revel in the top-notch visuals: comic style transitions, lavish CGI enhanced fights, beautifully lit rain drenched settings and a good looking young cast.*** This review is of the original uncut Korean version of the film. ***
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- Not too bad, but could do better, 18 July 2003 Author: stuartmcd
The main problem with Volcano High is that it is half an hour too long. I felt that the first half of the film worked pretty well. The plot was incoherent, but there was a sense of movement, and the tension was building well. But when the evil teachers turned up, and that naughty kid Ryang got beaten up (repeatedly), the film suddenly stopped moving.For the first part of Volcano High's the action sequences were amiably ludicrous, but also fairly understated. People flew around but no one really cut loose. At the final confrontation, we were ready for a bit of visual hyperbole, and I was expecting something as mind-blowing as the finales to Storm Riders, or Swordsman II, but instead the film closed with a protracted and very dull punch-up.Visually, though, Volcano High is tremendous. While the action was derivative of the Matrix, it struck me that the camerawork and choreography had more life and grace than in that film. The comedy was amiably goofy, and the actors were charismatic.So, not a bad film, but I think that any other persons wishing to make wu xia high school comedies can improve the formula by applying more care and attention.
4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :- This is what live-motion comics should look like!, 24 February 2004 Author: Tom Demuynck (geniale_schildpad) from Waregem, Belgium
First of all, I want to make a point here. You can't review a comic the same way you review a piece of world literature. So don't review films such as Whasango (Volcano High) like you should review a more serious film, because... IT'S A COMIC!The story is kept minimal and the characters are stereotyped. Then how come this still is an awesome film? Because it's a rollercoaster, and an extremely beautiful one. Bleashed colors, very nice CGI, cool stunts, over-the-edge acting... Whasango has it all. All it requires from it's viewers is to realise it's pure fantasy. But it's one of the best pieces of fantasy I saw lately.PS: this is a review of the unedited, original Korean version.
3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :- see it twice, 20 November 2004 Author: Sune Urth (suneurth@hotmail.com) from Copenhagen, Denamrk
I felt kinda disappointed when I first saw this, but must admit after seeing it a second (and third) time, that it is actually relatively consistent, in the same way that a manga comic might be utterly confusing, but in the end, after thorough investigation make sense.The argument evolves around this though, whether it is relevant to make an action fling that requires for you to see it two or three times, before grasping the basic content. Hak-rim is falsely accused of poisoning the head-master of the school, but actually it's Jang Ryang and the vice-head-master (is it called that, I haven't got a dictionary here) who conspired to put Hak-Rim and the head-master out of action in a devious and cunning stroke, because they want the scroll for them selves.The entire story evolves around this secret scroll, that will end something by doing something which is never quite clear, but the box for the scroll is empty. Suspense! and then enters the school-fiver, five awesome guys who have real ultimate power. and their leader says: "tell a lion that has never seen a mouse, that the mouse is dangerous, and he will lie sleepless. But it will be a weak lion that scares that easily." So, what he says is that there is no scroll. But then he says that there IS a scroll, and then they all fight. The first 4/5 of the film is great fun. Monumental scenes, for example Jang Ryang getting on his knees for icy jade, to the sound of cheesy '60 rockabilly, will stand till kingdom come, but there are major holes, and basically the storyline is to badly told, though interesting if you take your time. last 5th is too long. like this comment.
2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- Remember, there are two versions!, 12 September 2006 Author: gord-12 from South Korea
You have to remember, there are two versions, one dubbed and one with the original sound. I haven't heard the dubbed one, but come on, since when has a dubbed film ever sounded or looked right? Check out the original, and you might enjoy it. As for me, it's one of my favorite Korean films, and I think of it as a kind of kung-fu Harry Potter goes to a new high school. It's like anime, but live-action, and very strange. But it's fun. It's funny, it's silly, and it's meant to be that way. It has nothing to do with the gangsta rappers on the poster above, either. It's really unfortunate that someone dubbed this, and I hope that the original actually is available in North America. If not, make a trip to your local Chinatown and see whether they have the original version. It's worth it, take it from me.
2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- Watch the Korean Version, because MTV butchered the English dub., 31 August 2005 Author: irontulips from Canada
I thank MTV for including the Korean version of this film in it's North American release.It's a masterpiece of stylized kung-fu action. Breakneck pacing, hyper-realism, and pulse- pounding music abound. I can't exaggerate how entertaining this movie is. The Korean version that is.I don't have anything bad to say about it. At all. It is a little hard to follow what's going on at the beginning, and I'm sure I could find holes in the story, but it's just so damn entertaining that I didn't care.Now, the MTV version...How is it possible to cut out twenty-five minutes of the film and make it seem LONGER than the original?It plays like a bad TV movie. All original music has been replaced by assorted rap that seems out of place. The story and characters have been dumbed down to the point of unrecognizability. All characters are voiced by rappers, many of whom had never acted before (yes, not only is it badly dubbed, the Asian people are talking gansta). Much of the humor has been left on the cutting room floor.It tries so hard to be hip and cool that everything that made it hip and cool is lost. Oh, and along the way they broke every rule of good storytelling.But as I said, at least they included the original on the DVD.Korean 10/10 MTV 3/10
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