“Champion” (챔피언)

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
December  10, 2023

☆☆☆☆
Mark / Baek Seung-min (played by Ma Dong-seok,
who is billed here by his western name of Don Lee)
Jin-ki (played by Kwon Yul)
Soo-jin (played by Han Ye-ri)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

If you watched Sylvester Stallone’s 1987 arm wrestling film “Over the Top” and hated it, don’t let that deter you from giving “Champion” a shot. Starring Ma Dong-seok (“Train to Busan,” “Eternals,” “The Roundup” films), the charismatic, buff actor has a knack for comedy.

This feel-good movie centers on Mark, a Korean adoptee raised in the U.S., who returns to his birth country to compete in a lucrative arm wrestling competition. Mark didn’t really want to come back, but his in-debt friend, Jin-ki, convinces him that if he does, he will help find Mark’s birth mother.

Through circumstances that can’t be controlled, Marks finds his half sister (Han Ye-ri of “Minari”) and her adorable children instead. When the film starts veering towards a potentially icky relationship, the screenwriter resolves it with what some might call a cop-out.

Meanwhile, Mark is faced with the moral dilemma of throwing the competition to appease gangsters who stand to win more if he loses. Will he do their bidding? I think we all know the answer to that.

Release date: This 108-minute film opened in South Korea on May 1, 2018. Director: Kim Yong-wan. I watched this on Viki.

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