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Champion

Play trailer 1:33 Poster for Champion 2018 1h 48m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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90% Tomatometer 10 Reviews 58% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
A former arm-wrestling champion raised in the U.S. returns to South Korea for a tournament that could return him to glory, but he finds his life complicated by the appearance of the biological family he never knew.
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Champion

Critics Reviews

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Katie Rife AV Club If you've been missing the goofy earnestness of '80s action movies, then we've got good news-they haven't gone away, they simply changed location. Rated: B Jul 31, 2018 Full Review Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter Wins the match, but only on points. May 17, 2018 Full Review Noel Murray Los Angeles Times Writer-director Kim Yong-wan delivers a palatable product, with leftover ingredients. May 17, 2018 Full Review Jae-Ha Kim Jae-Ha Kim (Substack) 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,” “The Roundup”), the charismatic, buff actor has a knack for comedy. Rated: 3/4 Nov 9, 2024 Full Review Panos Kotzathanasis HanCinema Kim Yong-wan directs and pens a very entertaining movie, as he manages to keep the comedy for the largest part of the film, with a tactic that has him drawing humor from every aspect, including Ma Dong-seok's appearance and the English language Apr 21, 2019 Full Review Brent Hankins Spoiler TV Champion's biggest strengths are its comedic sensibilities, as director Kim Yong-Wan recognizes the inherent absurdity of arm-wrestling and plays it up for big laughs. Rated: 7/10 Apr 9, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This movie is only 'notable for how godawful it is. Mired in uber-cornball cheese, this is like 3rd-rate Stallone, 2nd-rate Van Damme. It's riddled with cliche after cliche, right down to the sleezy 'manager', precocious rug rats that are supposed to be so cute and provide one-liners, the dying long-estranged family member, and the tournament where you know the lead character will win. I see reviews where critics admit as much, yet still give it a positive review, saying Ma Dong-seok's as Mark acting saves it. I'll say it then, this blows, right down to the predictable story line and the lead performance. 1.8 stars Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member A lighter Don Lee film. He plays an arm wrestling champion that returns from US to Korea to compete and rediscover his family. Endearing and sweet. Often funny. Not my favorite Don Lee film but still enjoyable. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member As a competitive armwrestler, I felt obligated to watch this because the only other armwrestling movie is of course "Over the Top". I went into the movie not expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised that it had a decent plot and didn't go too deep into the technical part of the sport. The director did a very good balance of scratching the surface of the sport, but didn't draw it out too much that the average person wouldn't lose interest. In all honesty, I thought the plot was better than Stalones movie. Is it a ground breaking story? No. It does remind me of Van Damme's "Lion Heart", but has its own twists and Comedic scenes to boot. Real life armwrestlers need to overlook the technical part of the scenes and remember they are actors. The movie is meant to give some spotlight to the sport and remind the world that Armwrestling is still alive and an actual sport. If youre an Armwrestler, you MUST watch and spread the word. The sport needs to grow, and this movie will only help it. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member A good not spectacular sports movie. A average movie carried by actor Ma Dong-seok who proves he's one of the top action stars in South Korea. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Champion

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Cast & Crew

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Kim Yong-wan

Director

Ma Dong-seok

Mark

Kwon Yul

Jin-gi

Han Ye-ri

Soo-jin

Choi Seung-hoon

Junhyeong

Ok Ye-rin

Junhui

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Champion

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Champion

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Movie Info

Synopsis A former arm-wrestling champion raised in the U.S. returns to South Korea for a tournament that could return him to glory, but he finds his life complicated by the appearance of the biological family he never knew.
Director
Kim Yong-wan
Producer
Han Dong-hwan, Park Hee-gon
Screenwriter
Kim Yong-wan
Distributor
Well Go USA Entertainment
Production Co
Core Corner
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
Korean
Release Date (Theaters)
May 11, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 9, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA)
$95.8K
Runtime
1h 48m
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