Movie Digest
Seong-Joon, the Tae-baek martial arts heir, abandons his seclusion in search of Jin-Su, his mentor. He meets Bo-mi, the love of his life, and realizes that martial arts are useless in everyday life. So he renounces martial arts. Instead, he uses the knowledge he gained from his training to open an acupuncture clinic. But when threatening loan sharks and gangsters disrupt his idyllic life, Seong-Joon returns to his roots to protect his family.
The Feel-Good Part
The stereotypical kung fu music is excellent and perfectly complements the cheesy crowd-pleasing vibe.
The Disappointing Factor
Few fight action is not particularly thrilling and is quickly forgettable. The cast knows a few moves, but the choreography is simple and lacks any sense of immediacy.
In-Depth Analysis
The Therapist: Fist of Tae-baek is the sophomore feature film of Choi Sang-hoon. The film is the most light-hearted of all his works, with the majority of the attention focused on the bickering shenanigans of Ji-ho and his wife, played by Shin So-Yul. For better or worse, The Therapist: Fist of Tae-baek has a strong situation comedy vibe that nails how the unassuming hero of a kung fu movie would struggle to make ends meet in mundane life. The worst part of situation comedies is that they constantly introduce new conflicts and resolve them in twenty minutes with no apparent long-term repercussions. Even though the cast is not huge, there are a lot of characters we do not need. They are most useful for quick, stand-alone jokes or slapstick scenes. It just seems a little strange in the context of a feature-length story, which is again the whole point of a situation comedy. The movie does well with humor and inducing exciting fight scenes.
Star Power
Shin So Yool’s (Bo-mi) role as a nagging wife with strong presence contrast well with Oh Ji Ho’s (Seong-Joon) role as a calm person but an idiot who knows only about his martial arts.
Overall Opinion
It is a suitably fun movie with a good balance of comedy and action. It is a one-time watch film.
