I once watched this movie as a kid because I loved martial arts and I still do (I’m Asian American). Of course I’ve grown up (I still practice martial arts), and recently I watched this movie once again thinking: Maybe I can figure out differences between American culture and the culture of another country, in this case Korea. I love culture comparisons, and one can find plenty in Best of the Best.

The plot of the Best Of The Best goes like this: Five martial arts masters, including characters played by actual martial artists Philip Rhee and Chris Penn, have been selected as part of a World Tae Kwon Do Championship. Team USA, as they are called, will go up against the unbeatable and highly motivated Team Korea. Tae Kwon Do is the Korean version of karate, with a high emphasis on kicks and arm blocks. (Note: The characters’ names are unimportant compared to the plot and the high kicks.)

Philip Rhee’s character has good reason to join in and stay in; his character blames one of the current Team Korea members for killing his big brother in a match. Chris Penn’s character is in the team for the fun of it. The other three are also skkilled but rather wussy, the Texan among them is quite annoying and loud-mouthed, although he’s as skilled in high kicks as the others. The manager is played by James Earl Jones (?) and the other trainer will be some blond bimbo (I won't bother with her name) whose plastic mannequin appearance is only made up by her own skill as a martial arts instructor.

The extreme training regimen Team Korea’s five top men (one of whom is played by Philip Rhee’s real-life brother, Simon Rhee), selected for the tournament, must go through, would make a US Navy Seal drain on his pants. They must jog through a snow blizzard without proper winter clothing in one scene, and they must punch or karate-chop their hands on stone or concrete, and sometimes on steel bars. It’s not for the squeamish or anyone with a 'bleeding heart'. The instructors and trainers bark fierce commands and orders that would horrify a US Army drill sergeant if translated; they are condemned if they’re not up to snuff, and given pressure to train even harder if they are. The five top men steal every scene they’re in. The especially excel when they team up against 25 other similarly skilled martial artists and beat them handily without a scratch. I didn’t see any sign of any female or anything feminine in those scenes...LOL.

Cut to the Americans (including Philip Rhee), who in one scene are drinking in a bar the night before training begins (I’m not making this up), talking about hot girls, motorcycles, Monday Night Football, the upcoming training session, and whatever. The other ultra-skilled guy (Chris Penn) is talking on the phone, saying hello to his wife and little kid (Awww, how cute.). Suddenly a team USA member (who, like the rest of Team USA, is half-drunk) and another guy get into a drunken argument, pushes turn to fists, many others join in, and a bar brawl is on. The Team USA members use karate kicks and punches to bash the drunken assailants and end up destroying the bar. This happens to be the main moment of hard and intense combat training that Team USA will ever get. And believe it or not, they get away with it! If any Team Korea contestant ever STEPPED in a bar, he would probably be dismissed immediately.

The rest is all cliches and nonsense; the American trainees get only modest training, they do some push-ups, some jogging on a track, watch some blond bimbo karate-chop wood (duh), and cringe (I did too) as James Earl Jones spurts out horrible puns. Chris Penn must go home for a couple of days when his kid in injured in a car accident or something, then is convinced into coming back.

The final scene with the tournament is too predictable and too ridiculous to describe here. Hint: The Americans at least manage to avoid losing to the Koreans 5 to 0.

The training regimen contrast between Team USA and Team Korea could easily be used as a metaphor for our present society. Is it any wonder we Americans are getting lazy and fat and ignorant and rather sloppy? And this movie was made in 1989! Two years before the end of the Cold War! Since then, the rest of the world has started becoming fat, sloppy, gullible, stuck-up, and sex-hungry like we are. And we wonder why some people in the Arab world and elsewhere came to hate our guts.

To sum it all up, it’s a wonder how the Americans could even consider going against the Koreans; as previously mentioned they don’t even start training or using their skills until some drunk in a bar attacks them with a beer bottle! The movie illustrates these culture differences well, and they’re wide. The Title called Best of the Best belongs to Team Korea, hands down. They're the best part about this movie, and it shows.

One more comment I must make: I’ve lived to see the commercial Tiger Schulmanization of all forms of martial arts in this country, and I don’t like it one bit. What was once a whole set of dignified physical exercises meant to calm and improve a man’s mind and enhance his body has disintegrated into ghetto action flicks, kid-friendly chain stores like Tiger Schulman, video games like Street Fighter, and Ninja Turtles. It disgusts me to no end, which is one reason why I train myself alone when enhancing my Tae-Kwon-Do skills. I have no need for all this junk out there. While I don’t advocate shaving your head and heading to a Buddhist monastery, one should definitely train for his own mental and physical enhancement if practicing martial arts like Tae Kwon Do. If you’re expecting any hard martial arts or discipline in training, don’t expect it from this flick, or at least not from Team USA.


Recommended: Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening