Throw Down (2004)

"I'll be Sanshiro Sugata, you be Higaki"

Throw Down was director Johnnie To’s homage to Kurosawa Akira’s Sanshiro Sugata. Gotta say, other than the judo connection, I didn’t see anything to tie the two films together. Sanshiro Sugata showed how the study of judo turned a young man’s life around as he learned discipline and honor. Throw Down was about hustlers’ and even gangsters’ love of judo.

Szeto To is a washed up judo champ who manages a night club. He is an inveterate gambler and alcoholic. In his spare time he attempts to steal money from a local gangster in order to pay back his debts. Mona is from Taiwan and is trying to make it big as a singer and/or actress. Completely broke and without much talent, she bulldozes Szeto into giving her a job at the club and eagerly helps him in his heist attempts. Tony arrives in town and challenges Szeto to a match, sticking around as a saxophone player for the club. Szeto’s old teacher wants him to take over his dojo and an old rival shows up desiring a rematch.

Everyone except for Mona was a judo expert in this film. With the exception of a barroom brawl, most of the fights were over quickly with a throw down. Lack of character development made it almost impossible to become emotionally invested in any of the characters. They also weren’t very likeable. Szeto was a loser with a capital “L”, someone who was set on self-destruct mode for a reason that only became apparent at the end of the film. Mona was desperate enough to debase herself and steal in order to make her dream become reality. And Tony only cared about trying out new techniques and fighting anyone around. None of the characters had much depth and there weren’t any emotional stakes. Even the bad guys weren’t very bad when it came to judo. There was no real conflict except within Szeto and because the audience was largely kept in the dark, he just came across as pathetic. The characters were only happy when they were competing in dojos, alleyways, the street, wherever they could talk someone into battling. Tony put up a sign for a judo tournament but only one minor character went to it off screen.

Where the film succeeded was in the cinematography. It looked good and the music was pleasant. The short fights also came across as realistic with the judo throwing and the grappling on the ground. At the end of Sanshiro Sugata, the final fight took place in the tall grass. Apparently, Johnnie To decided to have his final fight in even taller grass but with a less climactic ending. Sanshiro Sugata had an uplifting message about the discipline of judo leading to personal growth and respect for others. I suppose if you squint really hard, Throw Down had a message about getting up regardless of how many times you’re knocked down and to have something in your life you are passionate about. I just wish the characters had been more fleshed out so that I would have cared about whether they got up 1001 times.

15 March 2025

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