Therapist: Fist of Tae-baek, The (2020) Review

“The Therapist: Fist of Tae-baek” Theatrical Poster

Director: Choi Sang-Hun
Cast: Oh Ji-Ho, Shin So-Yul, Jung Eui-Wook, Dong Zhang, Kim Kyeol, Bae Min-Jung, Park No-Kyeong, Jeon Hyun-Soo, No Young-Ju, Oh Kyung-Min
Running Time: 104 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Look past the A-list productions that make it onto the cinema screens of Korea (and increasingly overseas). Look past the many B-grade productions that look to emulate the success of the bigger budgeted counterparts that inspired them. Look past a further few layers that likely exist in-between, and eventually you’ll land on the Korean DTV action flick, a genre that cranks out an alarmingly high number of titles that remain relatively unseen not only overseas, but also in Korea. Usually fight flicks that give Korea’s stuntman community a chance to strut their stuff, if you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of recent flicks like Joseon Fist, God of the Fight: Shirasoni, and Real Fighter, don’t worry as you’re not alone.

With the likes of Hong Kong and Japan’s action scenes barely even shadows of their former selves, you’d think a whole genre dedicated to delivering low budget fight fests would be a no-brainer for those looking for a dose of high kicking taekwondo action, so just why do these flicks remain so unheard of and unseen? There could be several reasons. For a start it’s exceptionally rare for any of these titles to get the English subtitle treatment, limiting their appeal to overseas audiences. However I’d be willing to argue the answer is more straightforward. Much like the Japanese V-Cinema boom of the 90’s (or for a more recent example – China’s online cinema output), many of these fight flicks come with killer artwork that promises plenty of testosterone and violence, however the actual product itself is often poorly shot, choppily edited, and questionably ‘acted’.

A rare few of them manage to rise above though, and even get physical releases (if not on Blu-ray, then at least on DVD). The likes of 2016’s Showdown, 2019’s Ascension: Ultimate Fighter, and 2020’s Justice High all hit domestic shelves in Korea, and the most recent one to rise out of local streaming obscurity is The Therapist: Fist of Tea-baek. Opening in a small clearing within a bamboo forest, a pair of fighters go toe to toe in a high kicking face off, earning instant good will thanks to the comparatively similar opening of Warriors Two, Sammo Hung’s kung fu masterpiece from more than 40 years earlier. As it happens, also like in Warriors Two, the pair turn out to be students of the same teacher, and are played by Oh Ji-ho (The Prisoner, My Wife is a Gangster 3) and Jung Eui-wook (Start-Up, Wolves).

The pairs friendship is tested when their teacher abruptly reveals they’ve both mastered their temples particular martial art – a fighting style that focuses on using the opponents meridian points to render them helpless (think Jet Li’s specialty in Kiss of the Dragon) – so will have a duel the following day to decide who’s the master moving forward. The loser will need to leave the mountain the temple resides on immediately, and make it for themselves in the outside world. However the following morning Ji-ho wakes up alone, finding a letter from Eui-wook explaining how he should take the title of master, and that there’s no need for them to fight. Cue title sequence followed by onscreen text revealing it’s now 7 years later, and we learn that not only did Ji-ho not accept his role as master, he also left the mountain that same morning in an attempt to find Eui-wook and resolve things in person.

As it turns out, being a martial arts master on an epic quest in the real world turns out to be very different from, for want of a better description, how it’s usually portrayed in the movies. In the time since he came down the mountain Ji-ho has gotten married to a pestering wife, has a young son, and is running a dodgy acupuncture therapy store, where he uses his martial arts expertise to ease the ailments of the few elderly customers who come by. His morally upstanding martial code even prevents him from charging some of them, much to the chagrin of his constantly flustered wife, who’s only concern is the number of unpaid bills they have piling up, and their sons tuition fees. It’s safe to assume any intention of still finding Eui-wook fell by the wayside long ago, as the daily drudgery of making ends meet became the priority.

The Therapist: Fist of Tae-baek is the sophomore directorial feature from Choi Sang-hoon, who made his directing debut in 2018 with the horror The Whispering. It feels safe to say that Sang-hoon has found his niche with these DTV action flicks, as his sophomore feature was one of three released in 2020, with the other two being Dragon Inn Part 1: The City of Sadness and its sequel Dragon Inn Part 2: The Night of the Gods. Both also featured Ji-ho and Eui-wook in prominent roles. The Therapist is clearly the most light-hearted of the trio, with what feels like most of the focus going to the bickering shenanigans between Ji-ho and his wife, played by Shin So-yul (A Violent Prosecutor, Gyeongju). It’s an admittedly amusing premise, that of a revered martial arts master living in the seclusion of the mountains coming down into the city, and finding himself with a complete lack of life skills to navigate the trials and tribulations of a standard day.

The situational comedy can get rather broad, and no doubt those clocking in expecting a 90-minute therapy session involving copious fight action will be left beguiled by the movie that plays out before them. Taken for what it is though, there’s minor enjoyment to be had, with the budget not so low that it looks like an ugly digital mess, and not so high that it looks like anything more than a daytime TV drama. Amidst the schemes to ensure their therapy store doesn’t go under, a more action-centric plot does emerge. Amusingly it turns out that So-yul has lent money from loan sharks to help them stay afloat, and when it turns out the head of the loan shark operation is Eui-wook, the pair finally become reunited. It’s just in time, as an evil developer (is there any other kind in Korean cinema?) is trying to evict the local community from their businesses for redevelopment, and they’ve hired another martial arts master to do their bidding.

We learn that each of the 3 tallest mountains in Korea has their own martial arts master with their own distinct style, and it seems the master of Paek-tu mountain has been hired as the developer’s muscle. While it could well be lost on non-Korean audiences, Paek-tu mountain is in North Korea bordering China (and is notably the setting for the Chinese movie Savage), and predicably the associated martial arts style is known for its aggressiveness. Dong Zhang (Reset, Tik Tok) plays the master in question, and as Ji-ho and Eui-wook re-discover their origins they team up to put a stop to the developers plans the only way they know how – facing off against Zhang for some meridian point themed martial arts action. That’s exactly what goes down, however the fight action isn’t particularly thrilling and is almost instantly forgettable. The cast clearly know a few moves, however the choreography is basic and missing any sense of immediacy.

Even the finale, which sees Ji-ho taking on a small army of attackers before finally facing off against Zhang is underwhelmingly shot, and can’t resist throwing in an Ip Man style chain punch into the mix. In many ways its representative of The Therapist: Fist of Tae-baek as a whole, in that it’s perfectly average in a sort of something to have on in the background kind of way, offering nothing that really grabs your attention to declare itself as being worthy of your time. Even director Sang-hoon doesn’t seem fully invested, throwing in a random subplot that involves Zhang’s family from North Korea being held captive by the developers, a fairly significant revelation that ends up being resolved by a character we’ve barely spent 5 minutes with.

To call the Korean DTV action genre a minefield would be an understatement, however there are decent efforts out there, with productions like Spare and Fist and Furious at least striking the balance effectively when it comes to plot versus fight action. The Therapist: Fist of Tae-baek probably would have been better off as an hour long sitcom, removing the martial arts element all together, however as it stands what we do get is perfectly watchable, albeit completely unremarkable and likely to be forgotten 5 minutes after the credits roll.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 4/10