Waste of time

Redundant and unnecessary.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Impacting and moving, this film creates a feeling like you're right next to the main character Hyeon-su and you need him to do well you want him to be your friend and to have him around. He makes this movie amazing, and might be my new favourite protagonist in any movie. he gets my rating to a instant 8 before considering the movie itself, giving it that extra boost.The movie makes this film identifiable as everyone has had that in between time when they weren't settled somewhere yet, a new home, school, moving up to high school most people know what its like to have to find a click or people you can be yourself with and that's the journey this film starts with. The films then becomes more coming of age with love and the trials of youth affecting how Hyeon-su behaves and acts towards people. This film has relations to Bruce Lee with the main characters bonding through enjoyment of his movies however it doesn't rely on it or abuse it, its just there, and I like that, without the Bruce Lee element it stands on its own as a solid movie, but its a nice addition to tie the movie up.Now the fighting, Jesus this film has some good fights, nothing technical like jet Li or any of the bigs, but realistic in ways and more like school yard scrapping with some insane impact and amazing use of feeling and emotion before and during each fight, the final fight has you seriously glued to the screen with your mouth open hungry for more and more until boom, you want to un see it to experience it again. Also, nunchaku, do I need to say anything else.Ha Yoo knows how to write, A Dirty Carnival, Gangnam Blues, this guy knows drama and has you pulled along by your heart strings and adrenaline pumps throughout the whole thing. I don't know if people will even read this review but if it makes even one person watch the film then I'm content, because I do think its a really good film, definitely in my top ten.

Once Upon a time in high school is a very good film despite the horrible title, it takes place in Seoul 1978, Hyeon-Su a Bruce lee fan whose father is a Tae Kwon Do coach moves to a new military school where he meets Hamburger a classmate who sells pornography in order to make a buck and Woo-Shik a trouble maker who is also a Bruce lee fan. along the way our protagonist is faced with bullying, but thanks to Woo-Shick he manages to avoid trouble because the latter is a nut case who roots for violence, and the tyranny of the high school regime. this may make the movie look sad but it's not, well it's not exactly funny but the characters had great fun together for instance in one scene the three friends were partying in a disco and hamburger was hitting on a girl and he was being rude unfortunately for him she was a Tae Kwon Do champ so i don't need to tell you what happened to him. on top of all that this movie has a great love story between the Shy Hyeon-Su and the very beautiful Eun-Ju, but she becomes Woo-Shik's girlfriend which will complicate their friendship, i personally think(IMHO) that this is one of the best love stories i have ever seen in film history, it felt realistic(maybe because i met my first love just like Hyeon-Su did). The writing was very clever it manages to keep you entertained and at the same time emotionally moved with well developed characters and the relationship between them, the actors did a great job not even a single one of them failed to deliver his character besides they had a good chemistry together that they make you feel like you are living near them. Overall this is a movie not to be missed,it can be described as a movie for all tastes, there's enough fights to call this film an action film but don't expect something like Takashi Miike's underrated high school fight club flick Crows Zero (1+2).

Once Upon a Time in High School is poet-director Yu Ha's third feature and this time he chooses to tread a very different territory than his previous works, exploring the culture of violence in Corea via the lens of high school during the 1970s.The story concerns a recent transferee to a new high school, Hyunsu, who quickly makes friends with the class tough guys. Complications arise when his crush and his new best friend end up liking each other. Add this to rivalries, belligerent teachers, administrators and a general culture of violence and you have a setup for enormous amounts of frustration and violence begetting more violence. Oh, and Bruce Lee. Not the actual Bruce Lee, but there's quite a bit of Bruce Lee in this film, as his star was bright at the time.The story has several threads, but because it's so well weaved together, you never really get lost and although towards the end of the film, most of the plot elements vanish, I think it works well in this film, showing how a system of violence slowly drags its victims into reproducing that same violence, causing everything else to be lost. And yet, while the film criticizes the violence, it also seems to be glorifying the violence at the same time, which you can see in a number of rather impressive fight sequences (including two crazy rooftop rumbles). Clearly this is a complicated, but still nostalgic look back at the days of high school.One thing that really impressed me was Kwon Sang Woo's performance as Hyunsu, especially that he handled a great deal of the stunts and fighting himself. But, he also did really well portraying a rather meek character and I liked his chemistry with his cohort, Wooshik, played by Lee Jungjin. In fact, most of the players do a pretty decent job with their roles. The setting is well articulated, the period dress is great and the technical aspects of the film are top notch.I have to say this is a worthwhile film to watch, both for the seemingly honest look at a violent time in Corean history that still hasn't worked its way out of the culture, but also for its exploration of its impact on the people. The thing I like about Yu's films are that, despite their often critical gaze, is that they at the same time have some sort of respect as well. Once Upon a Time in High School is a decent watch. Martial combat lovers get that, ladies at least get some eye candy and in all that is still a rather decent story about the hardships of high school, first love and the difficulties faced in friendship. 8/10.

I felt this movie was awesome.People described it as the experience faced by highscoolers during the military regime days of south Korea but for me it was different.It seemed like a well sketched out story spiced up with some really good and brutally realistic martial art seqences.The transformation undergone by every character is depicted realistically.It is a story of friendship,first love,betrayal and revenge.And the final scene on the roof with nanchakus tops it all...a brilliantly realistic close combat scene...you can watch the entire movie just for that one scene.Excellent performances throughout."spirit of jeet kune do" is a winner all the way.P.S. By the way am i the only non-korean seeing and reviewing all of the great south korean films like taegukgi,marathon,failan etc.I would be happy if this movie gets a broader international release,at least to American audiences.