Fly, Daddy, Fly (2006)

Jang Ga Pil is a typical salaryman who works hard to provide for his wife and teenage daughter.  One day he comes home to discover that his daughter, Da Mi, has been assaulted and raped by a group of boys while out at karaoke.  The leader of the group is Kang Tae Wook, high school boxing champion and the son of a powerful congressman.  After persistently trying and failing to get a proper apology and acknowledgement from Tae Wook and his parents, Ga Pil becomes so desperate as to try to stab Tae Wook on his way home from school.  This poorly thought-out plan fails, however, and Ga Pil meets another high school boy named Go Seung Suk.  Seung Suk is the only one to have ever beaten Tae Wook at boxing, and after some persuasion, Seung Suk offers to train Ga Pil so that the middle-aged man may get his revenge through a proper boxing match on even terms.

Oh, my goodness.  I've been looking forward to this review for so long.  I freaking LOVE this movie.  But before I start on a five-page essay about why this movie ROCKS epicly, let me start with the cast.

• Lee Moon Sik as Jang Ga Pil
• Lee Jun Ki as Go Seung Suk
• Lee Joo as Kang Tae Wook
• Kim Ji Hoon as Chae Soo Bin (Seung Suk's friend)
• Nam Hyeon Jun as Oh Se Joong (Seung Suk's other friend)
• Kim So Eun as Jang Da Mi
• Lee Yeon Soo as Ga Pil's wife

So let me just head this off by saying, oh, my gosh, the acting in this movie ROCKS!  Everyone did a fantastic job, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  First is the focus character of the movie, Jang Ga Pil, and he's played by Lee Moon Sik.  Now, being the relative newcomer that I am to Korean movies, I only know a handful of younger actors and only one or two older actors.  Thus, you already know what I'm going to say.  I'd never heard of Lee Moon Sik before this, but he did such a good job as Ga Pil that I don't even care about that.  He is SO good at portraying emotion properly and convincingly.  It is absolutely amazing.  Almost from the first moment he comes on screen you begin to sympathize with his character and the pain that he's going through.  This movie is built around Ga Pil, so his believability as a character is essential to the success of this story.  Moon Sik did such an amazing job carrying the movie all the way to the end.  This is one character you will most certainly be invested fully in by the time the big fight comes around.

Next up is my personal bias in this movie, Lee Jun Ki.  He's playing Go Seung Suk, the reluctant trainer.  The reason I say he's my personal bias is not because I'm a squealing fangirl (well, okay, I kind of am), but because he is one of the most mesmerizing and enthralling actors I have ever seen.  I have only seen a little bit of Jun Ki's work, including this movie, but oh, boy, is that gonna change.  I'm sold.  I've pretty much decided from seeing this movie that I must see everything else he's been in.  His ability to keep the audience not only interested but personally invested in what's happening on screen is quite amazing.  Jun Ki does a wonderful job acting as the strong quiet guy who's had a tough life and needs somebody to look up to.  Although he really isn't the full focus of the movie, I love Seung Suk as a character.  He has a wonderful emotional foundation, he has a tragic past that doesn't seem cliched, and Jun Ki delivered a performance that I will not soon forget.

Moving on from that, what is a movie without an antagonist?  That role in this movie is filled by Kang Tae Wook, played by Lee Joo.  This character isn't all that deep, but he doesn't really need to be.  We can tell from his actions and his attitude that he's a jerk and needs to be taught a lesson.  That is thanks to Lee Joo's acting.  He does a good job as the really perturbing jerk who doesn't understand what manners are and thinks the world pretty much revolves around him.

The next two characters I will only mention in passing, simply because they don't really do very much in the story.  They are worth calling out though because they are both lovable and serve their purposes in the grand scheme of things.  I am of course talking about Seung Suk's friends Chae Soo Bin and Oh Se Joong, played by Kim Ji Hoon and Nam Hyeon Jun respectively.  These two are really only there for two purposes: two rather important plot points and comic relief.  In my opinion, both purposes are served well.  The acting from these two is decently good, being goofy enough to still fit within the tone of the movie and yet allow for a little relief from the emotional pressure of the story.

The only other characters worth mentioning are Ga Pil's daughter Da Mi, played by Kim So Eun, and Ga Pil's wife (she doesn't have a name), played by Lee Yeon Soo.  The acting from So Eun is good.  She acts like a real teenager and nothing feels fake or anything like that.  Yeon Soo's acting is also good, but you don't really see very much of her in the movie, so a stellar performance isn't so important.  I'm not saying she didn't do a really good job bringing the emotion of the story across, but her character isn't so important overall (in my opinion; I don't want any skewering to occur over this comment).

All right.  On to the writing.  Oh, boy, this story is well written.  I mean, REALLY well written.  I've already talked about the emotion that comes across in the actors' performances and how well it's portrayed throughout the whole of the movie.  Now I get to talk about the other reason that worked so well.  The first reason was good acting; the second reason is good writing.  The emotion in this story is almost overwhelming, as well it should be.  This kind of story can't work without a good emotional foundation.  If we as an audience don't care about the lives of the characters, Ga Pil in particular, this movie is worthless.

That being said, however, emotion without a solid premise is pretty flimsy.  This story and the concept behind it are quite well thought out as well as being amazingly realistic.  I don't want to gush too much, but aside from the incredibly believable circumstances that allow for this story to occur, the way this premise works with a high school student being the teacher of a middle-aged man in something so hardcore as boxing is very well done.  I don't know any other way to put it.

Ah, the obligatory warning section.  There really is nothing to warn about.  Aside from a little bit of foul language and a bit of "gang"-related violence, there's nothing to really note on that front.

On the flipside, however, there is a ton of heart in this movie.  There is a very strong focus on the importance of a father figure/someone to look up to.  There is also a heavy message about what it means to do anything for your family.  It really is encouraging and heartwarming to see what lengths one man is willing to go to for his daughter's sake.

So on a final note, as if it wasn't painfully obvious enough by now, I LOVE this movie.  I've seen it twice and I'm going to see it again very soon, as well as making several people I know watch it.  This is one of the best movies I've ever seen, Asian or otherwise.  It's definitely at the top of my favorites list and will continue to remain there for quite a long time, I can assure you.  So watch it for the action, watch it for the family drama, watch it for the heartwarming story.  But for whatever reason you decide to watch this movie, you will not be disappointed.