Review: Arahan supposes that what if chi masters walked among us, sometimes without even knowing it? I'm not talking about old ladies performing meditative stances in the park here. We're talking wall-climbing, free-floating and palm-blasting power just waiting to be tapped. In other words, movie chi. Arahan follows in the footsteps, intentional or otherwise, of Shaolin Soccer in bringing comic book-style martial arts and comedy into ordinary surroundings and into the hands of otherwise ordinary people as they stumble along towards overcoming evil.

The film's opening is classic. Five old martial artists who make up the bulk of the Seven Masters leisurely sit around grousing about the difficulty in finding pupils among today's young generation and making an honest buck. Their only pupil is Eui-jin (Yun So-yi), daughter of Master Wu-un (Ahn Seong-gi) who is capable of leaping across skyscrapers but is stuck in a menial day job. The Seven Masters' misfortune changes when a bumbling traffic officer named Yoo Sang-hwan (Ryu Seung-beom) is hit with an errant palm blast during a botched attempt by So-yi to subdue a petty thief. His quick recovery reveals a strong source of chi within his body. This also gives the Masters hope that he might be capable of becoming an Arahan, or supreme master of chi who would restore the world's flow of chi and return balance to humanity. They convince him to begin training after he gets bullied by a gangster while on duty. As slow, but steady progress is made with the impatient Sang-hwan, construction workers inadvertently release Heug-un, a missing member of the Seven Masters who once tried to take over the world. Having restored his energy by draining the chi force from a luckless victim, Heug-un hunts down the other masters in order to claim a powerful key that holds the power to enlightenment and ultimate power. With the masters' powers diminished by time, all that stands in Heug-un's way are So-yi and Sang-hwan.

There is nothing original or particularly clever about the story, but it's pulled off with enough comedy quirks and slick action to keep things interesting. The only disappointment is in how the villain is portrayed. They paint him as an idealist corrupted by power, who once intervened to protect humanity from itself, but became consumed in the struggle. This is intriguing and could have been a whole different movie itself, but ends up being no more than a footnote to explain his actions which amount to relentlessly battling the heroes.

The cast all perform well. Leading man Ryu Seung-beom is the antithesis of a martial arts hero. He's nerdy, clumsy and generally an idealistic loser who lives with his parents. Watching him transform into a hero is fun, if not altogether convincing. The training sequences are mostly made up of split screen montages as he goes through all manner of exercises while his instructors spit out random words of wisdom. Writer-director Ryu Seung-wan isn't too concerned with showing off elaborate exercises and tends to keep these and other scenes light with mild nonsense gags akin to Stephen Chow's films.

Yun So-yi kicks as much butt as any male in the film, but does get sidelined in the second half of the finale. Of the supporting cast, Ahn Seong-gi leads with another great performance. I first encountered Ahn as the veteran bowman in Musa and was blown away by his performance then. It turns out that he's one of South Korea's top actors whose been at the game for nearly fifty years. Although his role in this film is modest, he adds more to it than most people would or could and performs some cool action to boot.

Even with a lot of comedy in Arahan, the action is still taken seriously, especially in the second half. Hokey early scenes of a digital Yun So-yi dropping off of buildings or blasting people with invisible palm power is eventually replaced by hardcore fight choreography directed by Jeong Du-hong who plays the lead villain. Old school purists will complain, but Seung-wan and Du-hong, who also teamed up for No Blood No Tears, do a terrific job of blending the latest effects work and techniques with wire use, high-impact editing and some honestly impressive moves. Apart from Du-hong, who has been choreographing Korean action movies since 1990, none of the actors are martial arts stars. In scenes where Seung-beom attempts wushu-like moves he doesn't look anywhere near as good as Jet Li or Donnie Yen. But a lot of training and effort is clearly evident and Seung-wan is very clever in how he captures the movements to get the best look.

Since the movie is all about chi power, we get to see a lot of it manifested in various forms. For anyone unfamiliar with chi or how its use might look in an exaggerated fashion, consider the wizards' duel in The Two Towers or the "Force" in Star Wars. Call it whatever you like, but in fiction chi or sorcery is all the same thing, the power to manipulate your surroundings. There is one scene in Arahan where rubble rises around Sang-hwan as he channels his chi in anger that looked like something out of Akira. All of these scenes in the film look great, but just lack a certain amount of dramatic punch since we know at its core, the film is a comedy.

The end fight is surprisingly long and almost completely ditches the comedy for serious swordplay and open hand dueling. While wires and slow motion are used liberally, there is also a lot of relatively wide takes and long runs with a complex series of moves. One long shot involving all three leads is incredible. The camera swoops in on Du-hong and follows him in circular pans as he fends off Seung-beom and So-yi from either side. It's possible that trick editing was used to piece this scene together, but it looks like one seamless take where Du-hong just keeps on going with one wild move after another as the camera just floats around him. There is a lot of creativity and energy to this fight scene and although it lacks some dramatic impact plot-wise, the combat itself is excellent.

Imagine David Fincher (Fight Club) directing a martial arts comedy and you might end up with something similar to Arahan. Ryu Seung-wan's No Blood No Tears was definitely darker in look and tone. It's nice to see Seung-wan putting his edgy style to use on something lighter. This one is more accessible and entertaining as a whole, though limited in depth.