| 23rd | Top comedy films of the 2000s: 2007 |
| 94th | Top sports films |
| Balls of Fury | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Robert Ben Garant |
| Produced by | Derek Evans Ron Schmidt Toby Emmerich |
| Written by | Robert Ben Garant Thomas Lennon |
| Starring | Dan Fogler Christopher Walken George Lopez Maggie Q James Hong Robert Patrick |
| Distributed by | Rogue Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 29, 2007 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | . |
| Gross revenue | $40,990,563 [1] |
Balls of Fury is a 2007 American sports comedy film starring Dan Fogler and Christopher Walken. It was directed by Ben Garant and was released on August 29, 2007.
Contents |
The film begins at the table tennis finals of the 1988 Olympics. Twelve-year old Randy Daytona is the American contender. He is anxious, and his anxiety increases when his father says that he bet on him despite his original promise not to. His opponent is Karl Wolfschtagg from the German Democratic Republic. During the intense first point, Daytona runs back too far and hits his head on the table. This loss, combined with the fact his father, who bet on his son to win, was killed by Triad agents of the criminal Feng, causes Daytona to leave competitive ping pong in disgrace.
Nineteen years later, Daytona is working at the Peppermill Casino in Reno, Nevada, doing table tennis routines. After getting kicked out (for scaring someone that unexpectedly caused a heart attack), Daytona meets FBI agent Ernie Rodriguez who requests his assistance in taking down Feng. Daytona eventually agrees as Rodriguez informs Daytona that he needs to win some championships in order to be noticed by Feng's scouts. After losing at a local tournament to get to state, Daytona is brought to a Chinatown noodle shop to be apprenticed under a blind man named Wong, who was Feng's former mentor. Wong, even constantly calling Daytona a "Gwai-lo" (Cantonese slang for Caucasian, meaning "white ghost"), recognizes Daytona's talent. With his niece Maggie aiding Daytona, Wong chides him in his training until China Town locals vandalize Master Wong's house for him going against their edict of teaching white people ping pong. They say that the only way to solve this is to defeat "The Dragon" (which is actually a small girl) in a ping pong match with Wong exiled from China Town if Daytona loses. After a short match, Daytona defeats The Dragon, who punches him in the groin before running off in defeat. As expected, Feng's men take notice and bring Daytona, Rodriguez and Wong to the Feng's facillity.
Daytona makes friends with one of Feng's many male sex slaves, Gary. They play board games through the night. Daytona handily beats his first opponent Freddy "Fingers" Wilson. He becomes afraid when he discovers that the "sudden death" format of the tournament is exactly that, the loser is killed off with a poisoned dart. He attempts to escape unsuccessfully until Feng invites him out on a tour of the facility. He attempts to convince him to join his side and reveals that he only finished half of Wong's training. He says it would be the ultimate satisfaction to win Daytona away from Wong. Feng also shows Daytona his specially-modified ping-pong table. It is wired to special vests that give increasingly powerful (and ultimately fatal) electrical shocks for failure. Daytona gives Rodriguez the location knowing the illegal guns are sufficient evidence to put Feng in prison. While Rodriguez investigates the hidden facilities, Daytona defeats numerous opponents for his very life.
Upon learning that Wolfschtagg is his last opponent, Daytona tells Rodriguez that he wants to get out as the FBI has not yet responded to Rodriguez's homing beacon. He agrees and breaks Daytona's arm. Daytona does not have the opportunity to say he has changed his mind. Feng discovers Rodriguez's attempts to contact the FBI and forces Daytona to face Wolfschtagg. Feng decides to have the abducted Maggie Wong take Wolfschtagg's place, killing him when he protests. As Daytona is in love with her, they keep playing back-and-forth until Feng breaks up the battle. The FBI swarms the place, causing chaos. The heroes fight back and escape. Daytona tries to lead Feng's sex slaves to safety; they and his other friends are captured. Feng decides to play Daytona so as to know which of Wong's students is better.
Feng and Daytona agree to a match using Feng's ping pong gear in order to see who is the best student under Wong. During the game, as the facility's self destruct sequence is accidentally activated. Also, Feng reveals that not only did he forget to add an off switch, but changed the rules so that the ball can now be bounced off any surface once and still be in play. The game escalates as the facility reaches destruction. The game moves through several buildings and finally onto a bridge over a nearby river. Wong, on a boat, makes Daytona realize that Feng has a weak backhand. The villain is defeated and perishes. Daytona and his friends (including the male sexual slaves) all escape in Wong's boat.
Two months later, all of the major characters are reunited for the reopening of Master Wong's rebuilt Mushu shop.
As of May 19, 2008, the film had a score of 38 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 27 reviews.[2] On Rotten Tomatoes, 23% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 125 reviews (29 "fresh", 96 "rotten").[3] The film opened well with a U.S. take (opening weekend) of $14,312,850. Final gross (November 4, 2007) ended up being $32,844,290.[4]
Two video games based on Balls of Fury were released for Wii and Nintendo DS[5] by Black Lantern. The storyline involves an underground ping-pong competition, based on the film. They were released on September 9, 2007 (DS) and September 25, 2007 (Wii).
   | Yahoo! Movies - Balls of Fury (2007) - Movie Info - Yahoo! Movies |
| | Official website - Balls Of Fury |
| | Balls of Fury (2007): Reviews - Balls of Fury reviews at Metacritic.com |
| | IMDB Business: Balls of Fury - Balls of Fury (2007) - Box office / business |
| | Rogue Pictures Homepage - Sign In to ROGUE - ROGUE |
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