Victory (1994)


	Victory		Return to Review Archive - V
	Year:	1994	Coach Derek Yee and his players
	Director:	Andrew Chin Wing-Keung
	Producer:	Andrew Chin Wing-Keung, Teddy Robin Kwan
	Cast:	Derek Yee Tung-Sing, Carman Lee Yeuk-Tung, Annabelle Lau Hiu-Tung, Hilary Tsui Ho-Ying, Cherie Chan Siu-Ha, Fan Yik-Man, Farini Chang, Ng Ching-Ching, Josie Ho Chiu-Yee, Joe Cheung Tung-Cho, Elaine Ng Yi-Lei
	The Skinny:	Hackneyed sports movie buoyed by engaging stars and no real pretension.
	Review by Kozo:	Marginally uplifting story of a women’s volleyball team that overcomes the odds thanks to their pluck, determination, and photogenic ability. Derek Yee is the coach, a clumsy science teacher who’s conned into coaching when team captain Carman Lee takes a shine to him. For the rest of the team, the filmmakers basically took a who’s who of cute HK bit players and threw them onto the squad. The team includes such luminaries as Farini Cheung, Josie Ho, and Annabelle Lau. Hilary Tsui is a standout thanks to her role as the team’s Michael Jordan, whose vicious hops make her the secret weapon in the team’s final battle. The rival to our team of young cuties are the Devil Women, a rather Amazonian bunch of spikers whose impregnable defense leaves the team with nothing to do but get stuffed every rally. However, Derek Yee develops the “Changing Partners” stance, which isn’t a move for swingers, but an incredibly effective fake-and-slam move that’s designed especially to humble the Devil Women. Surprise: it works. The subplots are all by-the numbers: girl fights for acceptance, girl struggles with her boyfriend, girl has crush on coach, sisters squabble instead of cooperate. Everything that happens in this film is hackneyed sports movie drama, and the emotions it conjures are as synthetic as you can get. Still, this is a harmless little movie that should be potentially uplifting to 12 year-old girls. It's made-to-order fluffy fun that could play on an after school special (if Hong Kong actually has such a thing). And the catchy theme song by Linda Wong Hing-Ping is strangely Mortal Kombat-ish. (Kozo 1997)

		image courtesy of Fitto Mobile Laser Co., Ltd.
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