FILM THREAT EXCLUSIVE! Hard Redemption is The Substitute/Dangerous Minds meets Toy Soldiers. Martial arts master Jino Kang co-writes (alongside Dustin Leimgruber and David J. Moore), co-directs (alongside Christine Lam), co-produces, and stars. Kang plays James Park, a schoolteacher with a past, who is about to experience the worst day at work you can imagine. Having come from the streets, forged in the fires of gang warfare, James is now the literal embodiment of the dragons he ran with when he wore a younger man’s clothes. He’s stronger, wiser, and more than willing to make sure that the youth of today do not make the same foolish sacrifices he did, almost throwing his existence away for phony friends and a fraudulent family.
After a brief stop at the office, James receives his class roll and keys before heading deeper into the school. In search of his classroom, he bumps into Rico (original Hulk-smashing majesty that is Lou Ferrigno). The mountain of a security guard informs the new teacher that he was once a cop and a boxer, but now the former champion of Olympus is happy in the business of making awesome tamales. As we learn from the black-and-white, adrenaline-pumping, action-packed opening, there is no easy way out of gang life. And now a survivor, but more importantly a living witness, as one of James’s students will find out, he is far from safe, and his old crew will stop at nothing to spill his blood.
“…a schoolteacher with a past, who is about to experience the worst day at work you can imagine.”
But the ambitious street thugs soon find their snatch, grab, and kill routine scuttled by the school’s high-tech security system, which locks down every room when the alarm triggers. It’ll fall into the hands of two legendary warriors to kill the bad guys and save the school staff and students from a bitter end. But this little Assault on Precinct 13 is a Game of Death all the way. The opening sequence sets the tone and mirrors itself as the electricity on screen amps up, hurdling toward a final boss and battle which sees Mr. Park’s enemies multiply as a duel of fates erupts with flying fists and lightning-like sword play, in the fight to free an innocent soul from under the yolk and service of evil, to a more righteous path through this Hard Redemption.
Jino Kang possesses the quiet cool of Clint Eastwood combined with the lethality of John Wick, and I would not mention the nod to Pat Morita until the Karate Kid connection came in, as the running, affectionate nickname Ferrigno gives to his new brother-in-arms. Big Lou doesn’t need to flex here. The man is an icon who gets to drop a fistful of great lines, while thundering away with those mighty mitts that made him famous, glaring at his foes with those eyes that gleam as they tauntingly laugh in the face of danger and death, begging for a rematch.
This is indie action cinema at its blindingly brilliant best. So, in summation, forget Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically acclaimed darling, Hard Redemption is the “real” one. It is a blistering, balletically beautiful martial arts battle after another. And make no mistake about that!
"…indie action cinema at its blindingly brilliant best."
