I have no idea why I like this one so much. It may be because it resonated widely with me as an 11-year old kid. It might be because I have always been a sucker for emotional sports movies. Who knows...I just know I like it...very much.

The Korean team has a guy with an eye patch and a guy with a mustache. Americans have a cowboy and a cry-baby dad. I'm definitely rooting for the Koreans.

I remember watching this when I was a kid thinking I wanna join the USA taekwondo team but they wouldn't allow it because I'm British! Watching it again it's very cheesy especially Eric Roberts acting, still one of my top 10 favourite sports inspirational films

You got the tools; use 'em.

This is aggressively, gloriously 1980s: the music, the fonts, the training montages, the emotional speeches, all of it served with a side of sweat and sincerity. I ended up liking it more than I expected. It’s basically The Karate Kid put through a team-sports blender, with some decent fight scenes, not-great acting, and just enough corny heart to win you over if you’re in the mood for vintage underdog nonsense. Critics were not exactly kind, with Roger Ebert calling it shamelessly predictable, but even Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score is much warmer, which feels right because this thing works more as a nostalgic cable-TV comfort meal than as a “good movie” in the strict sense.   The ending was also better than I expected and gave the whole thing more lift than it probably deserved. Recommended, especially if you’ve got any fondness for old-school martial arts movies that smell faintly of VHS plastic.