Bad Movie Spotlight: ‘Miami Connection’
If there was a Mount Rushmore of terrible movies, I would imagine that one of the representatives would have to be Y.K. Kim and Richard Park’s 1987 martial arts-action disaster Miami Connection. Unlike the works of, say, Neil Breen, the film is somewhat competent on the production side of things, but suffers (or is enhanced by) an absurd plot, terrible acting, and many scenes that serve as hilarious narrative non-sequiturs.
The story revolves around a group of college students at UCF who also happen to be part of a Taekwondo school that doubles as a martial arts themed rock band called Dragon Sound that sings about the power of friendship, amongst other things, led by Y.K. Kim. They eventually become involved in a fight for their lives when they become the headlining band at a popular Orlando nightclub and get embroiled in a conflict with cocaine smuggling biker ninjas from Miami, a member of which is the club’s owner. As insane as it sounds, that’s about as coherent as the plot gets until one dives into the many subplots that don’t make sense or don’t go anywhere. For example, the biker who owns the nightclub has a personal hatred of the band because one of the members is dating his sister, considering to be an unsavory bunch in spite of the fact that they are a relatively wholesome group who sings about friendship while he is a psychotic drug dealer. There’s the club’s previous band who also wants Dragon Sound dead out of jealousy and somehow knows Taeknowdo as well. Then there’s Jim, who’s mother was Korean and never knew his father and must decide if he wants to welcome his absent father back into his life, whose personal story has almost no bearing on the overall narrative whatsoever. On top of all this is the film’s completely bonkers finale in which the story goes full Death Wish and our happy band of heroes turn into rage-fueled murder machines, followed by a plea for pacifism of all things.
The writing, dialogue, and performances are horrendous, as is to be expected. Most of the actors are students from Y.K. Kim’s Taekwondo school and it’s strange to see Kim pretend to be a college student despite being 40 years old at the time of the film’s release. There are several hackneyed moments designed to get the audience invested in the characters, which all come off as silly and bizarre thanks to the inept script and acting. Much of the action is actually passable, thanks to the martial arts knowledge of the performers and their stuntwork.
Miami Connection is obviously a major passion project for Kim, as it serves as something of a commercial for Taekwondo and the virtues it promotes. He not only stars in it, but developed the story, produced it, and largely funded it himself with loans taken out against his gym. While the movie is an absolute mess, it’s the passion of Kim and everyone involved that makes it such a great bad movie. There are many awful movies out there where people try to intentionally make something bad in order to lazily replicate the success of infamous flicks like The Room. These efforts are almost unwatchably dull or irritating. Everyone who worked on this cared about what they were doing, and while they failed to make a good movie in the standard sense, their earnestness is what makes the movie a laugh riot.
It’s tough to find something these days that will make you laugh as hard as Miami Connection. It is a must watch for bad movie fans and serves as a great entry point into the world of schlock.
