Champions is a case of "good idea, bad execution". Starring several real-life martial arts champions in a story about Chinese athletes trying to make it to the Olympics, the film would seem to to have the ingredients for success, or at least a decent night's entertainment. Unfortunately, the hammy acting and heavy-handed nationalistic overtones throw up big stumbling blocks.

Taking place shortly before the 1936 Berlin games, the story centers on a school led by Cheung Chi Kong (Yu Rong-Guang) that is trying to send athletes, but cannot afford the high travel fees. But the kids are a plucky bunch, and so, along with the top student, Cheung Fung (Dicky Cheung), they head out to raise enough money to get over to Germany. The students run into problems with another school who thinks their athletes are superior, and a local gangster looking for revenge after the kids foil a kidnapping plot.

And if you can't figure out what happens at the end, I have a shiny quarter here for you, so that you can buy a clue. Actually, there are a couple of twists thrown in, and they are fairly unexpected. The problem is that the story is delivered with the over-the-top melodrama that makes many fans of Hong Kong cinema cringe.

The veteran actors do what they can with the material and manage to squeeze a bit of enjoyment out of the exposition scenes, but the newcomers will most likely have you reaching for the Excedrin and/or fast-forward button. Combined with an over-long epilogue that doesn't try and hide its' jingoistic intentions, and one would think that getting through a viewing of Champions would be well-nigh impossible, at least without a gutful of Old Milwaukee in your system.

Thankfully, the kung fu on display here is good enough to forgive the film's shortcomings, at least to a point. It should come as no shock that Yu Rong-Guang looks solid, but surprisingly, Dicky Cheung, best known for Stephen Chow-style "nonsense comedies", comes off shockingly well-looking. And it was really cool seeing former child star Tze Miu (My Father is a Hero) back in films again, and it looked as if he had been keeping up practicing his kung fu. Personally, I could have done without some of the more extreme wire effects, but it was nice to see stuff like a good old-fashioned twenty-minute shmozz near the end.

Overall, Champions isn't anything memorable or great, but if you're in the mood for some modern martial arts and aren't too picky about "little" things about plot or acting, it'll probably do if you're in a pinch for something to watch on a rainy day.

RATING: 5